TPLF’s war effort to suppress the Oromo voice
By Rundassa Asheetee Hundee
File: the beginning of the crackdown, 2015
The Tigre government of Ethiopia denial about the existence of the Oromo Liberation Front, and it’s direct military involvement in helping the Somali’s to take over the Eastern and Southern parts of Oromia, and it’s empowering of the OPDO to freely echo the Oromo frustration in public, is a demonstration that strategic wisdom is best reflected in a correct combination of military power and political process.
There is no doubt that the Tigre military campaign in Oromia and Amhara region during the anti Tigre colonialism movement in 2016 saved the Tigre regime from downfall and helped them to remain in power and continue to leverage the dynamics of empire Ethiopia’s politics.
The TPLF involvement in inciting conflict between the Somali and the Oromo, between Gabra, Garrii, Gujii, Borana and many other groups has been going on since the TPLF conquest of Oromia in 1991 and it continued to date. Since then the TPLF maintained its hold on power mainly thanks to the Bush and Obama governments deals, the expansion of Chines interest in Africa, the presence of American military advisors and the representatives of western countries intelligence agencies. America viewed empire Ethiopia as its last stable Africa’s military base and reliable strategic stronghold after it had lost it to the Russians during the cold war era.
Although the Tigreans have sold the empire to many countries around the world, America is taking calculated risks in supporting the TPLF so that it could fight the Islamic movement in Somalia and maintain it’s position as a world power. Since America made Finfinnee the headquarter of it’s political and military base for the African continent, it increased it’s funding of the Tigre military while it’s intelligence units continue to do more from Finfinnee. Further more, the American military cargo planes and drones have landed at the Arba-Minch and Djibouti airports so many times and hundreds of soldiers were sent to train the TPLF and prepare it for a long war against the Oromo liberation movement.
To reassure America’s full support to the minority Tigre tribe, Mr. Obama surprised the people of the empire by announcing that the TPLF was a democratically elected legitimate regime qualified to assist it in fighting whom they called the “terrorists.” America’s foreign policy makers believe that as long as it is someone that is doing the dirty job, everything they do is nothing but an act of advancing their long term strategic interest. For that reason, America’s indirect intervention in the ongoing civil war in empire Ethiopia is justified in the name of fighting extremist Islamic terrorist groups and they don’t have to re-examine their foreign policy. Instead, they help their puppet countries such as empire Ethiopia that they now gave a VIP seat at the global political game arena known as the “UN” and the TPLF feels like it is a key player essential to the resolution of international issues, although it failed to resolve a steadily exacerbating problem in Oromia. Mean time, America’s older brothers, the Europeans, have tried to apply pressure on the Tigre regime but they lacked power to impose sanctions following the jailing of Baqalaa Garbaa, Marara Gudinaa and many others. Of course, someone must have negotiated the release of Andargachew Tisge, who now driving around Finfinnee and lives in the house provided to him by the Tigre regime.
This is the Ethiopia we can’t forget! – By Rundassa Asheetee Hunde
Today, the TPLF seem to suffocate the Oromo voice albite temporarily, it is trying to divert the public attention from the grave economic and social problems plaguing empire Ethiopia: economic challenges due to the enclave economic policy and lopsided power control responsible for the tensions that is now raging between the Somali and the Oromo propelled by the TPLF itself. To do so, it is launching vicious attacks on the Oromo people by using the Somali regional army in east and southern parts of Oromia, while encouraging patriotic sentiments in the Oromians minds so that the conflict will continue and boost the TPLF capabilities through time.
When it comes to the diaspora politics, TPLF’s success is unequivocal. The emergence of new Amhara party that rejects everything that the pro Ethiopian unity had been preaching for sure will lead to the brink collapse of a larger Amhara/Oromo collaborative efforts led by Bagaashaaw, Diimaa and Leencoo Lata, while it will destroy the long history of cooperation between the Amhara, Ginbot 7, and of those Amharic speaking minority Kambataa or Walayitas.
It is also important to note that the TPLF has already crippled home based opposition groups whose leaders are languishing in prisons today. At the peak of the Oromian onslaught, all Oromo student association leaders were killed at Maqale, Wallagga, Ambo, Haro-Mayaa, Maddaa Walabuu and other universities and their bodies were discarded on the street. When the opposition to the Finfinnee master plan intensified, more and more people were killed and intensive attacks were launched against the Oromo people every day, and in total, more than 7,000 Oromians were killed, which was seen as great achievements by the TPLF killing squad. The goal was to destroy OLF’s political infrastructures and yet that didn’t save the TPLF from the lose of revenues generated by the burned down foreign companies.
During the Bishooftuu massacre, the TPLF helicopters sprayed nerve gas on the people who attended Irrechaa and thousands were killed. Yet all these killings and military campaigns didn’t change the course of the Oromo protest until the Tigre army known as Agazii took over Oromia and started targeting the Oromo youth who were determined to fight without effective defensive cover. Ultimately, the Tigrean rulers turned offices, military bases and party members homes into prisons and jails, and that resulted in the jailing of over a quarter of a million people in Oromia alone. At least quarter of this number have been arrested in the Amhara region and elsewhere in the empire.
After such heavy price was paid by the people of empire Ethiopia, the Tigre rulers didn’t bother to presented any justification for the killing because changing the course of the revolution was their immediate objective. If there was any justification, they lied saying that the Egypt and Eritrea governments played central role in causing the protest while also admitting that joblessness and corruption contributed to the serious anger that engulfed the rotten empire. Provided all these actions were taken, it is proven that all the Tigre colonist left with is the military force that they used to effectively suppress the Oromo voice.
Yet notwithstanding the actions taken, it appears that everything that is taking place is more of a rotation and adjustment of empire Ethiopia’s dark political tradition that camouflages itself in accordance with the changing nature of global politics. Empire Ethiopia, which has a complicated history with the Oromo people does not want to see the Oromians taking a legitimate role in designing the empire’s future. This is why the Abyssinians vehemently opposed to the birth of Oromo region. The Tigre colonists, like the Amhara rulers before them promote the unity of empire Ethiopia with its current bureaucratic structure as a precondition of any future solution, and do not agree on the nature of a future arrangement between the Oromo and the rest. One way to suppress the Oromo voice is to widen the gap between the Oromo and the rest ignoring the fact that this will ultimately lead to the collapse of empire Ethiopia.
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