We welcome continued efforts to secure peace in Ethiopia. The war has devastated Northern Ethiopia. Thousands have been killed, tens of thousands have been injured and millions have been displaced. Public infrastructure has been destroyed and livelihoods have been stolen.
The TPLF insurgents and their allied forces are solely responsible for initiating the war in Tigray and expanding it to neighboring regions. Their motive was and continues to be to steal back power and return Ethiopia to the dark days of their authoritarian rule.
Since the conflict began the Ethiopian diaspora in the United States and around the world has worked relentlessly to tell the truth about the conflict and secure support in the country’s fight against the insurrection.
We are acutely aware of the pain the TPLF has caused in Tigray, Afar and Amhara. Their forces stand accused of using child soldiers, committing massacres, engaging in rape as a weapon of war, looting and purposefully destroying public services such as hospitals and schools.
As yet there has been no justice brought for the many victims of TPLF atrocities. Today, they are rearming their forces and it has been confirmed a new round of conscription has begun. They are preparing for a major escalation at a time when millions are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
If there is to be peace in Ethiopia there must be justice and reconciliation. AEPAC believes the following should be considered by the Ethiopian Government and the International Community:
- Ensure TPLF forces responsible for atrocities in Afar, Amhara and Tigray face the full force of the law and their victims receive recompense in order to rebuild their lives.
- The TPLF lay down their arms and end their insurgency and terrorist activities against the Ethiopian people.
- Afar and Amhara regions should receive the humanitarian focus and economic development they urgently need.
- The United States and other nations must ease sanctions and re-establish free trading benefits in order to support the entire Ethiopian economy through the coming months.
- Allow the Ethiopian people to emancipate themselves from an ethnocentric, divisive and corrupt system which has plagued the country for three decades and is the root cause of the division and suffering we see today.
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Again and again I call upon on everyone who is rightfully hurt and angered by this savage act to exercise calm and restraints. This violence by demons should not be allowed to trigger more violence. That is because violence never solved problems for that country or anywhere else except but rather sustained them claiming more innocent victims. Violence places destructive wedges between people who have lived in harmony for centuries. The most powerful and effective force that can police communities against such repugnant crimes are the common citizens when they are united. Thugs thrive in a divided and dysfunctional society. Governments cannot be everywhere with their deterrent means. It is a screwed up world out there. Let’s monger for peace and unity among citizens. Today the victims are Amharas. Tomorrow will be Oromos if not already then followed by Tigres, Sidamas, Gambelas, Afars, Somalis and all others if they are not already. The only force that can effectively slow down or even put a stop to such barbaric violence are civilians themselves when firmly united. Sooner if not later this shall pass! Insha’Allah!!!
The response to the massacre and displacement of several hundreds to thousands by so called prime minister Abiy Ahmed was inhumane, repulsive and psychopathic. This individual had the nerve and also the imbecility to come out in public and claim that he is not responsible, that the federal government is not responsible for what happens in some remote area of the country. He even suggested that those who protest or voice concern from the capital city must leave Addis and try to change the situation in the periphery.
IS THIS THE RESPONSE EXPECTED FROM A “NORMALl” PRIME MINISTER WHO HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO PRESIDE OVER A COUNTRY OF 120,000,000 lives??????????
Mr. so called prime minister, herewith you need to be reminded of your responsibilities which you have willingly, eagerly and vehemently accepted when you assumed first what your inner party cadres and EPRDF buddies dubbed as a peaceful transfer of power, followed by your claim of winning 97% of the federal and regional seats (actually 100% in most of Oromia). Since you have deliberately forgotten or become oblivious to certain facts and fundamental principles, you should be jolted to remember them or learn them once more.
1) You are the chairman of PP.
2) PP controls 97% of Federal and regional seats in Ethiopia (as many as 100% in most of so called Oromia)
3) Federal laws have supremacy as the law of the land
4) Not a single Ethiopian, not one soul shall be deprived the rights to life, liberty and property (without due process)
5) in principle every Ethiopian in any part of the country must have equal treatment before the law
6) you often claim you are the only authority with monopoly of violence in the land
7) monopoly of violence does not mean a Carte Blanche for you to eliminate your political threats or contenders
8) monopoly of violence actually is a job given to you, willingly, by the people of Ethiopia, to keep communities safe, ensure the safety and security of all Ethiopians in all parts of the country.
9) if you fail to execute your job duties effectively in that regard, a community or individuals have absolute right to take the monopoly of violence away from you and organize to keep themselves and their communities safe
10) for once in your miserable 4 years since coming to power, stand up and take responsibilities for your actions or inactions, shenanigans, intrigues, and failures.
11) taking responsibility and accepting accountability are traits of mature leadership
12) shrieking responsibilities and blaming victims or pointing fingers at others or looking for excuses are typical features of weak leadership, incompetence, corruption, lack of experience and absence of moral and ethical compass
13) because the federal laws are the supreme laws of the land, any regional government entities or individuals that violate the constitutional rights of any Ethiopian in any part of the country are under the jurisdiction of the federal government. What that essentially means is YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!!!! IF THOUSANDS GET MASSACRED IN GIMBI, ABIY AHMED IS RESPONSIBLE!!!!!
14) for 4 miserable years you, Abiy Ahmed and your sycophants, now calling themselves as PP members, cadres etc. at your beck and call ) have been putting your thumbs on the scale of justice to realize the grandeur illusions of Oromumma.
15) had you taken decisive actions in 2018, 2019 in Buryau massacre, had you apprehended the criminals and brought them to justice, had you ensured the primacy of the rule of law without bias and without partiality early on, today there would not have been a Gambela, or Gimbi massacre.
In a nut shell, the response you gave as prime minister, Mr. Abiy Ahmed, is shameful, derelict of your duties and accountability, shrieking your responsibility aside. It is not acceptable for a man who boasts and micromanages every sector, from bakery, to masonry, to garden prairie, to weaponry, to oratory, and who is ubiquitous on “war fronts”, pastor pulpits, palace thrones and the like, to come out and shout I am not responsible for what x, y and z are doing in regions of a,b,c.