ANDM – Sworn to be a Lifetime Reserve Party

By: Tingirtu G. Tekle¹   

Looking at what the shell party – the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) – seems/seemed at first is obligatory before discussing the nature of the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), one of the coalition member parties. EPRDF ruled Ethiopia for 27 years from 1991 up to 2018 before it transformed itself into Ethiopian Prosperity Party (EPP) excluding the dominant member party – TPLF – in which this “new” party is continuing to rule and ruin the country. EPRDF was a coalition of four ethnic political parties; Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) and Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM). It is also important to note here that the coalition had five other ‘members’ with the status of ‘affiliate parties’ representing ethnic designation of their respective regional states. 

The Amhara National Democratic Movement – ANDM – and now Amhara Prosperity Party (APP) which has been a subordinate ruling party throughout its existence was a junior one even as a rebel group during the armed struggle to topple the military government, Derg, which ruled the country for 17 years prior to EPRDF. This party has been engaging in serfdom from its inception all the way through its worst role of slavery years it is playing now under the ruling party; Abiy Ahmed’s Oromo dominated Ethiopian Prosperity Party (EPP). 

The Genesis of ANDM   

The Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) began to be a multi-national political party under the name of Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM) as a secondary party to TPLF and ended up being ADP/APP as a slave to be accompanying the organization of ODP/OPP. “Even what would become ANDM was first constituted with a pan-Ethiopian spirit [minion] and practice (first as EPRP and then as EPDM) and its founders were composed of various ethnic groups. As the EPRP suffered from lack of clear political objective, military incompetence and organizational infighting, its disillusioned members walked away from the struggle.”² That was the time ANDM commenced its ‘name changing’ tradition and/or obsession at the end of 1980, during the protracted armed confrontation against the then military government. Its role to serve other ‘sister’ parties officially began by then.   

Consequently, this subsidiary party disintegrated, and some ruminants merged to create EPDM abandoning EPRP. This party changed its name even three years after the military government was overthrown. As Hailu M. Akalu stated it, “…others established a political party for the Amhara without creating a working relationship with parties articulating the interests of other ethnic groups. It was under this bitter circumstance that EPDM redefined itself as ANDM in 1994.”³ This shows that ANDM reached the momentum to officially represent the Amhara people by changing its name from EPDM to ANDM – the slavery role twisted its approach into an ethnic constituency.  

The three organizations formed a united front under the name EPRDF in 1989 and intensified the armed struggle up until they took power in May 1991. The Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) was later constituted and joined the EPRDF coalition.⁴ It continued this tradition and “ANDM which was undertaking its 12^th congress in Bahir Dar, changed its name into Amhara Democratic Party (ADP)”.⁵ That was September 2018, six months after the coming into power of the current PM. The serfdom obsession does not end there. It makes anyone insane to learn that this specific name change was made almost immediately after OPDO/ODP/OPP, ANDM’s landlord, changed its name. “It is to be remembered that OPDO, one of the leading “reformist” parties within the ruling coalition, EPRDF, changed its name to Oromo Democratic Party in its 9^th congress only a week before.”⁶   

That was the time the so-called reform was introduced and EPP was born by merging the three ethnic parties except TPLF. Majority Ethiopians expected the “reform” would bring change to the country. The merger of EPRDF [member parties] into EPP arguably represents a step away from formal ethnic power sharing.⁷ But all this aspiration was wasted soon, and ANDM/ADP/APP continued its secondary place as usual.  

Junior Partnership for Life   

During the struggle to overthrow the Derg military regime, the Amhara people provided significant support to the ANDM fighters. However, what did they get? The people continued to suffer from marginalization and oppression after ANDM seized power ‘jointly’ with EPRDF member parties, mainly with TPLF. Since its inception, ANDM has been at a second-place partnership with its ‘sister’ political parties – first as a junior partner of TPLF and now a subordinate of Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP). Junior partnership might have been in the minds of the senior individuals who established this party with ever-changing names acting like a political chameleon. Beside to all the atrocities that have been witnessed prior to 2018 and up to April 2023, there are several crimes carried out by the EPP under the vigilance of ANDM “representing” the Amhara region while genocidal war and mayhem are being committed in the region since August 2023. 

Several crimes have been committed by the Abiy regime since the genocidal war on Amhara started. To mention few, a drone attack on civilians in Guba Lafto on May 14, 2024 resulted in the tragic deaths of countless innocent civilians, marking the second drone attack in the region within a brief period, following a similar incident in Northern Shewa.⁸ Moreover, various people were killed in the Western and Eastern Gojjam zones of the Amhara Region in June 2024, following door-to-door searches for suspected Fano fighters, more than 100 civilians were shot dead in Merawi on February 6, 2024, in November 2023, government drone strikes killed countless civilians, targeting a school and bus station, and in November 9, another drone attack at a bus station in Waber killed a lot of civilians.⁹   

While all these atrocities were conducted, ANDM has sustained the practice of bowing to its OPDO/ODP/OPP masters. ANDM pretends to speak for the Amhara region but facilitates the destruction of the “constituency” it was supposed to represent in blatant collaboration with its senior partners. On the other hand, this party is still serving the ambition of others while the Amhara people are languishing from Abiy’s atrocious and genocidal war. ANDM either remained silent or has been blaming others when all these crimes have been done on the Amhara people, just as John Wooden says, “you are not a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.” Nevertheless, the name changing champion has continued to blame others anyway. Instead of defending the people in its “constituency,” it has been usually blaming others. Probably, the high-ranking officials in ANDM are victims of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Hence, the notion of ‘junior partnership’ does not represent any organization other than this dedicated eternal slave party.   

Amhara’s Faded Support for the Party   

ANDM has been used as a Trojan horse by successive regimes to rule the Amhara people and Amhara land. That has been its foremost role, nothing else. Given this fact, ANDM has been abandoned by the Amhara population almost completely.   The Amhara people provided support to ANDM in the struggle to remove the military regime given the fact that the people were suffering from the then Derg regime’s brutal rule. However, even from the beginning ANDM has been acquiring uncertain and deteriorating support from the Amhara people.  

The major decrease in support was three years after the party along with its allies snatched power. As it has been stated earlier, it changed its name from multi-ethnic designation into one ethnicity – the Amhara – where the people in the region began to question what this party was created for. By the time this party changed its name from EPDM to ANDM in 1994, there were uncertainties among the people. At that time, the transition “blocked the possibility of constitutional bargains between the forces of ethnic-centrifugalism and centripetalism that perspired the condition of a top-down and exclusive federal constitutional choice. Given the nature of party-centralization and power asymmetry in EPRDF and its relations with affiliate ethnic parties, open and serious negotiations were lacking to assume meaningful political bargains in designing the federal system”.¹⁰ This implies the subordinate role of ANDM, excluding the roles of other member parties. The Amhara people were not clear of the meaning of this major change, not only simple name change but also changing the party’s nominal ‘constituency’ with an ethnic representation. Nonetheless, ANDM was playing as junior party as usual by that time, and it continued to engage in the habitual business.  

What is Best for the People?  

The Amhara people and the region itself have been used as the ‘constituency’ of ANDM for sham elections and as a backyard to bow for its slave masters. The individuals who established EPDM/ANDM were not even free-thinking men. In the armed struggle days, the TPLF later continued to call other nationalist progressive forces to join hands for an alliance, a call that got a first positive response from a breakaway group from the EPRP, the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM), later renamed itself as the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM). The Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) was formed from members of the EPDM from former Prisoners of war of the TPLF and Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).¹¹ That was the time the Amhara people supported the armed group with the stated name up to the time the Derg regime was removed from power in May 1991.   

ANDM stands not only in servitude to its masters but also against the interests of the very people that it was assigned to administer. TPLF and now, OPDO/OPD/OPP govern the Amhara land in authority terms, whilst ANDM/ADP/APP plays the role of signing approval of relinquishment. The reality needs to be stated vividly. More surprisingly, this party has been giving Amhara lands to other regions and even to Sudan. ANDM gave Wolkaiyt and Raya to Tigrai right after it seized power together with TPLF; Metekel area to Benishangul Gumuz; and Dera to Oromia region. It doesn’t end there. Then after, ANDM also approved the deal that dispossessed Amhara and gave Metema and Armachiho fertile lands to Sudan by the authority of Abay Tsehaye.

The traitor party is now working in giving Addis Ababa to Oromia region despite the city’s sovereign regional structure and demography. The most horrible role it played was in the adoption of a Constitution that enabled the perpetuation of violence and discrimination against ethnic Amharas, contributing to a situation that has been described as genocidal.

The people of the region, with vast territory and the majority in population, should come to the firm conviction that no ‘satellite’ party, such as EPRP/EPDM/ANDM/ADP/APP, could represent it, and reinforce to offer their earnest support for Fano forces. Such a name change obsession implicates failure, at least.  

The party has been changing name after name and master after master. It could not heal itself to be a party which genuinely represents the Amharas and fight for its people in the ‘constituency,’ but only to continue acting as a junior partner and facilitating the Amhara genocide. Even though the Amhara people have abandoned their trust in ANDM all the way through, the party needs to be dismantled completely. Of course, ANDM has no place in the Amhara region now; however, the people should take all the necessary steps to stop this party from misrepresenting the Amhara people. 

Conclusions   

It has been noted that Amhara people have been at the recipient position of all the crimes of the successive ruling governments in Ethiopia. A party so called ANDM has been collaborating with these coercive rulers as a junior partner abandoning the Amhara people – its “constituent”.   

The Amhara National Democratic Movement – ANDM (APP) – which has been a subordinate ruling party throughout its existence has been the obstacle for the political causes of the Amhara people. There needs to be a means to really understand the situation on the ground and boost the public struggle to get rid of ANDM as a false representative of the region. Though the people have been expressing their distrust for the past forty plus years since the formation of ANDM, things are getting worse. ANDM’s practice of ‘name changing’ has been a reality consistently. The Party continued to change its name in accordance with its contemporaneous masters’ orders. Accordingly, ANDM ended up being a slave for life, giving up the country’s largest ethnic group it ‘represents.’  

The Amhara region is on the cusp of a revolution. The last remnants of the subordinate party – ANDM – are crumbling and the people are rising to claim their rightful place in history. It’s an all-out war in Amhara, and the outcome is all but certain. The forces of oppression, those who have held power for far too long, are the last slaves of a bygone era. But their time is almost up.
The Amhara people are poised on the brink of salvation and complete freedom. The darkness that has shrouded the region for so long is lifting, and a new era of self-determination is dawning. The end of history’s darkest chapter is near, and a brighter future beckons.

Endnotes   

1. A former Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jigjiga University (JJU) until May 2023, Mr. Tingirtu was forced to immigrate to the United States due to the deteriorating political situation in Ethiopia. The author continues to advocate for human rights and social justice. He can be reached at  tingirtsocy@gmail.com   
2. Haile M. Akalu, “ANDM turns 37 – A look at its achievements, challenges and future prospects”, (November 28, 2017).  

Addis Standardhttps://addisstandard,com   

3. Haile M. Akalu, “ANDM turns 37 – A look at its achievements, challenges and future prospects”, (November 28, 2017).  

Addis Standardhttps://addisstandard,com   

4. Mulgeta Berhe and Gebresilassie Fiseha, “Nationalism and self-determination in contemporary Ethiopia”, (December 11, 2019).  

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/105299/   

5. Borkena, “Amhara Democratic Party is the new name for ANDM”, (September 30, 2018).  
6. Borkena, “Amhara Democratic Party is the new name for ANDM”, (September 30, 2018).  
7. Solomon D. Dibaba, “The Merger of Ethiopia People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) into Ethiopia Prosperity Party (EPP) and its impact on the Constitution”, (March 2021).  

8. East African Review, “Devastation Unleashed: Civilians in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region Targeted in Second Deadly Back-to-Back Drone Attack in a Week”, (May 14, 2024).    

9. East African Review, “Ethiopia’s Amhara Region Under Siege: Abiy Ahmed’s Forces Kill Over 20”, (June 21, 2024).  

10. Yohannes H. Getahun, “The original political legitimacy of the Ethiopian ethnic federal system: from the perspective of multiparty deliberative constitution-making” (December 2023).  

11. Mulgeta Berhe and Gebresilassie Fiseha, “Nationalism and self-determination in contemporary Ethiopia,” (December 11, 2019).  

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/105299/   

12. Solomon D. Dibaba, “The Merger of Ethiopia People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) into Ethiopia Prosperity Party (EPP) and its impact on the Constitution”, (March 2021).  

Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com


__

To Publish an Article On borkena , please send submission to info@borkena.com for consideration.

Join our Telegram Channel : t.me/borkena

Like borkena on Facebook

Add your business to Borkena Business Listing/Business Directory  Jobs

Join the conversation. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter ) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian news updates regularly. Ethiopia  To share information or for  submission, send e-mail to info@borkena.com