Dictator Meles (by the pseudonym, Adal Isaw) is back on Aigaforum with an article, “Enough is enough: there is ample time for politics”, in relation to the current famine that is endangering the lives of 14 million Ethiopians, with the hope of galvanizing the Ethiopian Diaspora behind the TPLF.
But I would say no to this futile and scaring tactics. Unless the politics and economics is put right first, there will never be an end to famine and poverty in Ethiopia. We know this famine is not just a result of unprecedented natural disaster in Ethiopia. It was a making of the TPLF’s disastrous economic policy and ethnic politics. TPLF’s land tenure, agriculture, environment, natural resource development, urban development, rural development, domestic and foreign trade policies were all flawed from their inception, and the minority Tigre dominated and ethnic politics that sow suspicion than trust amongst the Ethiopian people did not encourage productivity in all sectors of the Ethiopian economy.
We also know that TPLF had a history of using famine as a political tool. TPLF thrives through people’s hunger, poverty and crisis. They never cared for the loss of life. We know from their early history how they triggered Dergue to get “Howzen” bombed to get recognition internationally, we have heard from Gebremedhin, how they pocketed millions of dollars by forcing the mass movement of the people of Tigray into the Sudan territory to collect famine money on their behalf. We know how they denied entry of aid agencies to the Ogaden region to provide much needed emergency. We know how they used to deliberately facilitate the burning of forests and National Parks in the Southern and Oromia regions. We know how they triggered conflicts between different ethnic and religious groups where lots of lives were lost.
They can not tell us now how they care for people’s lives. Even recently, in the aftermath of the 2005 election, we know how they used donor food to force people to register in the kebeles to buy food ration.
There is no guarantee that TPLF will not use any future food assistance for a similar political purpose, especially in the run up to the already won “2010 election”. I am sure, if a condition was to be imposed where a neutral body, like international NGOs, local, NGOs or UN agencies oversee the whole management of the prospective emergency food aid , the TPLF will outright say NO, in the name of sovereignty. Since the issue for them is not saving life, but a hidden political end.
So my fellow Ethiopians, I understand that our people are at the verge of a crisis, people have already started dying of hunger. We might have to come to the consensus of helping our fellow Ethiopians who are passing through this ordeal, but it should be only under one condition: provided that this life saving effort is wholly overseen and managed by independent national and international institutions. Otherwise, it is another business opportunity for EFFORT/TPLF.
