December 16, 2017 16:25
Birhanemeskel Abebe Segni
After it realized that it has lost all the political credibility with the Ethiopian people, the TPLF has fully resorted to violence. TPLF is using the Ethiopian Military, Federal Police and National intelligence to commit violence and conduct ethnic cleansing wars it started in parts of Oromia and Amhara.
TPLF is testing the resolve and the determination of the Ethiopian people to fight them back. The Ethiopian people must immediately and unanimously condemn the mass killings of civilians in Oromia and Amhara Regions by the TPLF led military, federal police, and national intelligence.
The further deployment TPLF led military, federal police and the national intelligence in Oromia and Amhara Regions in violation of the Ethiopian constitution and existing federal structures must be immediately condemned. TPLF actions are illegal and unconstitutional, and should not be tolerated across Ethiopia.
It is very urgent and critically important to stop the TPLF deployment of its military, federal police and national intelligence officers in Oromia and Amhara regions. The progressive elements in the OPDO and ANDM are seriously undermined by the TPLF deployment of the military, federal police and national intelligence to commit violence and intimidate the people. These illegal and unconstitutional actions should be immediately and unconditionally stopped.
Ethiopians in the country and outside the country including all social media users must exclusively focus on these critical issues and the dangerous move of the TPLF and condemn the TPLF use of the so-called Ethiopian Military, Federal Police, and National Intelligence to commit violence.
The Ethiopian people, all progressive members of the OPDO and ANDM, and others within EPRDF and outside the EPRDF must take the following immediate measures:
1. Demand all Ethiopian Regional governments to call for the total withdrawal of the TPLF led Military, Federal Police and National Intelligence from all federal regions of Ethiopia. The Oromia and Amhara Regional governments must lead the way by demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of these illegal and illegitimate TPLF forces from their regions.
2. If the TPLF leaders and commanders who deployed these forces in Oromia, Amhara and other Regions of Ethiopia refuse to abide by the constitutional provisions and the existing federal structure; all Regions must declare the TPLF presence in those Regions as an act of occupation and immediately delegitimize those TPLF commanded forces.
3. Once the Regional governments declare the deployment of these TPLF officers led military, federal police and national intelligence forces illegitimate occupying forces; all Regional Governments must order all regional police and regional militias to defend the peace and security of the people and keep law and order defending the people from these TPLF commanded military, federal police, and national intelligence.
4. If the TPLF officers refuse to abide by the constitution and the regional governments’ order to withdraw from each respective regions, the Ethiopian people must join the Regional forces (the Regional Police and Regional Militias) in defending themselves against the TPLF led the so-called Ethiopian National Defense Forces, the Ethiopian Federal Police, and National Intelligence.
5. Without waiting for the implementation of any of the above-suggested proposals, the Ethiopian people must call upon their sons and daughters in the Ethiopian military, federal police and the national intelligence to withstand against the criminal intent of the TPLF officers and openly disobey TPLF orders. All Ethiopians with connections in the Ethiopian military, federal police, and the national intelligence must reach out to those officers and persuade them to side with the Ethiopian people and refuse the TPLF orders. This is critically important since close to 80% the ranks and files of these forces are nonTPLF members except the command and control structures. All none TPLF officers working in the Ethiopian military, federal police and national intelligence must refuse all TPLF officers orders to fire on the civilian population. If the TPLF officers demand them to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in violation of existing Ethiopian laws and international laws, all Ethiopian military, police and intelligence officers have all the legal rights to refuse the order of TPLF officers and exercise self-defense if attacked by TPLF officers. Since Nuremberg, all Ethiopian military, federal and intelligence officers should be warned that superior order is not a defense for crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and other war crimes. Therefore, it is critical that all military, intelligence, and federal police officers will be aware that they will be held responsible for any crime they commit against the Ethiopian people; and defense of superior order by the TPLF officers will not be a defense in the courts of laws.
6. The Ethiopian people must immediately demand the creation of Regional Regiments in the Ethiopian Military, Federal Police, and National Intelligence similar to the United Kingdom’s structures of these institutions which are divided into Irish Regiment, British Regiment, Walsh Regiment and Scottish Regiment. That means, in order for the Ethiopian military, federal police and national intelligence agency to be fully liberated from the TPLF domination, there has to be an Amhara, Oromo, Tigre and other regional regiments for each of the nine regions in proportion to the population size of each respective regions. The Ethiopian parliament must defund the TPLF dominated structures and refund the creation of regiments in line with the population size of each respective federal regions. No TPLF officer should be deployed in any Ethiopian Regions except in Tigray and Ethiopian border areas with the third country. If there is a need for the deployment of these federal forces in each region, only officers recruited from each respective regions should be deployed.
7. In connection to this, it is urgent that all Ethiopians both on regular media and social media start calling for the immediate and unconditional TPLF officers’ withdrawal from all Ethiopian regions and demand the fundamental restructuring of these institutions that have been dominated by the TPLF and its agents for the last 26 years and now committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on the Ethiopian people, mainly on the Oromo and Amhara people.
8. If the security situation in the country deteriorates further, in addition to exercising self-defense, it is also important to consider appealing to the international community to intervene under the responsibility to protect in order to contain the ongoing TPLF savage against unarmed civilians and prevent potential ethnic cleansing and genocide in Ethiopia.
I urge all Ethiopians to get involved and prevent this dangerous TPLF violence and potential genocide from happening in Ethiopia. Time to save Ethiopia and our people is now