ይህ የሳይንቲስት ጥላሁን ይልማ ቃለ ምልልስ ነው ። አንብቡ ማንበብ ደግ ነው ። ሼር -- Professor Tilahun Yilma In the long term, my strategy will not only regain Ethiopian unity and territorial integrity, but it will also prevent Tigreans and Eritreans from destroying Ethiopia and themselves...Prof. Tilahun Yilma: INTERVIEW: By Elias Wondimu Q. In the February 1996 issue of Ethiopian Review you suggested that Ethiopia should secede from the provinces of Tigray and Eritrea, to save the country from disintegration. When and how did you come up with this solution? A. Before I answer your questions let me define some terms that I will use in this interview. Mereb Melash is the historical name for the northern territory of Ethiopia, a colony of Italy from 1890-1941. The Italians renamed the region Eritrea on January 1, 1890, and called its inhabitants Eritreans. Ascaris (Ashker), meaning servant or slave, is the Italian word for the Eritrean soldiers they used in their campaign to colonize Ethiopia. I have proposed that Ethiopians abandon use of this colonial (or slave) name and return to the historic name of Mereb Melash (ER, May 1996). I will define Eritreans as those Tigrigna-speaking peoples whose origins are from the highlands of Hamassen, Serae and Akele Guzai, comprising about one third of Mereb Melash. Ethiopians (non-Tigrigna speaking) who are natives of Mereb Melash include Afar, Saho, Beja, Bilen, Kunama, Nara, Tigre, etc. Similarly, when I refer to the province of Tigray, I am only referring to the region occupied by Tigrigna-speaking people. I am not including the non-Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians and their regions, which include members of the Raya, Azebo, Shire, Agame, Temben, and Endirta, etc. The Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) is an organization of Tigrigna-speaking people of Mereb Melash who fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. The Tigre Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) is an organization of Tigrigna-speaking people of the Province of Tigray, organized by the EPLF. EPLF/TPLF fought for the independence of both Tigray and Eritrea from Ethiopia. Their stated intent was to form a new country called Greater Eritrea. They are now bent on destroying Ethiopia, their claimed arch enemy. Kilil, the Amharic word for a restricted zone, is the equivalent terminology used by the TPLF/EPLF for their apartheid concept of tribal homelands for their colony of Ethiopia. Interestingly, advocacy of kilil or ethnic policies in Eritrea is a capital offense. Now let me answer your question. About a year and half ago, after observing the actions of the TPLF/EPLF since taking power in Ethiopia in May 1991, I had occasions for extensive conversations with prominent TPLF/EPLF officials in Addis Abeba. These included former Prime Minister and current Defense Minister Tamrat Layne, the current Deputy Prime Minister Kassu Yilala, the personal physician of Prime Minister Meles, Dr. Muli Tekle, and other officials of TPLF/EPLF. During my numerous travels to Ethiopia over the past 8 years, undertaken on behalf of projects funded by the United Nations and the British Government, I was contacted and asked to official meetings with these people (with the exception of Dr. Muli, who sought me out at the Hilton Hotel where I was staying). These conversations as well as other personal observations have made it crystal clear to me that the TPLF/EPLFs immediate and overriding goal is the building of Tigray and Eritrea, without the least concern for the concomitant enslavement and impoverishment of 50 million non-Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians. Let me quote some of the typical conversations with officials that led me to conclude that the TPLF/EPLFs agenda for Ethiopia is its destruction. As a first example I will remind readers of the selection of Alemaya University, because of its long and distinguished background in agricultural sciences as the site of a World Bank project on semi-arid agriculture in East Africa. That undertaking was cancelled by the Meles regime. When I asked Ato Kassu Yilala about its fate, his response was: since we felt that the provinces of Gojam, Gonder, and Wello are also semi-arid, we chose Mekele in Tigray Province as the site for this $10 million project. Further, let me also quote from a lengthy conversation with Dr. Muli, who stated: We will never allow Ethiopia to use the free port of Djibouti instead of the Assab port, since that would bankrupt Eritrea. There is no concern for bankrupting Ethiopia. In fact, they know a weakened Ethiopia is advantageous to their ambitions. My political solution as proposed in the article Ethiopia Should Secede From the Provinces of Tigray & Eritrea grew out of these observations and careful study of the following realities: 1) The independence of Eritrea under the EPLF was finalized by a referendum reportedly supported by 99.9% of the people of Eritrea, but with no participation of the Ethiopian people. 2) The people of Tigray allied with Eritrea via TPLF to assist in the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia. Like the independent nation of Eritrea, Tigray Province today has its own independent foreign policy and foreign tradeministries; no other province in Ethiopia is entitled to the same privileges. 3) Ethiopia has been colonized and occupied by EPLF/TPLF forces: a) to plunder Ethiopias resources for the exclusive building of Tigray and Eritrea. b) to destroy Ethiopia by waging ethnic and religious politics restricting Ethiopians to their kilil, and requiring that children be taught in tribal languages (of which there are more than 80), thus destroying the educational programs of Ethiopia and a unifying national language. c) to inflict irreversible environmental damage in Ethiopia through indiscriminate deforestation by fire, as well as themassive harvest of timber for shipment to Tigray and Eritrea. At the same time, the TPLF/EPLF has undertaken an extensive forestation program in Tigray and Eritrea with funds borrowed from the World Bank in Ethiopias name: Ethiopia pays the bill and Tigray/Eritrea receives the goodies. This scorch Ethiopia policy is reminiscent of the crime committed by Sadam Hussein when he torched the oil fields of Kuwait. In both cases, it is a crime against humanity. d) to ruin the business community of Ethiopia by promoting unequal competition: Tigreans/Eritreans are allowed to market goods without the taxation imposed on Ethiopians. When that did not yield results quickly enough, the regime raised rents on Ethiopian business more than several thousand percent, the intent being to drive Ethiopians out of their shops and replace them with Tigreans/Eritreans. This process is designed to promote Tigreans/Eritrean businesses and effectively neutralize the boycott response of Ethiopians. Let me further elaborate my political manifesto. First, I believe that peoples should have the right to choose their citizenship. Thus, Eritreans and Tigreans should have the right to be independent, if that is the decision of the majority, and they must also accept the rights of self-determination for the non-Tigrigna speaking peoples of Mereb Melash, Tigray, and the rest of Ethiopia. However, that is not the case, as we all know. The people of Afar are being annihilated by the EPLF/TPLF because they want to remain Ethiopians while the EPLF wants to control the ports of Massawa and Assab, located in Afar regions. Second, it is a general truth that Eritreans and Tigreans have never shown gratitude for the opportunities given to them by the rest of Ethiopians over the past years. Without giving undue significance to my ethnic origins, let me say I belong to four groups: Oromo, Gurage, Amhara, and Tigray. I am not aware of any of my Oromo, Gurage, or Amhara relatives that have ever lived in Tigray or Eritrea. However, my paternal grandfather, Wolde-Ab Felema, migrated south to Dukem in rags, hungry, and penniless--as did hundreds of thousands of Tigreans and Eritreans--and was given one gasha of prime land, probably confiscated from my Oromo relatives. Non-Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians have generally received Tigreans/Eritreans with open arms and generosity, providing land, homes, education, and work opportunities unavailable in their barren homelands. Eritreans/Tigreans have filled government and university positions; they have opened successful businesses, and then often excluded other Ethiopians in hiring and promotions. Meanwhile, Emperor Haile Selassie preferentially diverted money and other resources to Eritrea. Yet, their response has been to complain incessantly. They have defamed the name of Ethiopia globally. The international presses are full of their imagined grievances: they cry that Ethiopia colonized Eritrea and made it an educational desert, and that Ethiopians have discriminated against them (New York Times, April 27, 1993; Africa Watch, January 12, 1993). In fact, however, they have always received a greater share of the national resources than has any other group. So we must ask what benefit for Ethiopia exists in the uneasy association with Tigray/Eritrea. They have brought only poverty, war, misery, and the cultural poisoning of the Ethiopian people by waging ethnic conflict. They are like a malignant cancer that has been eating away at our vital parts. If we dont excise this cancer promptly, Ethiopia will cease to be a nation. Tigreans/Eritreans have drafted into the so-called New Ethiopian Constitution articles allowing secession and requiring restriction of ethnic groups to their tribal regions or kilils. We now should demand that they be the primary beneficiaries of their own laws: they should be deported to their own kilil, and Ethiopia as a nation should secede from the Tigrigna-speaking regions of the Provinces of Tigray and Mereb Melash. Q. Assuming that you stand for the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia, how do you reconcile your call for theseparation of a part of Ethiopia with your stand on Ethiopian unity? A. The unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia became a moot issue when the EPLF/TPLF won their war, and theProvince of Tigray and Eritrea became independent. Tigreans and Eritreans are in Ethiopia not because they are proud Ethiopian citizens, but to rape the resources of Ethiopia in order to build their new country (Eritrea/Tigray) at our expense. Burying our head in the sand like an ostrich facing mortal danger is not going to make the TPLF/EPLF disappear. The sooner Ethiopians recognize reality, the better the chance to rescue a nation at risk. Under the present circumstances, my plan will eventually regain Ethiopian unity and territorial integrity when we accomplish the following objectives: First, we must remove Tigreans/Eritreans from Ethiopia and return them to their kilil, if the disintegration of the rest of Ethiopia is to be stopped. Second, our liberation fronts in the south should join hands with fellow citizens such as the Afar people in the province of Tigray and Mereb Melash. The Eritreans, who led a 30-year battle for their own self-determination, have shown absolutely no respect for the self-determination for the majority of non-Tigrigna speaking people of the region, including members of the Saho, Kunama, Hidarib, Rashaida Nara, and Afar. These people live in the region stretching from the ports of Assab and Djibouti in the south to Massawa in the north, including Danakil and Dahlak. The main purpose of EPLFs occupation of Afar Region is to generate income by taxing goods coming to and from Ethiopia; this policy also fulfills the colonial design to landlock Ethiopia and ensure its vulnerability and dependency on Eritrea. We should direct our full energy to helping our fellow citizens who are fighting to gain or retain their Ethiopian nationality and territorial integrity; then all Ethiopians would have a chance to become part of a political entity emphasizing democracy without tribalism, ensuring the rights of all by eliminating domination by any one ethnic group. Third, The Central Highlands should be designated a country for Tigreans and Eritreans exclusively. They have declined Ethiopian citizenship and have shown no gratitude for their opportunities in Ethiopia, instead choosing to regard Ethiopia as the arch enemy and bringing the devastation of a war for independence. Now let them enjoy their newly gained independence and the deprivations that will surely accompany it. All TPLF/EPLF members and thei secessionist Tigrigna-speaking supporters should be deported from Ethiopia to the newly-formed country, which the may then call by the colonial or slave name of Eritrea if they wish. We can see now that Ethiopias policy of appeasement towards Tigreans/Eritreans was a total failure, and it should never be tried again. We should learn from the Italian experience: they treated Eritreans as slaves for 60 years and never allowed them to be educated beyond th fourth grade. And yet Eritreans admire, glorify, and even revere their Italian masters, emulating the Italian way of life in mannerisms, food, and language while nursing hatred and disdain for Ethiopians. Fourth, I assure you that Tigreans and Eritreans will not be able to survive in that arid land for long. They will soon return, begging to regain their Ethiopian nationality. Soon, after experiencing misery and hunger, they will be craving the gold (Ethiopia) that they have discarded as copper. That will be the time to define a relationship with them that will ensure they will never have another chance to threaten Ethiopia. In the long term, my strategy will not only regain Ethiopian unity and territorial integrity, but it will also prevent Tigreans and Eritreans from destroying Ethiopia and themselves. Q. Some Tigreans and Eritreans who read your articles have accused you of being extreme and a hate-monger. What is your response? A. What a coincidence--this problem must run in my family line! The Eritrean Ascaris and their Italian masters accused my great-uncle, Gebeyehu Gora, of being a terrorist and a hate-monger during the battle of Adwa, but to Ethiopians he was one of the most celebrated heroes of the war. ( GBYhbmt TTkblc^Mdf AGlbx bc Lbc#) Similarly, they accused my father of terrorism during the Fascist occupation of Ethiopia. He bore service wounds from 13 machine gun bullets of Fascist Italy and the Eritrean Ascaris. A classic strategy of Tigreans/Eritreans, in addition to harassment and threats of physical violence, is to resort to character assassination and personal attack, hoping to divert attention from the real issues. They have used these techniques effectively to silence Ethiopians from speaking out. That reaction has now changed: Ethiopians are speaking out because they recognize now the TPLF/EPLF cancer (the enemy within) that is eating away at the vital parts of a 3,000-year-old nation. They also know that hatred for an enemy is in fact a prerequisite if a nation is to rally its citizens in a battle for survival. But let us explore who the real hate-mongers truly are by providing a few examples of the many atrocities inflicted by Tigreans/Eritreans on Ethiopians: 1) Who callously expelled 200,000 Ethiopians from Eritrea (mainly women and children, empty-handed after their homes and property were confiscated)? 2) Was it not Netsannet Asfaw, Meless spokeswoman, who demanded that these people be banished and removed from her sight when they arrived in Addis Abeba on foot? There was no sense of responsibility or compassion for these displaced persons, the Unforgiven Ethiopians (New York Times, November 3, 1993). 3) Who advocated on the TPLF/EPLF media the ethnic cleansing of Amharas that led to the slaughter of innocent woman and children in the various provinces of Ethiopia such as Harer, Arsi, etc.? 4) Who selectively instituted an apartheid policy of Bantustanization in Ethiopia, a first by Africans for other Africans? When the TPLF/EPLF marched in Addis Abeba in May 1991, Meles Zenawi discarded our national flag as a piece of meaningless rag and hoisted his TPLF/EPLF colors. Should we assume this was a gesture of love and goodwill towards the people of Ethiopia? This is the same flag that Fatuma Roba and many other proud Ethiopians waved in front of billions of people around the world during the Olympic games in Atlanta. This is also the same flag with which the great Emperor Menelik rallied his people to win the Battle of Adwa against the Italians and their Eritrean Ascaris. They struggled and sacrificed to keep Ethiopia intact as one of the oldest independent nations in the world, with its rich culture and literature and proud people. Yet, our Modern Eritrean Ascaris, Meles and Issayas, backed by their new masters, the US and Israel, will destroy Ethiopia if unchallenged. Eritreans have defined Ethiopians as the enemy in numerous press releases and publications, including the June 1996 issue of the National Geographic. In the same article, they state that they were able to beat Ethiopia only when the were able to overcome ethnic and religious conflicts in Eritrea. Now they are implementing policies of just such conflict in Ethiopia, fully realizing the consequences. Recent coverage by Michael Scholar on Eritrea (July 18, 1996) in National Public Radios Morning Edition program clearly shows who is the hate-monger. It was reported that th Eritrean Government has commissioned the writing of new songs and plays to teach their children, so that they will never forget the Eritrean freedom fighters who gained independence for Eritrea, and never lose their hatred for the Ethiopian enemy. Yet, Issayas and his Ambassador in Addis Abeba proclaim that Ethiopia and Eritrea are to be one country. They have legitimized hatred for the Amharas, and even made it a requirement for advancement of course that is not considered hate-mongering. As I understand it, it appears more likely that Ethiopia is to be condemned to remain a colony of Tigray/Eritrea, whic they will dismantle at will to ship the resources to Tigray and Eritrea. Even Fascist Italy, once considered the arch enemy of Ethiopia, did not inflict the same degree of damage on Ethiopia in such a short period. Graziani and Mussolini built an extensive infrastructure--roads, bridges, and buildings--in Ethiopia, instead of bundling up our assets for shipment to Tigray/Eritrea. What did they expect the Ethiopian people to do when their plans became obvious? Are they offended that we do not reward them with medals for a job well done? This reminds of an old Ethiopian story about a bully and his victim, whom he beat unmercifully. When the police arrived, the bully started screaming, charging his victim of assault and battery. In amazement, the victim looked into the eye of the policeman, and said, Sir, this bully just stole my complaint (x
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 21:57:58 +0000
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