Ethiopia Emperor Abiy tries to resist democratic forces.
As happened 30 years ago with Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Prosperity Party regime is also experiencing its last days. Like Mengistu, Abiy also tries to resist the democratic forces, deceiving the Ethiopian people, to run away if necessary. Witness of fears and apprehension gathered among civilians in Addis Ababa
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, there is an air of the end of the regime, uncertainty and fear for the immediate future. “We are all apprehensive. Premier Abiy continues to tell us lies. He keeps telling us that the TPLF has been defeated and that the rebel coalition will be annihilated before it reaches Addis Ababa. We know that him and several other Ministers and Generals are preparing an escape route should events precipitate. Their families are already safe abroad. We cannot escape. We can only hope that the new government does not want to avenge itself by raging on civilians ”.
“I advised my 19-year-old son to stop posting on Facebook in favor of the Abiy government. He does not listen to me and continues to publish the messages that Abiy’s propaganda service suggests to him. I fear for him. He is rumored that the TPLF and the OLA are registering all Facebook and Twitter users who post ethnic hatred to prosecute them when the victory will arise. I’m desperate. I risk losing my second child. The firstborn died a month ago near Dessie. He was fighting for the ENDF against the Tegaru. He was 22 years old “
“We live in a virtual reality. On TV they are telling us that we will win but we know we have already lost. I did not respond to the call to arms. I will not defend the capital because I know Abiy is negotiating his escape. This man deceived us from the start. Now I wonder what will become of us Amhara. The TPLF has never been soft on its enemies. Getachew Reda, Debretsion Gebremichael, Tsadkan Gebretensae are capable but unforgiving military political leaders. Now less than ever. Their people suffered genocide. Tegaru are very angry. I only hope that the Oromo can make the TPLF understand the difference between the people, the extremists and the Amhara leadership. The latter spoke in the name of the Amhara but never allowed us to express what we really felt. Our homeland is destroyed and our lives in danger ”.
These are some testimonies of t Addis Ababa inhabitants reached by telephone. Perhaps the latest, as the government has informed that it will monitor every phone call also on WhatsApp and every post published on social networks. Ethiopian citizens who make comments against the regime’s propaganda or who have contacts with foreigners will be accused of aiding and abetting terrorism and face 3 to 10 years in prison.
The Amhara leadership and Premier Abiy are playing a double game towards the population and the nation. On the one hand they are trying to organize resistance against the coalition of the democratic forces of Tigray, Oromia, Gambella, Gumuz, Somali Region which are just outside the capital. On the other hand, they are negotiating for a transfer of power that will ensure exile, thus escaping justice. African diplomatic sources report that the “rebel” coalition continues to reject any compromise with the collapsing regime. The response of the TPLF and the OLA is only one: unconditional surrender.
Yesterday the regime organized demonstrations against the democratic liberation forces in Addis Ababa, Oromia, Gambella, Somali Region and Benishangul-Gumuz Region. The locations were not chosen at random as they are precisely the regions that formed Washington D.C. the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist Forces — UFEFF, the political coalition destined to replace the Poverty Party to rebuild the country and initiate national reconciliation through dialogue after the total defeat of the Amhara regime. The goal of the regime’s propaganda was to make people believe that the UFEFF does not have popular support.
Participation in the demonstrations was not significant. The international and Ethiopian media have not given particular prominence to this desperate display of strength. Only state TV and the nationalist media FANA Broadcasting (known for its calls for the genocide of Tigers and messages of ethnic hatred) made the news stand out. In Europe, the news was relevant only on RaiNews, in an article that refers to the genocidal media FANA which will be closed by the democratic forces after the total liberation of the country.
There is still fighting in the Amhara region and the Tigray Regional Army (TDF) claims it has control of the A1 and A2 highways leading to Addis Ababa. The increasingly weak defense of the Amhara region is now entrusted solely to the FANO genocidal militias and other minor nationalist Amhara militias. The Federal Army (ENDF) is no longer fighting.
The divisions of the ENDF stationed in Addis Ababa have joined the federal police and are standing trying to create city militias to resist the advance of the “rebel” coalition. The militiamen will be organized by the army in defense of the kebeles (neighborhoods) of Addis Ababa. The army is also trying to bring retired former soldiers back into service. In Addis Ababa and Oromia there are roundups of children (aged 14 to 16) to use them as cannon fodder to make the TPLF and OLA consume bullets if the battle of Addis Ababa takes place. These roundups have resulted in the desertion of the majority of the Oromo Special Forces who have now joined the Oromo Liberation Army.
Despite these attempts (and crimes) to reorganize the defense forces, the ENDF no longer exists. Premier Abiy and the Amhara leadership made a gross mistake when they arrested over 17,000 Tigrinya officers between 2019 and 2020, destroying the federal army’s chain of command, rendering him incapacitated. Since November 3, 2020 (the start date of the Ethiopian civil war), the ENDF has been led by totally incompetent Amhara officers who have commanded an army of semi-illiterate peasants and forcibly enlisted children.
“The Tigray troops have always shown strong fighting morale and a desire to win. There is a lot of discipline in the TPLF troops which are made up of highly educated people, not peasants as in the resistance war against Mengistu’s DERG. The TPLF recruited doctors and diplomats and trained them very well before sending them to the front. This is the secret of Tigray’s victory. “ Kjetil Tronvoll, a Norwegian conflict researcher, explains.
Yesterday, the social network Twitter decided to temporarily disable its Trend section in Africa to limit the spread of incitements to violence and genocide that are published on its social network by Amhara users recruited by the regime to spread fascist propaganda. The decision follows Facebook’s decision to delete one of Prime Minister Abiy’s posts asking Ethiopians to “bury TPLF terrorists” by portraying Tigrinies as rats to be thrown back into the sewers.
The dying Amhara regime protested against the decisions of Twitter and Facebook, defining the two social giants as supporters of Ethiopian terrorism. He also accused Reuters, New York Time, The Guardian and other international media of “spreading disinformation by falsely reporting that some cities have fallen into the hands of the enemy when the latter is defeated” referring to the TDF and the OLA.
The regime has again accused international NGOs of supporting the terrorists of Tigray and Oronia, spreading “unfounded rumors that damage the image of the country”. By breaking all diplomatic norms, the regime has accused the Western embassies of spreading the false claim that Addis Ababa is surrounded by the enemy. As reported by the Addis Standard newspaper, the regime accuses Western ambassadors of coordinating with the aim of creating suspicion and doubts in public opinion and in the Ethiopian defense forces.
The European Parliament yesterday managed to overcome the opposition of Italy, France, Portugal and Spain which for over a month had been blocking the implementation of sanctions against those responsible for the war and the humanitarian crisis in Tigray. Now the EU is ready to issue sanctions. Confirmed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Accused of having tolerated the massacre of civilians throughout Ethiopia and the genocide in Tigray perpetuated by the nationalist Amhara regime for 12 months, the EU replied that it had blocked 107 million dollars in the previous months to support the state budget of the Ethiopia.
Even the latest ally of Premier Abiy: the Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has abandoned the regime. The Ottoman regime has distanced itself from the Prosperity Party and Premier Abiy by stating that Turkey wants friendly relations with all Ethiopian ethnic groups and political forces, proposing itself as a peacemaker to avoid a bloodbath in the capital. TPLF and OLA rejected the mediation proposal.
According to US intelligence sources, Turkey has sold $ 51 million worth of weapons to the Amhara regime since last August, including at least 14 combat drones. A mountain of weapons that have served no purpose but which will be useful for the new democratic federal army of Ethiopia under the leadership of Oromo and Tigrina. To these must be added the weapons and ammunition sold by China, Iran and Russia. There is no evidence or evidence of Italian arms sales despite the fact that the military cooperation agreements signed in 2019 by Rome and Addis Ababa have never been repealed despite the genocide that took place in Tigray.
Is there any negotiation possibility to avoid the urban battle of Addis Ababa? According to the Norwegian researcher Kjetil Tronvoll, no.
“There will be no negotiated takeover. We can only expect a final escalation of the ongoing conflict. The TPLF has no interest in assuming power through political means. It wants to overthrow Abiy and reach a transition agreement with the Oromo and others. Ethiopian regions. Abiy’s political career is over. He can only flee and go into exile. Faced with a situation like this, international peace efforts have come too late and, worse still, most diplomats who have they are pledging for peace mediation not familiar with the complexity of Ethiopia, with the people, with the sentiment of the antagonistic parties, ”Tronvoll said yesterday in an interview with the German newspaper Deutsche Welle.
Although the end of the regime is near, ethnic vendettas continue. On Wednesday he was killed by the paramilitary FANO militia, Professor Meareg Amare, a lecturer at the University of Bairdar, Amhara due to his Tigrinya origins. Two weeks earlier, two other Tigrinya professors had been savagely lynched at the University of Wollo, also in the Amhara.
