TPLF violation of National Sovereignty
TPLF Act of Treason
On grasping of state power, the TPLF/EPRDF government sold out national sovereignty and the interests of the people to external forces, committing thereby a treason unprecedented in the history of the nation. It countenanced the breakaway of Eritrea with full knowledge and awareness that such a move was detrimental to the interest of Ethiopia. At a time when no elected government capable of defending the interest of the people was in place and that only a provisional administration was in power, the Meles government wrote to the UN and the OAU notifying them of Ethiopia’s acceptance of Eritrean breakaway. Furthermore, it was the Ethiopian government which sponsored the referendum in Addis by providing Eritreans the physical facilities they needed.
BEFORE |
The Eritrean referendum was timed, with the connivance of the Eritreans, to take place at a time when a real representative government elected by the people was not in place. The referendum took place when all the democratic fora for voicing considered views were closed and without the specific mandate of the people of Ethiopia. The referendum took place before such issues as the border demarcation, the question of sea port ownership and the status of Ethiopians in Eritrea and that of Eritreans in Ethiopia were duly addressed. As expected, the border issue came to the fore with Eritreans demanding urgent settlement. In the talk to seek settlement the two sides agreed on a secret talk at party commission level in disregard of the need to address the issue at government level.
Every time the port issue was addressed the TPLF/EPRDF officials were eager to point out that Ethiopia lost nothing by becoming a landlocked country. The TPLF/EPRDF guys thought that whoever talked about the port was talking not in the interest of sovereignty and national interest but rathes in the interest of the “Nefteññas” (a pejorative word to designate Amharas) The fact of the matter is however, that landlocked countries are less attractive for direct foreign investment than maritime ones, attracting only 34% of the latter. The TPLF/EPRDF move on this issue is eminently one of treason. The wrong policy pursued by the government and the dangerous step it had taken has led to the violation of the rights and freedom of citizens. The decision has led to the arrogant invasion by EPLF and the payment of immense sacrifice in material cost and human life. It has led to the violation of the national sovereignty and to the loss of Ethiopia’s national territory. Aware of TPLF/EPRDF’s indifference to Ethiopia’s national interest, EPLF inundated the Ethiopian market with contraband goods. It engaged in the export of Ethiopia’s major foreign currency earners: Sesame, coffee hides and skins. This is a government which negotiated foreign credit for Eritrea and undertook to service the debt from the Ethiopian exchequer. Ethiopian banks advanced a credit of Br. 1.2 billion for the reconstruction of Eritrea which had never cared to pay it back. Another credit of Br. 50 million Birr said to be the savings of Eritrean in Ethiopia was also credited to Eritrea. Proclamation 51/1985 provided that Ethiopia should withdraw a credit of Br. 18 million and the hundred thousand from the International development Association which it did. The credit was given without any agreement being signed between the provisional government of Eritrea and the Transitional Government of Ethiopia. Furthermore, the Ethiopian Government met all the expenses needed to rehabilitate the Assab Refinery, expand the harbour, spare parts, chemicals insurance etc.
Ethiopia’s crude oil import is refined at Assab is partly sold for Eritrea in birr. The Eritrean government trading enterprise, The Red Sea Trading, with a branch office in Addis was granted the right to rip off the Ethiopian economy with impunity through contraband trade, distribution of fake Birr notes and black market foreign currency exchange. With the approval of the Ethiopian authorities, the Eritrean ambassador to Ethiopia set up the so-called Horn of Africa Bank with which to finance its rip off of Ethiopian of the Ethiopian Economy at the expense of the Ethiopian businessmen. Any view voiced against the Eritrean exploitation of Ethiopia was immediately dismissed by the TPLF officials because to their logic, it was not Ethiopia but rather Eritrean which was losing! The favourable conditions which the TPLF created for EPLF helped Eritrea accumulate the resource it need to underpin its ambition of becoming the regional super power and finance the war which it was to launch against Ethiopia.
AFTER |
The subservient relationship which this government chose to maintain with Eritrea, beyond flinging the door open for Eritrea’s ruthless pillage of Ethiopian resources, virtually resulted in TPLF’s sell out of the Ethiopia national sovereignty. EPLF had set up a huge security net work in Ethiopia and kidnapped Ethiopian it thought had collaborated against it during the war against Ethiopia. Its victims are still unaccounted for. At times it kidnapped and killed its victims with impunity. With time, pressure was being brought to bear on the government to whip Eritreans into line. Rather than complying with the law of their host country, Eritrea reacted defiantly by publishing a map of Eritrea which had incorporated parts of Ethiopia.
It resented against Ethiopian decision to issue a new Birr bank notes, coming as it did precisely at a time when Eritrea itself had decided to issue its own currency the Naqfa. Ethiopians residing in Asmara, Massawa and Assab were told they could only enjoy limited freedom. Often times, they were arrested on charges hooliganism. In the run up for the war tension began to build on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border. Provocation was widespread to force Ethiopians into starting the war. Border communities in Tigray and Afar warned without success that Eritrea was preparing for war. The Ethiopian independent press warned that war was inevitable but were dismissed as war mongers. It was at this time of heightened tension that the Ethiopian Minister of Defence assured parliament that the Ethiopian forces are well equipped and prepared to face any enemy. Which, as we can see later, were not.
Despite Eritrea’s full swing preparation for the impending war, the Ethiopian authorities followed policies supportive of the Eritrean effort. One of the courses of action worth citing is the training of Eritrean pilots at Debre-Zeit base. This flung the door open for Eritrean intelligence to have full acess to sensitive areas. The defence industrial plants built up by the Derg were prematurely scrapped. The regular army which the nation had built up in the course of 50 years was disbanded in favour of TPLF’s ragtag army. The Eritrean government began to mass troops with no corresponding Ethiopian forces in the area. Taking full advantage of the vacuum, the Eritrean forces literally marched into Ethiopia. It was a most humiliating experience for the TPLF people who had to confess that they were caught by surprise.
The Ethiopian people’s response to the Eritrean invasion was quick and resolute. People across was question about the readiness and resolve of the people to reverse the invader but the challenge was a formidable one. Owing to government’s negligence, the enemy force had occupied strategic areas and dug in. This has forced Ethiopia pay dearly to dislodge the enemy forces. In the two year war it had to pay a sacrifice no less heavy than the 30 years was it had to pay. Nearly 70,000 citizens sacrificed their dear lives, hundreds of thousands were displaced and Property worth billions of Birr was destroyed. Finally Ethiopia scored a brilliant victory over the enemy and reasserted its sovereignty. But again the TPLF/EPRDF government treacherous treason cast shadow on that brilliant victory.
Just after the victory the Ethiopian forces moved into a second operation designed to annihilate once and for all the Eritrea forces. But in less than 24 hours, the Prime Minister unilaterally ordered a stop of the operation. Just days before Ethiopia scored a strategic victory which could definitively rid Ethiopia of any concern from Eritrea, a treason committed by its leadership deprived it of the victory. The Algiers accord signed in the wake of the greatest victory constituted a sell out of the Ethiopia’s national interest.
The Algiers accord was-signed on the basis of colonial agreements which had outlived their relevance. Not only did that mean a sell out of our national interest but also a serious danger to our own future as a nation. The legal basis of the accord were the 1900, 1902 and 1908 Italian-Ethiopian agreements. But these agreements were not signed between equals. Ethiopia signed the agreement under pressure from Italy and other Western countries. Ethiopia signed the accord coercively and an agreement signed under such circumstance is invalid, according the practice of international law. After the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, Italy incorporated Eritrea into Ethiopia to create its East African Empire. The agreements were thereby rendered null and void. Furthermore, the UN sponsored Federation arrangement under which Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia has again rendered the agreements null and void. There was an understanding among the Western powers, including Italy, prior to the federal union, that in the event Eritrea opted for an independent nationhood, Ethiopia’s right of access to the Red Sea would be respected.
The acceptance by Ethiopia of the colonial agreements as the basis of the Algiers accord can be said to have wrought more damage to Ethiopia than did the Eritrean invasion of Ethiopian territory. What made the damage even more painful is the fact that the culprit is none other than the Ethiopian government itself which deemed it fit to regard the vanquished party with the victory it had lost in the battle field. One could assume that the decision may have been based on new elements which emerged following the break up of the federation. But then this could have been made mention of in the accord. Had the accord been based on the 1964 Cairo agreement which endorsed colonial boundary as final and irrevocable, then the port of Assab would not have been part of Eritrea, as the lost colonial master — the Derg had the Eritrean border else where. As the victor of the war, Ethiopia had an excellent opportunity to propose terms it thought could best protect its interests. Proposal could be forwarded by which the border issue could be started a new for discussion. But for all the numerous historical, legal and diplomatic evidences that could very well substantiate its arguments, Ethiopia was made a victim of injustice since its own government failed to demonstrate any concern about national sovereignty.
Source: Taken from the CUDP 2005 Manifesto
Related topics: Facts about TPLF (15 sections)
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