The Malignant Tumor within the body politic of the TPLF

By Getachew Tadesse

April 15, 2003

---

The recent progression of events in relation to the TPLF’s policy pertaining to Eritrea did not come as a shock for many of us. This was, for the most part, bound to happen as things were spinning out of control in a devastatingly compounding effect.

This time around, the Meles regime is seemingly at the end of the road. The deceptive practices of one man at the helm of power is now in a collision course with our country and carries a bad omen for this illusive man. In my small world, I have read extensively on social issues with great emphasis on how formal organizations and governments function: in all my dwellings (readings), I have never come across a leader with bizarre behavior like Meles Zenawi’s as a head of state.

A man who passionately works for outsiders whom the constituency he claims to be a leader of considers an enemy. He is in sharp contrast with the public opinion of the Ethiopian people as far as the handling of the Eritrean issue is concerned and yet this individual has managed to stay in power for this long against all odds.

On many occasions, concerned Ethiopians including myself alerted the functionaries of the government that sooner or later, Meles will be a huge liability for our country and we should leave no stone unturned to stop this absurd leader before it is too late. Their response was an eye-opening experience. It almost numbed me. It was as if this guy has stolen their brains and left them for dead even though they seem to be physically alive.

The honorable Tigrean people fought a good fight to dismantle a brutal dictator only to bring a man named Meles Zenawi who wishfully, with a deliberate intent, sells his own people and country in a manner so embarrassing. He is the only leader in contemporary text books of history who voluntarily auctions his country in such a hurry.

The TPLF, an organization who inspired millions of people is without any shadow of a doubt, a source of great pride and will remain that way. The man who thrived by exploiting our collective weaknesses’ is the source of all our ills. The best weapon for Meles Zenawi’s survival so far has to do with his ability to skillfully manipulate the Ethiopian people by intermittently appealing to our state of mind accompanied by the employment of a politics of fear.

This man, without any mandate from the Ethiopian people, agreed and signed to the secession of Eritrea. In the midst of all, he never proposed the idea that Ethiopia needs access to the sea. And still continues to argue that a country of 60 million down-trodden people needs no sea outlet for its survival.

After Eritrean independence, Meles and his regime gave Eritreans a free ride to plunder our resources while Ethiopians were held captive as second class citizens in their own country.

A man who argues that he had absolutely no knowledge that he was going to be invaded by his neighbor despite all indications of enemy preparation and political developments that could lead to conflict.

After the imminent war, our country Ethiopia decisively won the war and the enemy as a vanquished force was supposed to be dictated by our terms of overwhelming victory. Unfortunately, thanks to Meles Zenawi and his retarded cronies, to our dismay, the regime who seem to have contempt to the country it runs rendered our costly sacrifices in vain This man’s policies towards Eritrea and the rationale he injects to justify them are beyond any level of comprehension.

Under their frivolous argument that Ethiopia should be perceived by the international community as a “law abiding nation”, the brain-dead crony Seyoum Mesfin crafted the doomed Algiers agreement to trap Ethiopia in a chaotic legal wrangling. Ethiopia’s battlefield victory was mocked and ridiculed at the Hague.

And now, after all the deception by the Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin that Ethiopia had gained all the disputed territories in that ill-conceived arbitration court at the Hague, the truth has glaringly pounded our chests as Badme and the Irob communities are about to be transferred to Eritrea. The arm twisting on our people to make them who they are not, against their wish, will go down in history as unpardonable.

I read what another pseudo-intellectual and crony of Meles had to say in his exchange with the American Liberal publication (Magazine): The Nation. Professor Kinfe Abraha down played the importance of Badme and tried to divert our devotion to “peace and development”. This re-enforces my long held belief that people like Kinfe considers the Ethiopian audience as a bunch of dumb creatures who do not understand why we are fighting for Badme. I have a clear message for Dr.Kinfe and his likes – the days of deception are over. It is time to have a coherent policy concerning Eritrea.

Finally, the Meles regime has one exit-strategy,so to speak, from the quagmire it is in now: wage an intense diplomatic effort to win the support of the American government and thereby topple the brutal and evil regime of Essayas so the criminal verdict at the Hague will be null and void. Then work to see a government in Eritrea led by a group of educated and “level headed” Eritreans whose aspiration is commensurate with that of the Ethiopian people namely, peace and prosperity.

Unless the objective of any future war with Eritrea is to oust the Essayas regime, we urge the Ethiopian people to say no to Meles Zenawi’s war machine in unison. The fall of the Essayas regime is in the interest of the Ethiopian and Eritrean people.

In the event that the Meles regime continues to be defiant to
the public opinion of the Ethiopian people, the tumor (Meles and his inner circle)
must be removed – hopefully with less invasive procedure.