December 30, 2022, By Denboba Natie, Edinburgh- Scotland

The Tigray War, Its Human And Material Costs And The Pretoria Peace Deal

The Tigray’s war ended following the Pretoria’s November 02, 2022, peace deal between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray’s regional state. The Pretoria agreement followed on in Kenya on two occasions has, indeed silenced the guns of warring groups thereby ending over two years suffering of Tegarus. Since I saw the cessation of hostility, and the ending of agonising pain of the Tigray mothers, senior citizens, children, man and women; my soul has immensely rejoiced.

The Ethiopian government allied with the Eritrean regime’s 44 military divisions, several divisions of Amhara Fano and Militia, and various regional special forces multi-agency war has unleashed brutal forces on a single region of Tigray on November 03, 2020, to cause unimaginable level of sufferings to all people of Tigray. None of Tegaru’s were spared. Genetically identified, stereotyped, and increasingly vilified, Tegarus became the prime targets of elimination campaign not only in Tigray but also throughout Ethiopia. Between 1.5 to 1.8 million civilians and military personnel were feared dead since November 2020’s war to make it one of the world’s deadliest wars of 21st century.

The multiagency war according to the Ethiopia state media and the 2019’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate PM, colonel Abiy Ahmed, was officially claimed to be a campaign of restoring law and order by eliminating the Tigray’s ruling party, TPLF, simply because it has unprovoked attacked the Ethiopia’s northern military division stationed in Tigray. Therefore, the aim of the war was propagated as being only targeting Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The claim didn’t stay longer than a month when the true face of the war revealed its hidden side. In fact, the war aimed at removing Tegaru from the face of earth and that war was state masterminded and stage managed. Tigray was kept under 360-degree siege to validate my argument. Between 800,000 and 1.1 million Tegaru’s were feared dead due to a genocidal war and the ensued blockage that caused unprecedented level of miseries to humanity and incalculable amount of material cost that turned Tigray to a baren land.

This was the war that came to an end since the Pretoria’s November 02, 2022, peace deal that slowly enabled the resumption of communication between the federal and rest part of Ethiopia and Tigray; slow restoration of services such as telecommunication and electricity including the supply of food and medicine- that were all denied since June 2021’s defeat and withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces from Tigray. The Eritrea’s army started withdrawing from Tigray as I write this piece of article on 30/12/2022.

Additionally, the flight to Tigray’s capital, Mekele resumed since 27/12/2022 following the African Union’s negotiators’ arrival with the Joint Monitoring and Verification team (JMV) on 26th of December 2022. This writer genuinely hopes the silencing of gun, resumption of consistent humanitarian aid and restoration of services to war torn Tigray will last to bring an end to the agonising suffering of the people of Tigray.

Revamped War On Oromo Nation Under The Pretext Of Eliminating Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)

It is extremely unsettling to see the entire world ignoring the Oromia’s dangerously ravaging war that was started long before the indicated Tigray war. The Oromia’s war was in fact planned by the Abiy’s regime that was mentored by Eritrea’s ailing dictator ‘Isaias Afeworki’ and his Amhara allies since his assumption of power on April 02, 2018. The EPRDF’s Colonel PM, Abiy has made it clear from the very onset of his inaugural speech of April 02, 2018 that his regime ‘restores’ the former glory of the Ethiopian empire that was compromised by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF); the regime that has recruited him whilst he was just 15 years old to mentor, and groom him to be where he was during his accusations of his bosses for destroying the Ethiopia’s former glory.

His promise during his inauguration was taken positively by the historic rulers of the empire who held strong grievances on and vehemently detested EPRDF’s regimes whose tenet of governance was ‘Ethnic based Federalism’ that has responded for the first time in 150 years- to the nations’ quests for rights to self-determination in addition to another historic grievances the colonised nations of Ethiopia had had since 1880s. Therefore, the indicated historic rulers held vindictive grievances on key players, mainly the Tigray and Oromo politicians and military leaders for creating such a constitutional order.

According to the unionists such an order has undermined their power and roles in dominating the Ethiopian politics, economy, cultures, and social statuses they enjoyed since the empire was created by their king, Menelik II’s following his colonial expansion of 1880s to create today’s empire that is erroneously asserted by the outside world as an independent and uncolonized state; diametrically opposing to the fact that lingers to this date wreaking havoc, endless conflicts and concomitant miseries of subjects.

The EPRDF, the coalition of four political parties including- Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM); in unison drafted and ratified the Ethiopia’s current constitution that guaranteed nations and nationalities rights to self-determination up to cessation.

The basis for unionists’ rejection of the constitution is that; their subjects became free since its introduction as they are constitutionally allowed to manage their own affairs, develop their cultures and languages; by ditching colonially inculcated and psychologically entrenched mantra of ‘Ethiopianness’ and its meaning. Doing so made the unionists grip onto power serious challenge as the Ethiopian empire becomes loose by allowing 84 nations of the empire to realise their cultures, religions and ways of lives.

Therefore, the targets of the empire’s old glory restorers including the current genocide committing PM and his unionist supporters are the peoples and politicians of Oromia and Tigray predominately and the entire federalist block of nations and nationalities generally. Therefore, the war in Oromia was started in early 2019 by the new PM and his unionist associates – both are remote managed by the Eritrean mentor – as part of their grand Oromia disabling project.

With such grand scale unionists’ projects in Oromia, the regime has deployed conventional weapons including helicopter gunships, fully mechanised brigades, fighter jets and full-scale ground attacks that involved several divisions of Ethiopian National Defences Forces (ENDF) in West Oromia and south Oromia for over a year before diverting its gun on Tigray since November 4, 2020.

As it has been the case in Tigray’s since November 2020’s multi-forces war, the Oromo civilians – blamed for having association with and to OLA and the wider civilians were brutally targeted and continually massacred. The Oromo’s political leaders and elites were targeted, vilified and extrajudicially arrested for no apparent reasons but for being an Oromo. Several Oromo singers, traditional leaders (Abaagada), politicians, professionals, intellectuals, human rights activists became the subjects of political assassinations prior to the Tigray invasion and throughout since 2019. Since the Tigray’s war however, the war in Oromia reduced to battalions’ led operations in several parts and the Oromo people had relative respite although Oromo terrorising campaign and killing had sporadically continued.

The above has changed since the Pretoria’s November 02, 2022, peace deal that has ended the Tigray’s nation debilitated war. In the contrary, the war on Oromo nation was revamped and intensified by diverting military resources including dozens of ENDF divisions, fighter jets and drones, Amhara Fano and Special Militias to ensure the total eradication of the OLA that is fighting for Oromo’s rights to self-determination. Unionist forces have officially declared war on Oromo nation and their army (Fano and Liyu Militias) started decapitating dead bodies, beheading and alive persons’ skinning of Oromo civilians to show their vindictive barbarism. The unionists reiterated the War on Oromo to intensify whilst appreciating the end of war in Tigray to reveal their inconsistency in addressing deeply growing differences and rapidly eroding social fabrics.

The Oromo civilians in entire Wolaga’s and Shewa’s 8 zones, Arusi, Harar and Hararge, Balle and elsewhere in the vast Oromia become the subjects of extrajudicial execution and arrests, blacking out of communications and electricity, and burning and decimating of their properties including their farms and houses in an exact manner they have destroyed in Tigray. Currently, the Ethiopia’s war on Oromia is causing untold sufferings to Oromo civilians in the face of global silence to cause the death of tens of thousands and displacement of millions.

The Objective Of The Ethiopian War On Tigray and Oromia.

The grand objective of war on Tigray is the War on Nations and Nationalities simply because the outcome will be the destruction of constitutional order and federal arrangement- according to the unionist forces to be able to restore the Ethiopia’s old glory. The Ethiopia’s old glory according to the subjugated nations and nationalities in the contrary is, enslavement, subjugation, depersonalisation and dehumanisation of nations and nationalities.

Unionists believe the biggest threats that may hinder their strides towards the restoration of their old glory is the Oromo and Tigray nations as their beliefs in nations rights to self-determination are unwavering. Therefore, unionists’ must remove the obstacles before restoring their old glory by silencing the rest nations of the empire.

Conclusion And Recommendations For Nations And Nationalities

Since the Abiy’s regime that was redecorated as a Prosperity Party (PP) has assumed power, the subjects of the empire saw unprecedented level of human sufferings, deep rooted deprivations and abject poverty unseen before in empire’s history simply because all resources were channelled to the mass scale war waged on own citizens. The empire sow for the first time, the invited foreign forces committing genocides on own citizens. The empire saw own government inviting foreign forces to take over its territory whilst claiming it is fighting own citizens to restore law and order and defend the empire and its territorial integrity; diametrically opposing to its own treasonous actions.

Nations and nationalities of the empire are witnessing the brutality of own defence forces that has allied with the foreign invaders to inflict suffering on own citizens. In the faces of such brutalities, the subjects of the empire are silently and cooperatively observing as own government wages war deploying conventional war methods and strategies in Oromia as we speak- to commit crimes against humanity and genocide.

This very regime and its supporters have committed the same crimes and genocides in Tigray. The same Amhara Fano and special forces collaborators have committed genocide in Tigray are now committing the same genocide in Oromia’s Wolaga, Agaw, Benishangul, Kemant and elsewhere in Ethiopia as part of their anti-nations’ projects. This must be clear to all nations and nationalities.

The war in Tigray, in Oromia and elsewhere in Ethiopia is the war being waged on nations and nationalities. Nations and nationalities have only one choice, untie with the Oromo, Tigray, and the other federalist forces to defend their rights to self-determination and socio-cultural identity. Nations of Ethiopia must understand unionists’ growing preparation to totally dismantle federal structures and constitutional arrangements that is already in the making by the criminal unionist, the infamous Berhanu Nega- is already changing the Ethiopia’s education structures. Nations are tasting the bitter truth that is earnestly begging for their urgent attentions.

The international community is ignoring the Oromia’s raging war that is inflicting pains and damages on tens of millions of Oromo people. We have repeatedly advised the peace process to include OLA and the entire political and social stakeholders in Ethiopia. We reiterate once again that, the only way forward to ascertain lasting peace and stability in Ethiopia will be achieved through all-inclusive round table political dialogue. The OLA is also consistently calling for such a dialogue. Unfortunately, the Ethiopia’s brutal regime emboldened by the support of the international community and the AU is hell being on resolving a political difference with military might.

Therefore, I urge the Ethiopia’s brutal regime, its supporters, and the international community and the AU to carefully consider urging it to stop its war on Oromo nation instead facilitate a means for all-inclusive round-table political dialogue that could be the only and best solution for lingering malignancy of the empire.

Left unresolved or partially investigated, the Oromia’s current conflict can easily spread to the rest of the horn of Africa to destabilize the entire horn’s geopolitical dimensions beyond the expectation of the West’s Ethiopia supporters and its partial peace agreement promoter – an inapt AU that is filled with extremely corrupt rogues who are not only failing Ethiopia but also the entire continent.

By Denboba Natie, 30 December 2022,

Can be reached on ‘denbobanatie@yahoo.co.uk