Editorial
Ethiopian People: Main Victims of TPLF Adventurism
By Staff
Apr 28, 2008, 12:18

As a result of TPLF adventurism, Ethiopia over the past 17 years not only sustained repeated and humiliating military defeats but has also been exposed to extreme poverty and economic crisis. Totally dependent on foreign aid, the overall situation in Ethiopia has deteriorated to a stage where it has become difficult for its nationals to express their identity.

The international community, in general, and various governments in the world, in particular, could learn much from the experience of TPLF military adventures. The TPLF objective is based on a misguided notion that since the world only respects the use of force one can gain prominence over their people and neighbors through the use of force.

Having such an outlook, the fact that Eritrea scored speedy economic progress within a short period was a matter of much anxiety for the TPLF, and hence the clique chose the Eritrean people as its primary target. Consequently, the regime set out to launch a war of aggression against Eritrea, wrongly believing that it can easily reach Asmara where upon the leaders of the clique could set up a puppet government, plunging Eritrea into a perpetual political quagmire. In dreaming of such an imaginary defeat over Eritrea, the TPLF regime sought to send out a message to the Ethiopian people that they will share a similar fate if they don’t comply. To this end the clique had first to convince the people of Tigray that war against Eritrea is in their best interest. Promising the Tigrayan people that Eritrea’s defeat will gain them respect in the eyes of the Ethiopian people and confident of the support of its masters, the TPLF engaged Ethiopian human and material resources into war.

Nonetheless, the merit of the cause and objective determine the outcome of wars and not sophisticated weaponry or powerful allies. Although the TPLF should have learned a lesson from the first defeat, it went on to repeat mistake after mistake and was dealt with two more humiliating blows. Finally, when all its political and military objectives failed, the regime was compelled to bow down to the rule of law and sign an agreement. In the end, neither the people of Tigray nor the Ethiopian people as a whole gained anything from the war except the loss of their many fellow citizens.

Yet the TPLF regime did not gain the valuable lesson of the repeated military defeats it sustained in the war with Eritrea and went on to commit a similar mistake in Somalia. In invading Somalia, a country with no government or defense force, the TPLF regime had sought to placate the Ethiopian people’s mounting opposition by making up for past failures. However, regardless of the presence of an effective defense force, it is impossible to defeat a united people. The war that was supposed to be over in ‘a week or two’ has persisted for a year and a half now, further escalating into a prolonged and violent war and exposing the TPLF regime to a very humiliating military failure.

As a result of successive military adventurism and defeats, the Ethiopian people have not only had to deal with the death of their young citizens and the wastage of their resources in wars, but also had to suffer from extreme poverty and backwardness. Moreover, the physiological effect these successive failures will have on the Ethiopian people cannot be taken lightly. It is not difficult to imagine how embarrassing it must be to identify oneself as a citizen of a country well-known for its poverty and backwardness. The main victims of the TPLF regime’s adventurism are thus the Ethiopian people. Although it compromises the Ethiopian people’s future, the clique will soon meet the fate of all adventurous regimes. Moreover, it is the hope of all peace-loving forces that future Ethiopian political leaders learn from the experience of the TPLF’s adventurism.