Is the Government of Ethiopia Committed to a Peace deal before or aftermath of the start of Armed Conflicts?
0
0
PM Abiy Ahmed and FM Berhanu Jula (photo : PD/file)
By Atnafu Petros
LLM Human Rights Student at AAU
Introduction
I were motivated to write this article when I read the article titled “The continuing violence and Armed conflict in the Horn of Africa: Root Causes and Impacts,” by Abdirezak Sahane on July 15,2024, published online on borkena.com
In his article the author labeled the horn of Africa region as the area where armed conflicts were sparking and there were security challenges. The region is one of the routes where perpetrators of crimes terrorist, human and drug traffickers and smugglers use to and where these and other international crimes like crime against humanity and war crimes were frequently committed.
He adds that millions of people in the region were facing stark life challenges including severe food insecurity and health problems due to the most severe drought in the region and political conflicts. Due to man made and natural disasters, the situation is worsening.
The author also tried to analyze the ongoing armed conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia, the causes and the way forward to end the prolonged civil wars.
Concerning the war between the Federal Government and the Fano and the OLA, the author has labeled the Federal Government as peace seeker and determined to end the ongoing conflicts through peaceful means. This was the point where I disagree with the author. As to my view the Federal government was and is not determined to have peaceful means to end conflicts before or aftermath of Armed Conflicts. So, in the following sections, I try to analyze that the federal government is not committed to peaceful deals as argued by the author.
The War between Federal Government and the TPLF:
The war between the federal government and the TPLF, was one of the deadliest and bloodiest wars in the 21st century. It caused the death of millions of innocent people that have nothing to have with the conflict. It also caused grave destruction of properties estimated in billions that were vital for the existence of human beings. Above all, there were allegations by reputed human rights institutions that crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed during the two-year war.
The deadliest war began when the TPLF attacked the Northern Command the Federal Defense Force coupled with the TPLF’s disobedience to respect the Federal government, not to integrate itself into the Prosperity Party and conducting its own regional election, among other causes of the war.
Whatever the cause for the conflict, many people including me believe that the deadly war would have not occurred if the TPLF and the Federal Government had been committed to end the differences between them through peaceful dialogue and means. Unfortunately, the two parties were not determined to peacefully talk and the bloodiest war was conducted and took millions of innocent lives.
Even though, after the kick off the war, if the two parties, especially the Federal government, was committed to ending the ongoing conflict through a peaceful deal, the human and material damages would be diminished. As to knowledge of this article writer, in many instances, the TPLF has brought peace calling to the federal government and the federal government resorted to force. Moreover, many international, regional and even EHRC have brought peace calling to end the Tigray war, to find a political solution to the war rather than resorting to force. And the Federal government responded to the peace callings, “that there was no peace talking with Junta,” “terrorist group”, “unless the extremist group disappeared from the face of the earth,” and “unless law and order is effectively enforced”.
The Tigray war was ended under the facilitation of AU and US, ended with the Pretoria Peace Agreement- it was an agreement of Cease of Hostilities (COHA) between the TPLF and Federal Government of Ethiopia., because of the diplomatic pressures and economic sanctions from the US, EU and other international human rights institutions, not the government was desired to peace.
So, referring to the federal government as a committed body to end violences through peaceful means is completely wrong. The government desires peace talks as a last resort rather than as first resort.
The War between The Federal Government and the Amhara Fano:
Once upon a time, the two conflicting parties were now allies for a couple of years during the war of Tigray. The Amhara militants including the Militias, Fano and the Amhara Special Force fought alongside with federal troops in the bloodiest war from 2020 to 2022.
Discord between the Federal government and the Amhara insurgents and political leaders arose after the peace deal because of Amhara forces felt betrayed-they are not properly represented in the peace talk and the Abiy’s government was working to hand back to Tigray disputed land that the Amhara region seized the war from the Tigray in the name of peace talk.
Back to 2018, the Amhara and Oromo- Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, which together formed “Oromara” played significant role in bringing Abiy Ahmed to the position of Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The Oromara group was an informal used as to struggle TPLF. Despite the coalition of the two ethnic groups under Oromara, the political leaders and elites from these respective ethnicities have been rivals in history, state formation and nation building, among other differences in Ethiopia.
Unfortunately, conflicts along the boundary have grown more frequently since Abiy took office in 2018. Many ethnic Amhara’s were displaced mainly from the Oromia region. Others were killed en masse. The majority of the Amhara elites accused the Abiy Ahmed’s government of Oromia Regional State, they are unable and unwilling to protect ethnic Amhara’s from mass killings and displacement Oromia region. There were many allegations that the federal government and the regional state of Oromia was involved behind the scene of the massacre of Amhara civilians in the region.
In addition to this, in many instances, the Amhara’s were blocked from entering the capital. Furthermore, distrust soared when in February Amhara politicians said Abiy was siding with Oromia clerks who split off from the Ethiopian powerful orthodox church, the most sacred and respected institution among the Amhara and many other Ethiopians.
Coincided with aforementioned and other resentments, the tension between the Federal government and Amhara factions increased in April 2023, when the federal government announced its decision to disband the regional paramilitaries and special forces. The Fano’s refused to disarm their weapons and uprising on the federal and regional government of Amhara. At this time, conflict refused to erupt between the Fano forces and the federal government. The fighting spread to many cities, including the capital Bahir Dar.
The decision to dismantle the special forces and integrate them to military, federal police, or regional police forces was the immediate trigger to the conflict in the Amhara region. The April 2023 announcement caused sporadic clashes between the government and the Fano forces.
In response to the grievances to the announcement to disband special forces, the federal government resorted to all means of force to enforce its decision rather than hearing the grievances of the Amhara community. The Prime Minister announced that his government will fight every second with the extremists’ forces.
So again, labeling the federal government as a determined body to end ongoing conflicts is completely wrong as to my opinion.
Conclusion
Ethiopia is on the verge of being a fragile nation. The country is facing the worst record of weak unity and integrity in its history. The reputation and the support the community had before to the Defense Force has diminished now. Majority of Ethiopians lost in the current government that it would bring peace to our Country.
Therefore, inclusive national dialogue is the choiceless option to end the atrocious armed conflict. The incumbent should open its door for any option including transitional government, to end the devastation war, for no meaning.
The non-State armed groups also use peaceful means whatever their political goal or have grievances with the incumbent government.
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views ethiopiantribune.com
