Is Abiy planning to Visit Mekelle?

By Teodros Kiros ( PH.D)
Tigrai Online 8/28/2023

Rumors are always ambiguous. Sometimes they are nothing more than projections of the persons who are spreading them. Sometimes they are more than that, they are based on reality with uncertain sources. At other times rumors make themselves real, because they are not resisted by the receivers.

There is a rumor that Abiy is contemplating, if not actively planning, to visit Mekelle.  The prelude to this visit is the recent letter by one of his Ministers of Tigrean origin, which outlined steps of resettling the displaced Tigreans and returning them home, before the return of Tigrean lands and a full-fledged investigation of the Abiy regime’s sponsoring of genocide, which I called for in my recent article in Aiga Forum, Yearning for Peace. In that same article, I had argued that Abiy has ten faces, none of which are real, and which he changes interminably.

He is now wearing one of his faces, as a disciplined reconciler. It is premature for him to even contemplate that he could give a speech of reconciliation and reconstruction in Tigray.

I appeal to Tigreans from all walks of life to resist this visit with all their might. This is a regime which was set on annihilating Tigray mercilessly as Andargachew Tsige, church leaders and numerous others actively advocated, of which they deliberately killed a million people.[VW1]

Abiy could serve Tigreans, if he means well, by prevailing upon the UN, the African Union, the European Union, Human Rights Watch and others and bring the Genociders before the ICC.

We hoped, that the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) would be granted unfettered access to all sites of Tigray to conduct a transparent and thorough investigation into the horrific crimes perpetrated against the people of Tigray.

The visit which is being contemplated must be categorically rejected by the Tigrean president and every Tigrean in the name of Tigrean dignity. A visit of some kind could be considered only after Abiy’s name as a sponsor of genocide is cleared.