Effects of Ethiopia’s economic success and its position on International arena

By Berhane Kahsay

Tigrai Online, August 23, 2015

The minority Diaspora fanatics have entered a new chapter in their history and it looks like the fragmented unpatriotic factions have positioned themselves to eliminate each other

The minority Diaspora fanatics have entered a new chapter in their history and it looks like the fragmented unpatriotic factions have positioned themselves to eliminate each other. The previous Eritrean coolie Elias Kifle and Aba Mela of Civility Paltalk have been on the receiving end of a sustained assault by G-7 devotees spear-headed by ECAD Forum for denouncing the proscribed organisation’s connivance with Esayass Afewerki to dismember Ethiopia.

In 2008, Elias made the self-appointed Eritrean President Man of the Year as blood stained money was coming his way but the dictator spat him out when he realised his unreliability and worthlessness. Even the spineless messenger of the extremists Abraha Belai has come under fire for using the word ‘insurrection’ in reference to Berhanu Nega’s departure to Eritrea to lead the mirage Arbegonch/G-7 Genbar. Dr Berhanu who is already suffering from fear induced incontinence will undoubtedly live to regret the day he left for Asmara as it is certain that Esayass will either lock him up in one of his dungeons or place him under house arrest like Dawd Ibssa and General Kemal Gelchu of OLF. And where is OLF now?

Abraha should have known better; a while back an article appeared on his website but he promptly removed it after being coerced by his masters at ECAD Forum. This humiliating climb-down was confirmed by the deceitful and fabricator par excellence, Elias Kifle, during his recent thinly attended meeting that he organised to deprecate Shabiya. To please his handlers, Abraha has even gone as far as exclusively dedicating a cyber platform for the extremists to routinely debase the gallant Tigreans, and yet, his controllers don’t seem to be appreciative of his unquestioning loyalty and devotion to them.

Another cyber space that has infuriated the fanatics is the ZeHabesha which until recently was within their camp. ‘Addis Dimts’ and ‘Ethiopiawinet’ Radio presenters have also been chided for opposing G-7’s link with Shabiya. Clearly, the sharp knives have been brandished by both sides and we are ecstatic to witness a kamikaze style mission orchestrated by none other than the Eritrean pariah who is soon to join them into oblivion. But the root cause of the fatal crisis within the marginalised opponents has nothing to do with Shabiya’s support for G-7 but has everything to do with their complete lack of success in their 24 years worth of stab to unseat the formidable ‘woyane.’ Never mind G-7, even Shabiya could not do it with 600,000 regular and reserve army at its disposal.

Let us not waste our precious time discussing the dying regime in Eritrea and its subservient G-7 which is fast approaching its end. Both Shabiya and its poodle will find it excruciatingly painful but ‘Woyane’ is here to stay as it has only accomplished part of its mission that begun after the fall of the military junta. There is plenty more to do and the electorates are certain to grant the fearsome developmental organisation further mandates. But peace and stability are essential prerequisites required to bump up the socio-economic accomplishments of the last couple of decades into new summit. To ensure this, the government has to continue with the economic empowerment of the people; coupled with the reinforcement and modernisation of the National Intelligence and Security Service as well as the army in order to place them in pole position to take pre-emptive measures against foreign and indigenous enemies with minimum cost.

Among the foes that could disrupt the tranquillity of the country is the sophisticated Al-Shebab but this terror group has been effectively tamed owing to the debilitating military measures taken by Ethiopia’s dexterous defence forces with the full participation of Ethio-Somalis. But it is possible that the terror group could tap on the grievances of minority indigenous Muslim youth to carry-out terrorist attacks in the capital. To elude this, all efforts must be expended to bring them on board and ensue they benefit from the wealth that has been created as a result of the EPRDF’s prudent economic policy.

Repeated attempts by Eritrean agents to enter Gambela and Benishangul-Gumz via Sudan and South Sudan respectively to ignite serious conflict between the various ethnic groups have also been foiled in collaboration with the people that have derived huge gains from the prosperity that came about through hard work and sheer determination. The latter region requires a special attention as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which is expected to generate 6000 MW costing $4.7bn for its construction is located in this neck of the woods.

Other grave concerns that entail utmost focus include rampant corruption and bad governance that could possible threaten the existence of ‘Woyane’ more than the toothless Shabiya and his disciples put together. This organisation fought for seventeen years to discard a fascist regime and in the process 70,000 Tigreans have been sacrificed and 100,000 fighters crippled. The TPLF can’t simply continue in its current state and has to bring in new blood that would relish taking fresh and tough challenges in the years ahead, and qualitatively improve the economic benefits that the Tigrian people have been enjoying ever since the TPLF came to power. But what is not acceptable is the kind of call made by a well networked Tigrian millionaire who openly called for an uprising against the regional administration in Tigrai during his online radio lecture on Aiga Forum. If he had solely focused on bad governance, corruption, nepotism and obstacles to investments, he would have had much more support from within and outside.

Clearly a rebellion in the home of the TPLF would result in a copy cat action in other parts of the country especially in the metropolis and the man who made his fortune by taking advantage of the present system would no longer be in a position to accumulate further wealth. The extremists believe that the EPRDF would collapse without the TPLF and the business man seems to be inadvertently joining hands with them to create crisis and cause irreparable damage to the country. This is what the chauvinists have been trying to do for the last twenty odd years but with no success; now they have an exasperated Tigrigna speaking recruit who is certain to experience similar failure as the people have no time for a ranting exhibitionist.

It is incredible for the mega rich to claim that the Tigrian youth spend their time chewing Kat and that the Tigrians who defeated the largest army in black Africa are cowardice simply because they have not protested and broken windows in Mekelle and other parts of the region. To beef up his assertions, the millionaire failed to acknowledge the employment opportunities created by the regional government, by emphasising Kat consumption, and the huge investments on health, education, infrastructure and agriculture. It is utter nonsense to expect full employment in poor Tigrai; where even in the rich developed nations this has not been remotely possible. This man has also crowned himself as a language expert and had the audacity to question the quality of Tigrigna spoken in the capital city of Tigrai, Mekelle.

The treatment that the magnate received from the regional government was totally unacceptable but to incite the people to rise-up when it is possible to bring change by engaging in a civilized debate is equally unacceptable. But one thing is clear, without the encouragement of senior ex-politburo members of the TPLF and others; the affluent entrepreneur would not have given an interview of such magnitude. One positive outcome of the episode was that it generated a debate among the Tigrians at home and in the Diaspora, and the issues he raised were also discussed at the recent TPLF leaders meeting held in Addis. Was it just a coincidence that the entire saga was aired on the eve of this meeting? But the question to pose is this--- would the lecture had taken place if the investment requests of the multi-millionaire businessman were met by the regional government? Or could it be that the real intention was to make political statements with the connivance of his shadowy backers by using his personal grievances as a stratagem?

TPLF has been in a stale shape well before Abai Woldu took over, and it is unfair to blame him for the current state the organisation is in. Responsibility squarely lies with Meles Zenawi for failing to attract capable technocrats and successful individuals from the business community to the front that could have played a pivotal part in mitigating the region’s economic problems as well as defending the interests of the Tigrian people; who shouldered pain, mass dislocation, humiliation and mammoth human loses during the struggle for the liberation of Ethiopia. The gratifying aspect of the Pyrrhic victory was that Ethiopia has now been placed among the fastest growing none-oil producing economy in the world. IMF, the World Bank and other international financial institutions have indicated that the country will be the third largest economy in Sub-Sahara Africa over taking the oil rich Angola in the not too distant future. Where was the mogul when the late premier was in charge of the TPLF?

Hopefully the TPLF congress scheduled to take place at the end of this month will be a perfect opportunity for the participants to endorse a new leadership from within and outside that have the required ability and vision to deal with maladministration, corruption and to elevate the economic attainments of the last couple of decades to a higher apex. Packing the central committee and the polite-bureau with docile members as Meles did after the schism of the TPLF would be the beginning of the end for the organisation that owes its existence and eventual victory to the thousands of fighters whose bones have been scattered in the rugged mountains of Tigrai.

Now let’s leave the tycoon investor and move on to the extremists that have been tirelessly attempting to unseat the EPRDF by initiating an uprising/armed struggle but at present have fractured over their position on Esayass who has been financing them for a number of years.

Until the new splinter group ruptures into further entities, they are most likely to engage in inciting rebellion in Ethiopia from their comfort zones but not wage an armed struggle as this necessitates courage and determination which they completely lack. But President Obama has expressed his opposition to a putsch to remove the democratically elected government of Ethiopia during his press conference in Addis Ababa. In fact, Mr Obama went further and stated that if evidence was to be found that implicates G-7 and the splinter group to violence, which the Ethiopian government has in abundance; the US administration would take appropriate course of action to bring their activities to a halt.

America wishes to see a steady and prosperous Ethiopia, and to this end, the Obama administration seems to be ready and willing to support the EPRDF in its efforts to maintain the country’s stability and democratisation process, and to scale-up the economic accomplishments of the last two decades. The presence of a strong and dependable nation in the Horn region that can decisively challenge terrorists of all sorts is in America’s long term strategic interest.

In the not too distant future, Ethiopia is certain to be classed alongside Egypt as the most favoured nation in the African continent. In 2014, the Arab Republic was the highest recipient of U.S financial support amounting to $1.6 bn. Next in line were Nigeria ($693m), Kenya ($ 564m), Tanzania ($553m) and Uganda ($456m). What is interesting to note is that you hardly see citizens of the above mentioned countries shouting outside the State Department for the suspension of American aid even if their political persuasions were different from the parties ruling their nation. In our case, the unpatriotic opponents go out of their way to prevent American aid from reaching their own needy people.

Disloyal extremists, Human Rights Watch and other fringe organisations opposed President Obama’s visit to Ethiopia but they failed to foil the inevitable. His presence and the recent United Nations Third International Conference on Financing for Development where nearly 10,000 people attended have been good for business as well a priceless image boosting occasion for Ethiopia which was previously synonyms with conflict and appalling famine.

It was pleasing that the American leader and conference participants were comfortably entertained in the metropolis without a single security incident. Ethiopia has already benefited from Mr Obama’s visit where a US energy company, Corbetti, has signed an agreement with the East Africa nation to build the continent’s largest geothermal facility which is expected to cost $4billion with a generating capacity of 1000 MWs. This is just a foretaste and very soon many more American multinationals will make their way to the economic hub of the Horn which has made itself an attractive destination for global investors.

Egypt is in a serious political crisis and according to Human Rights organisations 41,000 people have been arrested by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi between July 2013 and May 2014. Sinai has become beyond the full control of the Egyptian government and daily skirmishes take place between Muslim Brotherhood militants and the army. The Arab Republic has also suffered from serious attacks perpetuated by Islamists stationed in Libya and they seem to be determined to avenge the removal of the democratically elected government of President Mursi. Cairo has been the victim of several bomb attacks by Islamist militants and this week a potent bomb exploded outside a state security building in the capital which was claimed by Islamic State Egypt.

The removal of President Victor Yanukovych of Ukraine unconstitutionally has also precipitated an uprising by ethnic Russians in the eastern region of the former member of the USSR. Donetsk and Luhansk have now been considered for autonomous status by the country’s Constitutional Court and this decision may possibly pave the way for cession in the distant future. Ukraine has not seen the last of conflict driven demands for self-rule as the other ethnic Russian regions appear to be readying themselves for similar dispensation. Our cyber warriors should take note of the serious and catastrophic implications of displacing an administration with voters’ mandate using violence.