Happy tenth Ethiopian National Flag Day

Tigrai Online, Oct. 17, 2017

Ethiopians are celebrating the tenth Ethiopian National Flag Day throughout the globe. The Ethiopian flag has been a source of unity, pride, and togetherness for all Ethiopians for centuries. The same is true in this era where Ethiopia is using a federal system to govern itself. The importance of the national flag becomes paramount for many Ethiopians who were on the periphery of the Ethiopian nation. For the first time since the creation of modern Ethiopia some of the Ethiopian nationalities feel welcome and embrace the national Ethiopian flag as their won.

Still there are some narrow nationalists who are hell-bent to destroy the federal system in Ethiopia and change the flag. These people are misguided by the fake history their fathers taught them and most of them think they are fighting for the unity of the Ethiopian people. In reality these people want to bring one ethnic, one language, one religion and one nation by force, but that is a pipe dream and Ethiopia will never go back to that system again. If all fails they will be left to create their own little country by themselves.

The EPRDF government has been fighting two battles since the day it came to power. First to introduce a new governing system called federal system to its people and make it work and second to fight the highly organized very loud backward groups who are fighting any change every step of the way. Using countless tricks to invoke old sentiments and emotions of certain people, groups like CUD, Semaywi party, and Ginbot-7 have been able to get thousands of people to demonstrate against the federal government.

The anti development and anti progress groups won’t say directly federalism is bad for Ethiopia. Instead they created virtual common enemy representing the federal system, the people of Tigrai and TPLF. For the past 26 years elite Amhara groups with the help of outside enemies have been directly and indirectly targeting the people of Tigrai and their organization the TPLF. There are mountains of false and hateful propaganda against the Tigrai people and it has started to bear fruit as it was witnessed at the end of 2016 and 2017 in Amhara reginal state where over 11 thousand innocent civilians were uprooted from their houses, their businesses burned, looted, and deported to the Sudan. Thanks to the Sudanese government they were transported safely through the Sudan and brought to Tigrai. So far, we know 82 civilians have been killed by armed Amhara militias in the few months when all the deportation and pillaging was going on.

No one in his right mind will say the civilian Amharas are responsible for all the crimes committed last year, but the continuous propaganda by the narrow nationalist groups has turned some people against their neighbors because they happen to be from Tigrai.

What is even surprising is the reaction of the Amhara State authorities, the armed criminals were roaming in cities like Gonder, Bahrdar, Metma, and Debarik terrorizing Tigraians and the Amhara state police didn’t do anything.

These crimes didn’t happen only to the Tigrai people in Amhara state, the Qimant people were subjected to even worst and horrific treatments in the same state.

The thousands of Tigraians deported from Amhara state have yet to get justice and get compensation. Not a single official from federal government be it the prime minister or any other official from Amhara state publicly denounced what happen to Tigraians. The Deputy Prime minister, Mr. Demeke Mekonnen dismissed a committee representing the deportees when they saw him last year saying your claims are exaggerated, according to an interview conducted last year with the victims.

What happened in Amhara state opened the flood gates of disunity and we saw what is happening in Somali regional state and Oromia regional state this month.

As we celebrate the National Flag Day of Ethiopia, we would like to remind the Federal government of Ethiopia to take action publicly against those criminals in Amhara regional state and any other regional state who committed crimes against civilians. The federal government can’t govern by appeasing, or fear of public reaction. If the government doubts its own policies how do they expect the public to have confidence in anything they do? The federal laws should be applied in a consistent manner, no double standards. We can assure you other people are capable of creating chaos they can even throw stones or more than stones.