An Unholy Alliance – OLF and Egypt’s Government
By Tamene Teka
Tigrai Onlne - May 30, 2014
Recently Egypt’s Arabic website by the name of ‘Al-Akbar’ put out an article that reads the self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is doing a treacherous act that is trickled down to it from the Egyptian Government.
The terror group shamelessly claimed that as the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam harms Egypt’s historical water share and food security, it doesn’t accept the project.
Although it’s not clear from where the front’s leaders get the information, but they stated to the website that there is foreign hands behind the project. They opposed their own people’s development aspirations by coming out and saying “this is an intentional conspiracy plotted to harm Egypt’s water share and national security” – in a way that didn’t tell apart between Egypt and their own people.
It’s vey shameful that the OLF leaders stood in the way by opposing a project that holds every Ethiopian fingerprint and a project that is the launch of our people’s development aspirations and renaissance.
With this inconsiderate remark, it can be said that these people have yet again showed us, albeit this time in a new light, that they’re more concerned about foreigners and their money rather than they are about their own people and country. I believe this is not the position of only OLF. Although, as the terror group fills its pocket by lackeying for foreign forces, it was made to say it, but the comment is the position and wish of Egypt’s ruling class.
So, I take this comment and remarks as Egypt’s government internal belief and position. In order for me to put forward for my dear readers how the remarks made by OLF is outdated and unacceptable, and the fact that the Egyptian government is swamped with these obsolete thinking, I think it’s necessary to look into firstly the identity of the terror group, its previous exploits and Egypt’s performance with regards to its usage of lackeys in the shape of Ethiopian terrorists and anti-peace forces.
As we all can understand, few narrow-minded, chauvinists and anti-peace forces who operate in the name of the people and under the guise of “political organization”, would do anything to realize their own personal interest (which is the only thing they are really after at) have went as far as trying to disturb our peace and to hinder our development aspirations – although it all has been to no avail as they don’t have any kind of acceptance within the public.
The self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Front” (which is anything but) that went in to rebel 40 years ago, can now add treachery and terrorism to the lists in its CV; antics it turned to as a consequence of its failure and marginalization from the people. This group which is marginalized from the public is a collection of narrow-minded individuals who couldn’t even liberate a single woreda.
As this anti-Ethiopian terror group has no base within the people, it has previously been doing a shameful act of back stabbing its own country by standing together with Somali fundamentalists and extremists groups using Somalia as its haven.
This group which tried to play a liaison role by accepting Eritrea’s government terror and strategy call, in the then failed state of Somalia, it has tried to work with other anti-peace forces that don’t even align to its fake (fictious) agenda, in a ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ thinking – although just like its Godfather, the Eritrean government, its effort has withered into the thin air.
The “Oromo Liberation Front”; which is called by our people as ‘an Oromo organization that’s not recognized by the Oromo people’, a name given for its anti-people acts, tried to up its anti-peace antics along with its cohorts in Gambella, Eastern Oromia, and in the Central and Eastern part of our country, especially after it joined the Private limited company of Ato Isaias Afwerki’s government.
However, this collection of misfits wasn’t able to get away from the watchful eyes of our people and the strong arms of our defense forces. Today the group is only to spewing hoax and unfounded rumors sitting from its offices as it don’t have any capable force and don’t have anywhere to go, after it sustained repeated defeats.
This is why it clearly showed its unpatriotic skin from Egypt by flaunting only rhetoric – as there is nothing else much that it can do other than this. All in all it’s funny seeing as how the front is taken as one option of havoc for the backward Egyptian politicians.
The Egyptian ruling class should know that they are traitor and unpatriotic force that are wanted for terrorism and crime by our country’s nation, nationalities and people. This is because this anti-public group is seen in a negative light by the public as a consequence of its previous exploits in which it killed innocent civilians, torched schools, bombed universities and both attacked and tried to attack public institutions and individual properties.
To mention some of its sinister attacks (out of the many), its brutal attack on the people it carried out in eastern Harerghe is one; including its bomb and grenade attacks. Its attack at a school in Woliso town so that the public can’t be beneficiaries of education is another one of its anti-public acts.
Thus, as the public is well aware of this treacherous nature of the front, it’s a marginalized group in our country. And if the rulers of Egypt are thinking that they would hinder the GERD project through the mumblings of OLF, I think they are in for disappointment – as the former dictator of Egypt Hosni Mubarak wasn’t able to be successful with this similar type of strategy.
Even in those times where Mubarak himself tried to hold back our country’s development and peace indirectly through ‘OLF’, our country wasn’t hindered from its development aspirations. Instead the country started to benefit its people by recording rapid economic development that is marveled in African and which is the first of its kind in our country’s history.
Thus, I would like to remind the new Egypt’s ruling elites that the scheme to weaken our country that was plotted by Mubarak or the anti-public group OLF was wiped out by our government’s astute leadership, our people’s close look and our brave men in Uniforms’ devastating arm.
Also I would like to remind them that the terrorist group they employed to mumble their wishes on their own web pages, is now a group confined only to spewing propagation from its Asmara and European offices.
So, again it would be behoove of them to know that it might be prove costly for them to depend upon a group that’s severely marginalized by the people and that spends its days spewing rumors anytime it gets the chance, so that it won’t be declared that it’s out of the game.
Of course here I should make it clear for my dear readers about which ‘OLF’ I’m talking about. I’m telling about the traitor squad that’s led by Eritrea government’s ‘Disintegrate Ethiopia’ strategy; the one that shamelessly showed its unpatriotic skin from Cairo.
Although this group claims that its struggle is for Oromo people’s freedom, rights and development, what we are seeing is the fact that the public deny any recognition for an “organization” called OLF and being fully aware of its anti-peace nature.
The position that’s taken by the nation, nationalities and people of Ethiopia with regards to the terror group, exposes the group’s fictional so-called objectives.
The Oromo people, including me, asks why the group sells in the name of the people and from where its so-called “liberation” comes from, considering the fact that the Oromo people like any other people of the country have found freedom, the right to self-administration, whilst learning and being judged by their own language from the constitution they fought to be enshrined.
So, by understanding OLF’s objective has got nothing to do with freedom but slavery, not enshrining human & democratic rights but violating them, and that it’s not about development but getting back to poverty, the public has marginalized the group. The hatred our people have for OLF doesn’t only stop with this.
As this Shabiya cohort (and now it’s a lackey to Egypt’s backward politicians) tried to make our people a victim of terror attack by siding with foreign powers instead of protecting the interest of the people; and as the public itself understood the group’s anti-public and anti-development agendas, they are ready to take any of the affiliates of the group to the authorities – in order to protect their development and economic growth.
It can be said that this group, that barely passes to be considered as a self-sufficient organization, and that’s being used by Cairo politicians to parrot their barren-hope, is a marginalized terror group. And the Cairo politicians will do well to learn from their past mistakes.
As it known, Egypt’ ruling elite, up until the Mubarak regime, not only flaunted an uncivilized and greedy position with regards to the Nile River, but they have openly tried to pose a danger upon our county’s peace and stability.
Egypt with a ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ thinking had used to provide arms in droves to Siad Barre’s Somalia’s government – though its effort had all been to no avail. Not only this. The country has also tried to weaken our country by creating and organizing a terror group by the name of ‘ONLF’ and making it operate under the banner of Ogaden.
But this effort of the country hasn’t gotten it anything, even today – as ONLF has withered in to a thin air from the Somali region. The Mubarak administration itself wasn’t successful with its strategy of weakening Ethiopia, it followed from the footsteps of former ruling elite.
We have heard from those who were close that the Mubarak government has given many arms to Eritrea during the Ethio-Eritrean war, as it was confirmed from Eritrea’s war prisoners and from the tag ‘made in Egypt’ that was seen from the arms left by deserters.
The administration with its measly rationale of ‘If Ethiopia’s stable and start to make strides in its development, it will start to use the Nile River’, has led it use Eritrea’s government as a buffer and supported other anti-peace and terror groups to harm Ethiopia indirectly – although again it has all been to no avail. And the current antic of the country of using OLF for its conspiracy plots would not bear anything different from its past efforts.
All in all, let us now move to the so-called “colonialism” rhetoric of the terror group. First of all, the proponents of the old thinking should know (even though they already do) that the GERD construction would not harm Egypt’s historical water shares and food security.
Of course the outdated colonial-era treaty will not have any acceptance in anyway. It was the British that gave this treat to Egypt as its right – in order to exploit Egypt’s resource by producing cotton using the Nile River. If the Egyptians are taking the colonial-era treaty as acceptable, then it’s very problematic.
This would allow this unjust treaty that makes Egypt the sole beneficiary as correct. So, as the colonial-era treaties are unacceptable, them being scraped off is not only the only way to go but also it’s an existential issue. This is why Ethiopia is opposing this unjust and irrational treaty and decided to exercise its right by constructing the GERD.
The fact that Egypt has been working against our rights to use the Nile River with various means cannot be put to debate. Although, there was no incident, where a generation in our country stood to use the River and Egypt hindering it, the country nevertheless was clearly seen subduing efforts indirectly. At the time, influential Egyptians like the lights of Butros Butros Galli have been closing all avenues for us to even think about using the Nile, let alone actually using it.
In the meantime, our country played the lion share in changing the 1929 and 1959 outdated, unjust and immoral treat by a framework that would guarantee mutual benefit for all the riparian countries – thanks be given to our great leader Ato Meles Zenawi, who tirelessly work to make this a reality, along with his organization….
So, it can be said that the GERD is the result of this insurmountable effort that’s put into it. So, I think it should be known that every time, be it Egypt or its lackeys, voice their support for the outdated Nile River Utilization “laws”, they should be aware that they are opposing the construction of the GERD and the Comprehensive framework that was agreed by the riparian countries; so their fight is with all the riparian countries.
All in all, Ethiopia is constructing the GERD on the Nile River not to harm Egypt’s interest. It’s doing so by making a new legal framework that would guarantee the equitable utilization of the water for all the riparian countries even more so.
Ethiopia’s pursuit is one of ‘let’s use our shared resources as one and grow together’. Its main wish is to use its natural resources to generate electric power in order to satisfy its growing demand of electric power, that’s increasing in par with its economy – it’s not to harm anyone’s interest.
Thus, I believe it would be beneficial for the Egyptian politicians to throw away the obsolete and condemned ‘all for me’ outlook and start dialogue with the upstream countries, especially with Ethiopia.
What would benefit Egypt and the riparian countries as a whole is to have a talk and see eye to eye to each other; not put up the shutters of a terror group that lackey for anyone to fill its money sack.
The other thing that was meant to be mumbled by the terror group is the ridiculous claim that the dam’s construction has a hand of foreign forces. Truth be told, one of the phenomenon that reaffirmed ‘our unity through our diversity’ is the announcement of the GERD project that was envisioned by our great leader Ato Meles Zenawi and his organization.
The project has been accepted by all Ethiopians regardless of their race, religion, language and political difference – except for some very few extremists. This grand project, that has subdued our age old disappointment, was accepted by every single Ethiopians wholeheartedly. And this is the fact.
It should also be taken in to account that it’s a project every citizen has pledged to give what is expected of himself/herself (and even some more) with its labor, ability, money - as there’s nothing more revealing than action. How cans a project that was heralded “the engineers, the builders and the owners are us” can also be said that “there are foreign forces behind it?” – This is a funny story.
I think this particular remark ‘there is foreign hand behind the project’ is obviously a cover for their nostalgia of the previous treaties (laws), especially seeing a how every Ethiopia, from child to old, both who live here and abroad, have been purchasing the project’s bond in order to help the boost the construction.
The GERD project is a project that’s exclusively supported, starting from its commencement phase, by the involvement of the public and the commitment of the government.
It’s a pride of a nation that’s being built through the sweat and toil of all Ethiopians. Thus, trying to spew a distorted image on a project that’s has a pull over the public so much that many people regularly go to see it, is nothing but opposing the development aspiration of an entire nation.
As it’s known, the fact that Ethiopia is able to construct 5 billion dollar worth of a dam project without any outside help, strictly through its own dime, goes out to show how much the country has moved from its pre-1983 image of famine and war to an unprecedented growth in the economic, political and social sphere.
During the course of the construction, many journalists, academicians, political analysts and other experts have all been attesting through their articles and analysis to Ethiopians commitment, ability and capability in diverting the course of the River.
So, when the realities on the ground are this, then what is the hand of foreigners doing? – Of course since both Egyptian politicians and the lackey OLF won’t have anything to answer this question with, I’ll move to the other deprived propagation of theirs.
As I have tried to mention it earlier, our country does not harbor the intention of harming Egypt’s water share. And the construction of the dam is going ahead after it was thoroughly studied for that not happen.
It’s obvious that the project will answer the country’s huge demand for electric power that will be expand tremendously once the agriculture sector passes the lead of the economy to the industrial sector.
It will also strengthen our foreign exchange reserve by selling electric power. Most importantly, it will allow our country’s renaissance to stand in a firm base by realizing the government planned Growth and Transformation plan.
In relation to this, the project also gives huge benefit to both Egypt and Sudan. The dam in addition to curbing the flooding that happens on both countries, by regulating the flow of the River, it will save both country from making heavy spending by stopping the siltation that deposits at Sudan’s Rosieres dam and Egypt’s Aswan dam.
Not only this. The GERD positive impact with regards to environment protection is immense. As it gives solution to forest degradation and soil erosion, its benefit for both countries is unquestionable. However, while the dam contribution is immense for our country and neighboring countries, it’s not clear why they want to tune to their old hymn of ‘why is our water touched?’
All in all, what the OLF is opposing is our countrymen wealth. Here let us raise one question and ask ‘if the group claims to stand for the benefit of the Oromo people, then why is it opposing the people’s all-encompassing contribution given to the project as any of our country’s people? The answer to this question takes us to one conclusion.
That is this sellout lackey group by the name of OLF does not have any kind of relation with the Oromo people and to all citizens of our country. This is because there haven’t been any case where a force that claims to represent the public, turn again to oppose that same people – this isn’t heard or seen before.