Wednesday, April 10, 2013

TPLF and their hatred for Amhara people Part II.

The brutal regime in Ethiopia has recently been engaged in ethnic cleansing of the Amhara ethnics by forcibly deporting them from the Benishangul Gumz province, where they have been living for decades. The regime has not provided any explanation as to why they are being displaced, except for the obvious fact that they are guilty of being Amharas, the main targets of the regime's genocidal and divisive campaign to weaken, if not exterminate, the entire ethnic group, and ultimately undo Ethiopian society that our fathers and forfathers had worked very hard to bring together and protect from former imperial powers that had sought to impliment the policies the regime in Ethiopia, lead by the " Tigrayan People Libration Front", is implimenting. The same ethnic cleaning that is being done in Ethiopia is the kind of which that former colonial powers had emposed throughout Africa, which led to the deaths of millions of people in the continent. The genocide in Rwanda in the early 90s is the direct result of colonial rule. According to a former prosecuter at the trial of the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide in Tansania, and reknown Ethiopian scholar Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, " the ongoing crime in Ethiopia is not a ' genocide', but ethnic cleansing of the Amhara ethnic group." His statement is supported by an article posted on Ethiomedia.com, that states, " scholars generally agree and define ethnic cleansing as the 'systematic and violent removal of undesired ethnic groups from a given territory.'" As witnressed in the past, ethnic cleansing is a pretext to commit genocide. The hutu led government in Rwanda first employed ethnic cleansing by way of issuing ID cards with ethnic identities and separating tutsi children and adults alike in schools and other institutions throughout the country before unleashing its murderous millitia and government soldiers on them.  It is worth noting that an actual genoide as defined by Dr. Yacob and other scholars had been commited on Amhara people in Harar, Wolega, and Jima provinces, not to mention isolated "indicents" in isolated areas where Amharas have been found. Here, I would like to note that crime of genocide by the TPLF/EPRDF ethnic based regime have been committed on other ' undesired ' ethnic groups throughout the country as well. In 2003, a militia of rival ethnic group along with soldiers attacted a village in Gambella and killed more than 400 people with in three weeks. Even more Amharas had been thrown alive to their death in deep holes in Harar, massacred with machine guns and heave weapons in Wolega, hacked to death in machete in Kaffa among other places prior to, and after the genocide against Agnwaks in Gambella. Prof. Yacob Hailemariam, speaking about the Amhara ethnic cleansing, broadly explain " such criminal activites against a group of people in Ethiopia, whether it is perpetrated by local officials or not, all those who are involved could, and will be put to trial, including officials at the federal level, who have the authority to reverse any ethnic cleansing or forced relocations by local officials." Not even a year ago, the regime forcibly deported Amharas from the district of Gura Ferda, located in southern Ethiopia. The victims had their belongings illegally confiscated, beaten, detained, and even killed by the regimes Armed cadres and police before being sent off to their " land of origin", Amhara province, where they belong. The TPLF/EPRDF regime in Ethiopia is committing ethnic cleansing and genocide, among other human rights violations in Ethiopia without any effort from the international community to halt the regime's campaign. The international community is known to have no again after the genocide in Rwanda. However, genocides of the same kind have been committed in Darfur that killed more than a million people before the world community decided to react against it. May be they are waiting for millions to die in Ethiopia to get the community into action. Hundreds of thousands of Amharas have been subjected to extermination since " Tigray People Libration Front" took power 22 years ago. What are Ethiopians and the international community going to do to put an end to the ever increasing genocidal campaign by the regime in Ethiopia ? What is being done to rid Ethiopia of these criminals and bring everyone of them to justice ? What is going to take fo ICC to lanuch investigation and indict those are directly and indirectly responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocide in Ethiopia ? Now is the time for all Ethiopians and the international community alike to act swiftly to end the brutal regime of the late dictator Meles Zenawi and his TPLF/EPRDF party, and bring about freedom and democracy in Ethiopia that would enable Ethiopians to freely live in their own country without being targeted for discrimination and genocide by their own rulers.