TPLF, You Can’t Hide and Can’t Run on Clay Feet From the Ethiopian National Defense Force!

TPLF, You Can’t Hide and Can’t Run on Clay Feet from the Ethiopian National Defense Force!

When the federal government issued the 72-hour surrender time, it had two objectives: 1) Demonstrate that the intention of our operations is to enforce the rule of law per the laws of the land. 2) Provide protection for those that finally understand the criminality of the TPLF clique and distance themselves for the group.” PM Abiy Ahmed’s Final Warning to the TPLF, November 26, 2020.

Scripture teaches that ‘He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.’  Meles and his worshippers have profoundly troubled the Ethiopian house and they shall inherit the wind!” Alemayehu G. Mariam, February 3, 2013

I believe the TPLF to be that evil Beast with feet of clay. When gazed upon, the TPLF appears awesome, formidable and infinitely powerful. It has guns, tanks, rockets, planes and bombs. Though the TPLF has legs of iron, its feet are made of clay. When the Beast is confronted by people power, the Beast backs down, stands down and in the end is run down.” Alemayehu G. Mariam, February 7, 2016

Hail to the Ethiopian National Defense Force. Hail to the Commander in Chief of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. Hail to the Commanding Officers of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Thank you!!!

The TPLF Beast with feet of clay in the end was run down!

I am no prophet.

But on November 25, 2019, I predicted exactly how the end of the Tigrean People’s Liberation would come about.

I wrote, “The TPLF and its 27-year rule of oppression, corruption, human right violation will come to an end suddenly, not with a bang but a whimper.”

On November 28, 2020, the TPLF’s end came in Mekelle City not with a bang but a whimper.

The victorious Ethiopian National Defense Force captured Mekelle with minimal resistance from TPLF forces.

There is no such thing as a cakewalk in war, but if there ever was one, the capture of Mekelle would be it.

In my January 4, 2015 commentary, I wondered wistfully, “What is the likely end of the “hollow men” of the TPLF?”

By December 2015, I had written the  “end of the story of the T-TPLF in Ethiopia.”

There was no question in my mind then the TPLF was done. Game over!

The only question for me then was whether the TPLF story will end with a bang or a whimper.

Two months later in February 2016, I knew without a doubt the TPLF’s end would come not with a bang but a whimper because the TPLF  Beast had feet of clay.

When gazed upon, the TPLF appears awesome, formidable and infinitely powerful. It has guns, tanks, rockets, planes and bombs. Though the TPLF has legs of iron, its feet are made of clay.

That was not all.

In August 2018, I warned the TPLF not to mistake Abiy Ahmed’s patience, tolerance and pursuit of peace for weakness and cowardice. His critics said he is a fainthearted leader who only likes to talk about love, peace and reconciliation. He is afraid to face and confront those who are putting the country’s peace, stability and integrity at risk.

In the week preceding my commentary, everyone had ganged up on PM Abiy hectoring, lecturing and exhorting him to “uphold the rule of law”.

What his critics meant by the “rule of law” was simply that PM Abiy should crackdown and kick butt.

Of course, if he had cracked down hard, they would have been howling how he has become a tyrant and dictator.

The call for enforcing the rule of law came from all sectors — opposition leaders, civil society and human rights activists, local and foreign journalists, the man and woman in the streets, and most surprisingly, a gathering of top interdenominational religious leaders in the country.

In an unprecedented action in the country’s history, on August 13, 2018, prominent religious leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and Ethiopian Kalehiwot Church issued a statement  demanding “the government uphold the rule of law and to take all the necessary steps to stop the violence in different parts of the country.”

I knew better.

I warned those flouting the rule of law, especially the TPLF, to be careful, very careful. Inside the velvet glove Abiy Ahmed wears in public is a solid iron fist.

It is said, “Vox populi, vox dei [‘The voice of the people is the voice of God.]’”

“What should PM Abiy make of the plaintive voice of our faith leaders”, I wondered.

Even the TPLF joined the chorus demanding PM Abiy take measures to uphold the rule of law. Their rallying cry was, “Lawlessness is taking root in the country. The Constitution is being violated.”

The TPLF (LF in TPLF stands for Lie Factory) continued to run their fake news rumor mill in high gear everyday proclaiming the country is going to hell in a hand basket because PM Abiy was not upholding the rule of law.

Of course, the invisible hand in the trashing of the rule of law and the Constitution in Ethiopia was the TPLF.

Abdi Illey, the now-jailed president of Somali region in his in his public confession fingered and named exactly who is responsible for the violence, death and destruction in Eastern region of Ethiopia. The TPLF!

The TPLF’s plan has always been to create chaos and strife in Ethiopia and in the confusion get back into the saddle of power.

PM Abiy was quick to throw down the gauntlet at a military graduation on August 18, 2019.

Flanked by the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, General Saere Mekonen clad in battle fatigues, PM Abiy issued a thinly-veiled “don’t push me” last warning to the TPLF which is using “shiftas” (bandits) to spread anarchy, death and destruction throughout the country.  

He gave the shiftas and their sponsors two choices which could be summarized as follows. “Stop your violence, death and destruction now or our defense forces will drop the sledgehammer on your head hard!”

PM Abiy said (author’s translation):

… Those who confuse freedom with anarchy and engage in lawlessness, disregard the rule of law and due process must stop their street politics of mob justice (rule) must stop. If we weaken the rule of law, tolerate mob rule and allow vigilante justice, we would be adding insult to injury which will result in (social and political) bankruptcy for our blossoming peaceful (democratic) transition. It is the obligation of each and every citizen to know, preserve and uphold the law. In this regard, our defense forces have a double obligation.

The absence of rule of law and a government that tolerates anarchic insurrection will nullify (gravely harm) our country. It must be our daily mission to keep our national unity in a manner consistent with the rule of law. To be modern is to respect the rule of law. Those who refuse to uphold the rule of law will invite dictators who rule with an iron fist, but they will never be victorious.

When I say “Enedemer” (count up/let’s stand together), let us and reconcile and build one (united) country, it does not mean we go into anarchy, disregard the rule of law or allow the proliferation of (shiftas) thugs in the streets.

The aim of our reconciliation is to regain (the freedom) what we have lost and not to destroy what we have preserved. It is the daily obligation of every citizen to love and support our military sacrificing their lives for low pay…

On November 26, 2020, PM Abiy gave the TPLF his final warning: Resistance to the rule of law is futile:

When the federal government issued the 72-hour surrender time, it had two objectives. On the one hand, it was to demonstrate that the intention of our operations is to enforce the rule of law per the laws of the land. If the criminal TPLF clique chose to peacefully surrender, the campaign would be finalized with the least amount of damage. To this end, we have provided the opportunity for peaceful surrender on numerous occasions in the past weeks. The second goal was to provide protection for those that finally understand the criminality of the TPLF clique and distance themselves for the group.

Let there be no mistake!

PM Abiy left no stone unturned to seek a peaceful resolution of disputes with the TPLF. There is a full record of these effort.

But there can be no negotiation with those who seek to use negotiations to trash the rule of law.

Abiy Ahmed is all about the rule of law.

He has proved it time and again. No one is above the law. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. When there is no rule of law, there will be rule of lawless thugs.

When Abiy Ahmed came to office, he emptied the prisons of political prisoners because he knew they were imprisoned arbitrarily and without due process of law.

When Abiy Ahmed came to office, he opened up the media and let out jailed  journalists because the actions taken against them is contrary to the rule of law. In 2018, Ethiopia was ranked 150/178 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. In 2020, Ethiopia ranks, 99/178.

When Abiy Ahmed came to office, he let in diaspora opposition leaders deemed terrorists by the TPLF and invited them to peacefully participate in the political process because he knew their conviction under the so-called anti-terrorism law was contrary to the rule of law.

He shut down “Maekelawi”, the notorious prison associated for decades with torture and police brutality.

He officially accepted the decision of the binding international arbitration decision in the Ethio-Eritrean dispute because pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be observed or a deal is a deal, can’t back out once you make the deal) is a sub-principle of the rule of law.

As I have said many times before, Abiy Ahmed says what he means and means what he says.

Cross him at your own risk!

The TPLF Pity Party Gab Fest: The only thing TPLF jive talkers are good at is shooting off their mouths (ወያኔ ጉራ ብቻ !)

For years and in after the federal law enforcement action in Tigray, the TPLF threatened the  ENDF that if they dared to attack, they will be faced with the “crash of guns, the rattle of musketry and hear nothing but the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield”, to paraphrase General Douglas Macarthur.

The TPLF promised to shoot and bury every ENDF soldier who dared to enter Tigray.

The TPLF promised Mekelle will be the final burial ground of the ENDF.

In the end, the TPLF took off the battlefield like a bat out of hell shooting off nothing but their big mouths.

The TP (L)ie (F)actory windbags talk loud and say nothing (ወያኔ ጉራ ብቻ !)

Paraphrasing the lyrics of the Godfather of Soul:

The TPLF is like a dull knife
Just ain’t cutting
Just talking loud
Then saying nothing.

Today, hiding under the same rock from which they emerged some three decades ago, they keep on shooting off their mouths and saying nothing:

Abiy’s government can capture Mekelle but will never govern Tigray.

We will begin guerilla warfare and fight in the mountains.

We have destroyed several divisions of the ENDF.

Blah, blah, blah…

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

TPLF, shut the **** up and turn yourselves in.

As I told you recently in My Special Poetic Message:

TPLF, I done told you the end was near
Now you can see it bright and clear
Man up and surrender
I sincerely don’t want to see you go six feet under!

It is said, “Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”

I say, “Those who  refuse to abide by the rule of law will be forced to live by the rule of the sword.”

The TPLF has now made the choice irrevocably to live by the rule of the sword!

Remember TPLF what I told you in February 2016:

The T-TPLF Beast will soon be carried away and ‘become like chaff from the summer threshing floors.’ The TPLF will be ‘carried in the wind so that no trace of them is found’ and those who have troubled the Ethiopia House ‘shall inherit the wind.’ It is so written!

The prophesy has come to pass!

The TPLF is gone with the wind!

RESISATNCE TO THE RULE OF LAW IS FUTILE!

The theme of my next commentary following an African proverb: “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”