Mereja.Forum

[Sadacha Macca]

''In 1997, at a meeting of the TPLF Central Committee that was convened at the Economic Commission
for Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, the Prime Minister dropped a bombshell. He told the members who were
hitherto in control of every policy decision not only in Tigray, but also in the rest of Ethiopia that the Mandate
of the TPLF was over.
Ethiopia, TPLF and Roots of the 2001 Political Tremor - P.Milkias 3
Meles explained that the TPLF as a front had, starting from the beginning, two basic contradictions to
contend with. The primary contradiction was, he explained, to neutralize the forces that militated against their
avowed aim, to achieve self-determination for their homeland of Tigray. This, he explained, has already been
accomplished. Their organization had defeated their earliest rivals, the EDU, the TLF and the EPRP. Then, it
defeated another rival, the ELF by coordinating its forces with the EPLF, at that time their ally against the Derg.
The TPLF had continued its struggle until it defeated the Derg and liberated the entire province of Tigray. It
then continued to follow the Derg to its seat of power in Addis Ababa until it crushed its military forces and
took over the whole of Ethiopia.
Meles further claimed that a “narrow nationalist” organization opposed to Ethiopia's larger aim, the
Oromo Liberation Front [OLF] was also vanquished. He added that the TPLF's avowed aim as a revolutionary
guerrilla force, to enable all nationalities to enjoy the right of self determination was achieved. Eritrea, he said
was given the opportunity to decide its own fate by a referendum and thus succeeded to declare independence
from Ethiopia bringing peace to the region. Furthermore, Meles said, kilils [state zones] were drawn to give
every major nationality in Ethiopia the right to control its own destiny, to have its own regional government, to
advance its own economic and cultural interests, to have even the right to self-determination up to secession - all
of which have now been enshrined in the constitution.9
In subsequent meetings, Meles stressed that the fact
that the EPLF had been soundly defeated by the newly created Ethiopian army in the 1999-2000 campaign only
puts urgency on the dismantlement of the anachronistic organization - the. TPLF.
It should be crystal clear here that Meles’ intension to dismantle the TPLF was not motivated
ideologically. The truth is that on a personal level, he had nothing to loose. Shifting musical chairs made no
difference at least in the short term. He has already lost grip on the seat of power in his Tigray base. He had, of
course, none in the rest of Ethiopia. His revanchist instinct was therefore to politically bury his enemies before
they buried him. To use Mengistu Haile Mariam’s candid admittance of his bloody purge, he wanted “to have
for breakfast those who waned to have him for lunch!”
The secondary contradiction according to Mele's speech was bringing a solution to the internal problems
of all those engaged in governing since 1991. This involved deviation from the original course of socialist
reconstruction, the involvement in corruption and the tendency to adapt dictatorial and bourgeois attitude in the
entire leadership of the TPLF and the EPRDF.
Meles suggested that once the TPLF is dissolved, parties would be organized to compete on the basis of
ideology not ethnicity. He mentioned the case of Canada as a prime example where Conservative, Liberal,
Social Democratic [NDP] Communist [M-L] and even separatist [Block Quebecois] parties compete for national
and regional parliamentary seats.
People present at the meeting report that the Tigray nationalists led by the Tewolde-Siye group were
astounded by this bold suggestion and argued against Meles vehemently. The dissidents’ fear was that if Meles
continued in the same direction, the TPLF might loose its grip on Ethiopian economics and politics. It is not
surprising therefore that since the rift appeared, they have attacked Meles for undermining Tigray and Tigrayan
nationality for which many of their comrades gave their lives.''


ETHIOPIA, TPLF AND ROOTS OF THE 2001
POLITICAL TREMOR*
starts from page 3
Paulos Milkias Ph.D. ©2001**
Marianopolis College/Concordia University