(Translated by Fiyameta)
The speech (lecture) was given in the Tigrigna language. I summarized the main points of the speech and presented it in the English.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT ARE TEGARU SAYING? “ትግራይ እና ኢትዮጵያ ከተፋቱ 6 – 7 ወራት ሆኗቸዋል”
He started his speech as follows:
Ethiopia, a country that only benefit us when we come to power, and becomes our oppressor when we lose power, how can we consider it to be our country?
Let me give you a simple analogy. If you divorce your wife and she marries another man afterwards, it’s rather foolish to still call her your wife when in fact she belongs to her new husband. The same is true with our current situation. The few Tegaru who say “Ethiopia is our country” are talking about a country we parted ways 6-7 months ago. ሲሞቀው አዲስ አበባ ሲበርደው መቀሌ መሆን የለብንም።
When we are fighting for our survival, the existence of Ethiopia as a nation should not be of our concern. We don’t care if the country dissolves and disappears from the face of the Earth. Nobody cares!
There can never be a democracy in Ethiopia, a country rife with ethnic tensions and lacking national unity. How can we talk about democracy when Gondar is beating war drums and threatening to invade Tigray
አማሮች፣ “ስትገነጠሉ ምን አባታችሁ ልትበሉ ነው!?” እያሉ ያፌዝቡናል, ያሾፍቡናል። ከፍታ ሁመራ ያለው ሰፊ መሬታችን ለኛ ትግሬዎች ብቻ ሳይሆን፣ ለአማራም ጭምር፣ ከዚያም አልፎ ለአፍሪቃ ሙሉ መመገብ የሚችል ነው። በቃፍታ ሁመራ ልኡላዊ መሬታችን ብቻ እስከ አምስት መቶ ሺህ ሄክታር ለም የእርሻ መሬት አለ። በእያንዳንዱ ሄክታር መሬት በየአመቱ እስከ ሰማንያ ኩንታል እህል ማምረት ይቻላል። ዘመናዊ የእርሻ መሳርያዎችና መስኖ ዘዴዎች ተጠቅመን በአመት ሁለት ጊዜ ካመረትን፣ እስከ ሰማንያ ሚሊዮን ኩንታል ያህል እህል ማምረት እንችላለን።
What are the advantages of Tigray as a Nation-State?
Domestic advantages
We have a very conscientious, educated and ethnically h0m0geneous young Tegaru population.
We have vast natural resources that we can exploit to develop our Nation-State Tigray and to sustain our livelihood.
External (International) advantages
Ethiopia:
A weak central government in Ethiopia facing internal crisis incapable of resolving, is to our advantage.
There can never be an ethnic majority government in Ethiopia. The Oromo and Amhara political parties are rotten to the core and they are heavily dependent on external powers that none of them can form an ethnic majority government. That is to our advantage.
Creating strategic alliances with like-minded secessionist ethnic groups such as the Afars and the Somali, has a great advantage for Nation-State Tigray.
Eritrea
Multiculturalism, an idea that once was a global model for promoting ethnic diversity and equality that successfully achieved nationhood in countries like Eritrea, is losing its luster worldwide. We must take advantage of this opportunity by supporting the various Eritrean opposition groups.
Djibouti and Sudan:
We need to further strengthen our relations with our two natural allies, Djibouti and Sudan.
Somalia:
The declaration of a Greater Somalia Republic is to our advantage, for it further weakens the central government in Ethiopia by creating crisis in the southern border.
China:
The bond that exists between Tigray and China is very strong and it needs to be further strengthened.
Israel:
Just as Israel is a Nation-State of the Jewish people, so is Tigray a Nation-State of the Tigray people who have an exclusive right to national self-determination within their border. Israel is an avowed advocate for Nation-States and it cannot find a better partner than Tigray in the region that shares a common mono-ethnic tradition.
Russia:
Russia’s geo-strategic interest in our region is very well known. Tigray forming military alliance with Russia based on the principles of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is to our advantage.
Europe:
Great Britain and most Scandinavian countries have historically been sympathetic towards the Tigray people’s nationalism. Especially our relations with Great Britain dates back to 1865 when we worked together during the Magdala expedition.
Iran:
Obviously, both Ethiopia and Eritrea are part of the Saudi-UAE alliance formed to deter Iranian influence in the region. Following the same principle of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Tigray must create a good working relationship with Iran to advance our common interests in the region.
As you can see, we have a wide array of benefits and strategic advantages beyond our imagination.
Unfortunately, our collective dreams cannot be realized in present-day Ethiopia, which leaves us with only one choice; that is to leave the Ethiopian union all-together, and perhaps form a confederation down the road when we successfully maintain Tigray’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, economy and military.
I can’t stress enough that we must have our own Tigray national military force. In addition, we need to develop nuclear weapons to serve as a deterrence against Ethiopian aggression. Only when we have successfully neutralized threats coming from Ethiopia that we can start talking about confederation with Ethiopia to advance Tigray’s national economic and development agendas.
Finally, we Tegaru need to develop strategic foresight to plan successfully for the future. We need to think deep. So far, the existence of Ethiopia as a nation has proved nothing but a stumbling block for Tigray’s national interest. It would be good if Ethiopia serves our interest, but since we’re convinced that it doesn’t, we see its existence as a threat that must be eliminated by any means necessary. Bottom line is, we need to be fully aware of ALL our options.
