Ethiopia’s treacherous transition (Ethiopia-Insight)
Posted: 22 Mar 2021, 16:16
Ethiopia’s deep-rooted divisions, and a Machiavellian alliance, have opened the gates of hell in Tigray.
Since 3 November, Ethiopia’s federal military, allied with Eritrean and Amhara forces, has launched a devastating war on Tigray regional state. Thousands have been killed, millions displaced, cities demolished and looted, and millions are starving and suffering from a lack of essential services.
This piece revisits the historical and political background of the protagonists and the chain of events that led to this bloody episode.
In the beginning
Tigray and Eritrea took different paths after the latter was annexed and colonized by Italy in 1890, in the aftermath of Emperor Yohannes’s death and Menelik II’s coronation. Eritrea grew significantly while Tigray remained backward in the empire, marred by feudal wars and neglected by a non-developmental state.
A few generations later, as a by-product of the Ethiopian student movement in the 1960s, a sharpened political opposition to the contemporary political class of the nation grew in Tigray. Two strands of thought emerged.
Intelligentsia promoting the first one argued Menelik II’s misdeeds were not only a matter of neglect but were done with malicious intent to divide the region geographically and politically. If not for the military foray of Menelik II and collusion with Italian colonists to break up Tigray, they argued, Tigray would not be so penurious.
Those who advanced this narrative glorified the ancient history of Tigray. They saw Shoans as colonizers of Tigray and concluded that independence was indispensable. They envisioned a Tigrinya-speaking nation stretching both sides of the Mereb river. They birthed the irredentist organization, the Tigray Liberation Front (TLF).
On the other hand, Tigrayan members of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) such as historian Gebru Tareke argued that Tigray’s structural problems were inextricably tied to those of the rest of the country. They thought the problem was the absolutist monarchy that willfully neglected Tigray and other rural, peripheral parts of Ethiopia.
By 1975, a new batch of Tigrayan young men formed an armed organization, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). TPLF wavered between these two positions. On the one hand, it accepted the view that Tigray’s underdevelopment was a result of Menelik II’s intentional neglect. But, being good socialists, its leaders also accepted that Ethiopia’s social structure was not conducive to the production and equitable division of wealth.
They, therefore, abandoned the idea of independence, and proposed self-determination as a right of the Tigrayan people, and of all “oppressed nationalities.”
Sadly, yet not surprisingly, the inability to handle radical disagreements in an amicable manner led to those organizations solving their differences via arms. By the late 1970s, TPLF won the fight against TLF and EPRP to become the dominant force in the region, held the banner of “Second Woyane,” and led the fight against the Derg.
Similarly, in Eritrea, armed insurgency for independence gained steam after the Ethiopian empire dissolved the UN-mandated Ethio-Eritrea federation and incorporated Eritrea into its kingdom. In the 1970s, after vanquishing the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), the separatist Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) led by Isaias Afwerki became a dominant force.
EPLF-TPLF
As EPLF started to grow, it began supporting other insurgent movements such as TPLF. Among others, EPLF provided training and arms to TPLF members.
However, a fallout began between the two when TPLF criticized EPLF’s democratic credentials and its failure to recognize the right of minorities for self-administration in Eritrea. In addition to other ‘nerd commy’ stuff that has become characteristic of TPLF leaders’ generation, they also criticized EPLF for not following the principles of people’s war, but, instead, rushing to engage in a conventional war.
EPLF’s reaction was to act like a total douche. It retaliated by blocking the safe passage of aid from Kassala, passing through Eritrea, to Tigray, during the height of the 1985 famine. EPLF burned “sixteen UN, five Catholic Relief, and nine private trucks carrying aid to Tigray.” TPLF’s response won the heart of Tigrayans. They mobilized thousands of peasants and POWs to construct a road to Gedaref, Sudan. Within weeks, aid could be delivered to many hungry people in Tigray.
TPLF’s relationship with the EPLF remained hostile until early 1988, but an armed confrontation never took place. Instead, in the coming three to four years, they became good tactical allies. Together, they brought an end to the Derg regime, and Eritrea became independent.
Continue reading
Since 3 November, Ethiopia’s federal military, allied with Eritrean and Amhara forces, has launched a devastating war on Tigray regional state. Thousands have been killed, millions displaced, cities demolished and looted, and millions are starving and suffering from a lack of essential services.
This piece revisits the historical and political background of the protagonists and the chain of events that led to this bloody episode.
In the beginning
Tigray and Eritrea took different paths after the latter was annexed and colonized by Italy in 1890, in the aftermath of Emperor Yohannes’s death and Menelik II’s coronation. Eritrea grew significantly while Tigray remained backward in the empire, marred by feudal wars and neglected by a non-developmental state.
A few generations later, as a by-product of the Ethiopian student movement in the 1960s, a sharpened political opposition to the contemporary political class of the nation grew in Tigray. Two strands of thought emerged.
Intelligentsia promoting the first one argued Menelik II’s misdeeds were not only a matter of neglect but were done with malicious intent to divide the region geographically and politically. If not for the military foray of Menelik II and collusion with Italian colonists to break up Tigray, they argued, Tigray would not be so penurious.
Those who advanced this narrative glorified the ancient history of Tigray. They saw Shoans as colonizers of Tigray and concluded that independence was indispensable. They envisioned a Tigrinya-speaking nation stretching both sides of the Mereb river. They birthed the irredentist organization, the Tigray Liberation Front (TLF).
On the other hand, Tigrayan members of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) such as historian Gebru Tareke argued that Tigray’s structural problems were inextricably tied to those of the rest of the country. They thought the problem was the absolutist monarchy that willfully neglected Tigray and other rural, peripheral parts of Ethiopia.
By 1975, a new batch of Tigrayan young men formed an armed organization, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). TPLF wavered between these two positions. On the one hand, it accepted the view that Tigray’s underdevelopment was a result of Menelik II’s intentional neglect. But, being good socialists, its leaders also accepted that Ethiopia’s social structure was not conducive to the production and equitable division of wealth.
They, therefore, abandoned the idea of independence, and proposed self-determination as a right of the Tigrayan people, and of all “oppressed nationalities.”
Sadly, yet not surprisingly, the inability to handle radical disagreements in an amicable manner led to those organizations solving their differences via arms. By the late 1970s, TPLF won the fight against TLF and EPRP to become the dominant force in the region, held the banner of “Second Woyane,” and led the fight against the Derg.
Similarly, in Eritrea, armed insurgency for independence gained steam after the Ethiopian empire dissolved the UN-mandated Ethio-Eritrea federation and incorporated Eritrea into its kingdom. In the 1970s, after vanquishing the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), the separatist Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) led by Isaias Afwerki became a dominant force.
EPLF-TPLF
As EPLF started to grow, it began supporting other insurgent movements such as TPLF. Among others, EPLF provided training and arms to TPLF members.
However, a fallout began between the two when TPLF criticized EPLF’s democratic credentials and its failure to recognize the right of minorities for self-administration in Eritrea. In addition to other ‘nerd commy’ stuff that has become characteristic of TPLF leaders’ generation, they also criticized EPLF for not following the principles of people’s war, but, instead, rushing to engage in a conventional war.
EPLF’s reaction was to act like a total douche. It retaliated by blocking the safe passage of aid from Kassala, passing through Eritrea, to Tigray, during the height of the 1985 famine. EPLF burned “sixteen UN, five Catholic Relief, and nine private trucks carrying aid to Tigray.” TPLF’s response won the heart of Tigrayans. They mobilized thousands of peasants and POWs to construct a road to Gedaref, Sudan. Within weeks, aid could be delivered to many hungry people in Tigray.
TPLF’s relationship with the EPLF remained hostile until early 1988, but an armed confrontation never took place. Instead, in the coming three to four years, they became good tactical allies. Together, they brought an end to the Derg regime, and Eritrea became independent.
Continue reading