Enough with the lies, enough with the patience,” said Ato Getachew Reda
May 13, 2025 0
Getachew Reda _ Ethiopian politics _ TPLF
Getachew Reda (PD)
Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Reporter
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Getachew Reda, the former president of the Tigray Interim Administration and current Minister Advisor for East African Affairs, revealed to Fan Broadcasting Ethiopia that the illegal gold trade in Tigray did not begin after the Pretoria Agreement, but was ongoing even during the war.
“Many people think the gold trade started after we signed the Pretoria Agreement,” said Getachew, “but the trade was happening even while the war was being waged.”
He further disclosed, “I believe I fought for the cause I believed in. Within that struggle, there were many military officers who fought for the agenda of the Tigrayan people, and my respect for their work will never diminish. However, even when the war was consuming thousands of young lives, there were commanders who used excavators, which we had taken to dig trenches, to mine gold.”
“Their lies astound me,” said Ato Getachew. “Enough with the lies, enough with the patience.”
Getachew also stated that the leadership, which initiated and directed the campaign under the pretext of “destroying the Eritrean army,” was involved in kidnapping people for ransom.
“There are people who make a living by selling people. There’s talk of selling Eritreans as ‘property.’ Is that still happening? They kidnap and confine 27 young people in a house, and their families abroad are asked to deposit money, at least $4,000 per person. (If you kidnap 20 people, you get $80,000.) There are high-ranking leaders who have opened foreign bank accounts and are selling and kidnapping thousands of people, demanding money,” he said.
He stated that this practice initially began with Eritreans and then shifted to Tigrayan natives.
He indicated that although attempts were made to investigate this matter and bring the leaders to justice, it was not possible, and two years have passed.
Getachew said, “After we decided that the head of the information department who was leading this should be held accountable or removed from his position, the security leaders responsible for implementing this did not carry it out.”
He noted that security leaders have a tendency to protect each other, whether they are guilty or not.
Furthermore, Getachew Reda spoke about leaders involved in the gold trade.
“There is a general who boasts, ‘I will sacrifice myself to the end for Tigray’s freedom,’ while being involved in the gold trade. Such a person should be told, ‘You are involved in the gold trade,'” he said.
Getachew publicly named General Migbe and others as being involved in the gold trade.
“The heroism of people like Migbe is based on the sacrifice of the youth,” said Getachew. “After entering into a simple gold trade that leads those youths to displacement, they are describing their theft as ensuring the unity of the Tigray region and are moving to subject those youths to another sacrifice.”
“People like Haileselass are now boasting in the name of Tigrayan people’s unity, saying they will use Tigrayan youth as fuel, even against Eritrea,” he said.
He described Migbe and Haileselass as “people steeped in crime.”
He also stated that they do not want the chaos to end because they fear being held accountable and facing danger if peace suddenly occurs.
Ato Getachew indicated that they are planning to drag the Tigrayan people into another war, and they are designing a strategy to conduct the war in Tigray, fearing a sudden attack from the federal government.
“Peace must be established; there should be no war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Eritrean people should not be endangered. That is my belief. But if I have to choose, I will fight to the end to prevent the Tigrayan people from becoming a war zone again,” he said.
He stated that the obstacles to this struggle are the robbers involved in the gold trade.
“He calls himself a ‘front commander’ while spending his time looting gold,” he said.
“In 2014 Ethiopian Calendar [2022], while the youth were fighting on every front, a person who was leading the war from a distance in Dabat, Debark, and Limalimo was simultaneously digging and selling gold with an excavator,” he said.
He also stated that politicians are involved in this looting network.
Furthermore, Getachew spoke about Haile Selassie, whom he accused of stealing hundreds of millions.
“There was a Kombolcha issue account; at that time, we made a political decision to take government money without touching private banks because we needed money for the war. As far as I know, there was 4 billion Birr in the issue account. This can be verified from the National Bank. After I became the interim administrator, I received a document asking us to explain what happened in the banks and to collect the money in the issue account. One of the people assigned to collect the money, the so-called front commander Haileselass, took hundreds of millions of Birr, about a billion Birr. His subordinates also took their share,” he said.
He stated that most people participated in the struggle for the survival of the Tigrayan people, not for personal gain.
“As far as I know and have verified, even with documents, people like Haileselass spend their time importing gold machines,” he said.
He also indicated that the political leadership is involved in the gold trade.
He stated that when their machines are seized, they call federal officials, flattering them and trying to get their machines released.
He indicated that two years have passed since a study recommended, “So and so took 300 million, they should be arrested, so and so took this much machinery, they should be arrested, action should be taken.”
He indicated that Debretsion (Dr.) and others know about the study document that was submitted.
He stated that action could not be taken to avoid damaging the reputation of people who made significant contributions to the struggle and to maintain a false sense of unity.
“Even when I submitted a document demanding action, it was not implemented,” he said.
He stated that they have been spreading a general message that “all military leaders have looted” because they could not name Migbe and Haileselass. This is a lie, he said.
Ato Getachew Reda revealed that political leaders are obstructing accountability because they themselves are implicated.
He indicated that most military leaders are peace-seeking.
As of this article’s publication, leaders or representatives from the TPLF have not responded to Getachew Reda’s allegations.