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»TPLF’s Hidden Agenda: Mediation as a Tactic. By Saafi Labafidhin
By: Saafi Labafidhin
TPLF’s Hidden Agenda: Mediation as a Tactic

Every time they are under pressure, desperate Tigray People Liberation
Front (TPLF) regime claims their door is always open to negotiations.
We have seen this in 2005 when there was real jeopardy to their fate.
After the heat of upcoming elections reached Jigjiga, and the Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF) doubled its operations against the
demoralised government military, they were forced to seek the help of Ogaden elders whom they refused to even talk to previously.

These traditional elders were present in Addis since 2004 and met with Zenawi only after one of the leading Ethiopian newspapers, The Reporter, published Sultan Fowsi who was the leader of the elders on its front page. More than a decade before this, we have also witnessed the Qabridaharre Conference where Zenawi himself spent sleepless nights there to implement his ‘divide and rule policy.’

Time after time they tried to get rid of ONLF and its sympathisers.
They call this organisation as ‘terrorists’. There has never been a
year without a crackdown in this region and the bulk of the Ethiopian
military find themselves trapped in an ongoing battle and consider this
region the worst place to be. And things are never getting better for all
of us. Despite all these atrocities, the current regime has always
been on the loosing end of the battle against the Somali people, both at
home and abroad.

Confused about how to create equilibrium for their conflicting
policies, the TPLF is once again playing a game against the ONLF. They said
they are going to negotiate with ONLF –the same organisation they called
as terrorists. Nevertheless, this time they are using their new envoy
Prof. Ephrem Isaac as a messenger. TPLF has always had a hidden agenda
towards Ogaden. But this time their apparent objectives are as
follows:
• a) To confuse the International Community
• b) to divert attention from their open-ended atrocities
• c) to kill the support of Ethiopian peace loving people for the
ONLF
• d) and mainly, to divide ONLF leaders

The latest move by TPLF comes as crackdown of civilians continues and
those who survived flee for their lives. A time when an Ethiopian
army’s field commander claimed to have killed many ONLF fighters and
captured many others alive. Lander which is a relatively stable village in
the Haud has been a home for many fleeing Families. It is an open secret
that for the army TPLF civilians and ONLF freedom fighters were of
equal importance –they kill all. In the latest hours there has been
reports from Dhagaxbuur that many villages around the famous Haro-Digeed valley have been carpet-bombed by helicopters positioned in Dhagaxbuur town.

Can Professor Ephrem Take fires between TPLF and ONLF?

Mediation is a process in which a third-party neutral assists in resolving a dispute between two or more other parties. It is a non-adversarial approach to conflict resolution. More interestingly, mediation has always been a part of Somali culture in the Ogaden as it is said u kala dabqaadid –literally meaning to take fires between warring parties as sign to mediate them. As a principle of mediation, a mediator must be neutral to the problem in question. Despite his position as a renowned professor in Harvard University, this gentleman lacks neutrality as he openly supported and continues to hail the criminal leaders of Addis Ababa regime and their flawed policies. He has gone to the extent to advocate the riddance of HR2003 in front of the United States Congress.

In addition, I doubt if the professor is acquainted with the long-standing trouble in the Ogaden and the realities on the ground; although I
am sure he is aware of the brutality of TPLF against his own people: the
Oromo. As an Ethiopian Jew who directs Institute of Semitic Studies
in Princeton he can do better if he helps reconcile the Semitic language
speakers, namely TPLF and CUD –Tigray and Amhara respectively. Or
may be he can be successful if he settles the deep-rooted dispute between
the Orthodox Church Synods, which of course, concerns him more than
the Ogaden.

When it comes to Somali history and culture and how to negotiate them,
Mr Zenawi knows better for he has been in Mogadishu (with Ogaden
leaders) in 1980s for a long time!!! Instead of using all available
opportunities Meles prefers to blame ONLF of reluctance and uses this as a
pretext to press on with military operations in the region. On Oct 23 AFP
quoted him as saying "We have spent years trying to convince the ONLF
that negotiations were the only solution. We even sent elders abroad to
meet them but they were reluctant," But wait a minute! We know ONLF
have always sought a face to face dialogue in a neutral platform and you
tell us this stuff while your forces continue to execute a campaign of
terror against innocent people and more recently carpet-bombing
villages and nomadic settlements in Haro-digeed. And Hey! Who arrested the leader of the elders you are talking about? ONLF or YOU? We know that you know we know!

Is TPLF really committed to end its wicked policies towards Ogaden?

Over 16 years have gone since the downfall of the Derg. Although the
country is one the poorest performing nations according to UNCTAD's new
edition of Trade and Development Index (TDI) (see here), much has
changed for other regions where there are rebel movements, from Amharas
Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front to Oromia’s OLF (Oromo Liberation
Front), and Afar’s Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF).
However, the Ogaden (Somali Region), except for very few projects which
are not intended to serve the local people (Jigjiga University is one of
them); there has been a total neglect and collective punishment.

As a rational person longing to see peace and development in his/her
land, I have always asked myself why Shinile is so under developed. Why
pastoralists living in Negele Zone, Jigjiga and Afdheer are
marginalized. Why are there daily Ethiopian Airline’s flights to Godey while
there is no infrastructure and access to basic services –you may think I
am naive but I at least know planes go there daily just to make sure
that the Chat business is booming!! Why many other places where neither
ONLF nor other rebel movements operate are neglected. There is only one
logical fact: The SOMALI people anywhere they may be are isolated and
collectively punished by the regime in power by reasons some of which
are unknown to me. That is why we have a chip on our shoulders!!

The Addis Ababa regime has always ignored the price paid by their
troops killed in the battles. After all, most of them are not Tigrayans.
That means TPLF kills two birds with one stone. Fighting with the ONLF and
making non-Tigrays busy by fighting someone else’s war.

During the 2005 election campaign, Prime Minister Zenawi, who has
always been a wolf in ship’s clothing, boasted that as a guerrilla
fighter, he was able to rule Ethiopia through the gun, and by it will he only
be removed, according to him. Contrary to his claim, I would always
expect ONLF or any other rebels to engage their matters peacefully. But it
is unfortunate if the non-violent cannot protest peacefully. So TPLF
acknowledged (at least to themselves) that by its crackdown alone, it
is only walking into the lion’s den and that they cannot defeat ONLF
in the battle field, they seem to have opted for other hypocritical ways
to get rid of ONLF for good.

One such way is to pretend as if they were serious enough to negotiate
with ONLF; they must have calculated the outcome of their cheap lip
service when they chose to send Prof. Ephrem Isaac as a messenger. They
have done this before in 1995 when the Ogaden National Liberation Front
(ONLF) split into two over negotiations with the TPLF. The “hawks”
under the then ONLF leader Sheik Ibrahim Abdalla continued armed
struggle, while the “doves” led by Bashir Abdi Hassan joined the EPRDF
after merging with the Pro-TPLF Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL)
of Abdulmejid Hussein. “TPLF succeeded in fragmenting the ONLF by
engaging its more moderate members in negotiations and into the region’s
patronage and spoils system (Tobias H. and Mohamud H, 2006) .

A word to the ONLF: Don't negotiate out of fear but don't fear to
negotiate

To borrow a nice expression from John F. Kennedy who once said,
"Don't negotiate out of fear but don't fear to negotiate” I would wish to
see honest negotiations between the main actors in the Ogaden
politics, namely ONLF and TPLF. I have already read a response from ONLF as I was in the middle of my writing. I appreciate the balance of your
statement and how you always put your position clearly: “We have maintained that any such dialogue should be held in a neutral third country, in the presence of a neutral third party arbiter of international standing
with no preconditions placed on either side” So I say to you: Please
leave no stone unturned to unite your people and campaign the world to
press Ethiopian government for a dialogue for a peaceful solution to
the long suffering of the Somali people of Ogaden.

You have challenged them in the war front, but always remember in our
modern time the pen is mightier than the sword. And above all, stay
united!
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