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From: Sophia Tesfamariam (sophia_tesfamariam@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Jul 03 2011 - 11:51:14 EDT
IGAD-Fast becoming a
branch of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry
Sophia Tesfamariam
3 July 2011
Threats to peace, stability and security remain at an all
time high and questions about the credibility, efficacy and integrity of the UN
Security Council in addressing these serious global issues abound.
International and regional organizations remain under greater public scrutiny
and one such organization that has come under increased scrutiny by citizens of
the Horn of Africa is the Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD). Its
recent decisions negatively affected the peace, stability and security of the region
and bears responsibility for the destruction of Somalia and the suffering of its
people.
It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was
the mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia, led by Meles Zenawi that was behind
the shenanigans at IGAD and the African Union in 2009 that led to the Security
Council’s adoption of the illegal, unfair and unjust Resolution 1907 (2009). As
the paper trails and the records showed, despite what the US Ambassador to the
United Nations claims about Resolution 1907 (2009) which the Security Council
adopted on 23 December 2009 being an “African Initiative”, it was in fact, a
decision made by the TPLF regime in Ethiopia.
IGAD was duped into endorsing that recommendation and so
were the members of the African Union Peace and Security Council, some of whom
may have believed that IGAD had made an independent and studied decision on Somalia. The
AU’s Peace and Security Council was itself in violation of the African Union’s
own rules which clearly state that:
“….Any Member of the Peace and Security
Council which is party to a conflict or a situation under consideration by the
Peace and Security Council shall not participate either in the discussion or in
the decision making process relating to that conflict or situation. Such Member
shall be invited to present its case to the Peace and Security Council as
appropriate, and shall, thereafter, withdraw from the proceedings…”
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia and Uganda endorsed the resolutions against Eritrea.
The illegal meetings and decisions were orchestrated by Ethiopia who served as the Chair of the African
Union’s Peace and Security Council when that infamous decision against Eritrea was made.
Not surprisingly, it was also Ethiopia
that Chaired the IGAD meeting when it called for sanctions against Eritrea
in 2009. The regime in Ethiopia is once again trying to employ IGAD to
advance its anti-Eritrea foreign policy and when IGAD issued its 28 June 2011 Communiqué
on Eritrea,
once again, it had the minority regime’s fingerprints all over it.
Haile Mariam Desalegn, the minority regime’s Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Chairperson of the IGAD
Council of Ministers which recently called for more sanctions against the
people of Eritrea.
This time, the desperate and ignominious minority regime is also calling for
sanctions against the Eritrean Diaspora.
It should be recalled that Haile Mariam Desalegn has been
widely quoted by invited journalists as he openly made the following statement
in a 22 April 2011 press conference held in Addis Ababa:
"…We [ the TPLF
regime] have embarked ourselves on equal reaction, which is regime change (in
Eritrea ….This regime change is not by invading Eritrea but by supporting the
Eritrean people and groups which want to dismantle the regime. We are fully
engaged in doing so…"
The TPLF cadre is using IGAD to advance that desperate goal.
In the past I have written about the fact that all prominent
positions in the Government of Ethiopia were headed by card carrying members of
the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). Entrenched corruption, political
exclusiveness, nepotism and absolute control of power define the minority
regime in Ethiopia
led by Meles Zenawi, the head of the TPLF.
A 2009 study of Ethiopia’s Army by an Ethiopian
group said:
“…In Ethiopia, a
minority ethnic group that comprises no more than 6% of the total population
(89 million) controls the political, economic, and social life of 94% of the
Ethiopian people…all high level military positions in the Ethiopian army are
asymmetrically dominated by a minority ethnic group led by the TPLF elite…93.5
of all key military positions in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces are
occupied by ethnic Tigrayans, far in excess of their 6% representation among
the Ethiopian population…”
Whilst TPLF cadres head key Ministries in Ethiopia, they
also occupy key positions in the international and regional organizations such
as the African Union, Economic Commission for Africa and the Intergovernmental
Agency for Development (IGAD), that are found in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian
capital. Well placed Tigrayans have been using these regional and international
organizations to advance TPLF’s agenda in the region and help sustain its
brutal grip on the suffering people of Ethiopia. It is no wonder then that
IGAD and AU have never issued a single statement on the massive human rights
violations and genocides taking place in the Gambela, Ogaden and Oromo regions
of Ethiopia.
They have also remained mum as the regime massacred innocent Ethiopians on the
streets of Addis Ababa
for voting the regime out of office.
Let us take a look at some of the TPLF cadres that occupy
key positions at IGAD and who have accompanied the TPLF leader to the summit in
Maputo.
Meles Zenawi is the currently Chairman of IGAD and is
leading the IGAD delegation to Maputo, Equatorial Guinea where he will
undoubtedly Chair the “Extra-Ordinary IGAD Summit” scheduled for 4 July 2011.
He is also the head of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and the
leader of the minority regime ruling Ethiopia today.
Lissane Yohannes, serves as IGAD’s Special Envoy to the
Assessment and Evaluation Commission and according to the 28 June 2011 IGAD
Communiqué, this longtime card carrying member of the TPLF regime was present
at the meeting that decided to impose more
sanctions on the people of Eritrea. Those who follow events in the Horn
will remember Lisanne Yohannes for his futile attempt to dispute the various
human rights reports that exposed the TPLF’s atrocities in the Ogaden
region. In 2008, he was commissioned by
the minority regime to “investigate” the very serious allegations brought
against the Ethiopian government. The deceptive regime presented Lisanne
Yohannes as an “independent expert”.
Berhane Gebre Kristos, TPLF Central Committee member and
former Ambassador to the USA
and currently serving as Ethiopia’s
State Minister for Foreign Affairs chairs many meetings of IGAD.
Another card
carrying member of the TPLF that is part of the TPLF delegation is Nasinet
Menghistu, a member of IGAD’s Somalia Peace and National Reconciliation
Committee.
General Gebre Adhana, Commander in Chief of Ethiopian forces
that invaded and occupied Somalia
in 2006 and a card carrying member of the TPLF also serves on IGAD’s Somalia
Peace and Reconciliation Committee. Case of the fox watching the chicken coop…
An IGAD dominated by TPLF cadres in all key divisions and
departments is incapable of making sound and legal decisions on issues of peace
and stability in the Horn of Africa. IGAD’s credibility and integrity have been
further undermined by the TPLF regime’s interference, and self serving and
transparent shenanigans. Exposing its utter contempt for the other members of
IGAD, the regime is trying to repeat what it did in 2009.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
Join our World-Wide E-SMART Movement
Eritrean Sanctions Must be Annulled and Repealed Today!
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