Addis Ababa, September 04, 2022 (FBC) – In an exclusive interview with FBC, Alastair Thompson said that the government of Ethiopia did everything possible to ensure peace, calling the international community to recognize the country’s extraordinary patience and resolve for peace.
TPLF has undermined the peace process that was being undertaken under the aegis of the African Union (AU) through the mediation by Olusegun Obasanjo, and re-opened war on the nation, Alastair Thomson said.
“And that was sort of the first indication that the TPLF was unwilling to actually participate in the negotiations. And they spent several couple of months basically talking about their bunch of preconditions,” he noted.
“Arrival of international envoys in Addis Ababa and then Mekelle looked as though the peace talks were finally going to get off the ground.”
“There were quite big talks that took place between the envoys and the government in Addis Ababa, and the envoys and TPLF leadership in Mekelle where unfortunately, the envoys chose to take selfie with the TPLF leaders, and this caused a lot of concern that perhaps they weren’t taking things seriously.”
“After that visit, they issued a statement saying that they agreed that there should be a restoration of services. But the restoration of the services is not as easy as people think.”
The formation of the Main Peace Committee in Addis and the respective progress also showed how the Government of Ethiopia is committed to ensure peace, the Analyst stressed.
“So one of the things that most of the international communities appear to be unaware of is the fact that there has been a unilateral ceasefire one in June and then there was one in December, and then there was one in March.”
None of the unilateral ceasefires announced by the government were ever actually acknowledged by the TPLF. Only one of those ceasefires declared in March saw a reasonable period of observance, he said.
From April through to recent times, there has been a constant flow of aid into Tigray as a result of the fact that there finally was something which looked like a ceasefire, he recalled.
“It wasn’t an actual ceasefire because they had never actually acknowledged it. They hadn’t declared a ceasefire themselves. They just basically agreed, I think, not to do further invasions for a while, but it didn’t last very long. My understanding is that every episode of conflict in this war, starting in November 2020, was initiated by the TPLF. The TPLF attacked the garrisons inside Tigray and killed thousands of soldiers.”
“They then attempted to invade Gondar and failed, they were driven back into Tigray. They were then defeated in Tigray. And then, during the election period, in June, they started a new offensive, and they were defeated in that particular offensive and then in July, just a couple of weeks later, they invaded Amhara and Afar regions.”
And after they withdrew from the areas they invaded, the international community and observers had addressed both sides, calling both sides to sit down and hold peace talks. But that has never been reciprocated by the TPLF.
Continuing their refusal to the peace process, they have invaded Afar and Amhara regions and begun attacking innocent civilians. Keeping to their nature, currently they trying to peddle some nonsense rhetoric to play a victim, he underlined.
The international community needs to give due credit to the Ethiopian government for being extraordinarily patient for the sake of peace, he stressed.
It is quite clear for anyone that listens to or reads the statements of the TPLF that they publish lots of statements, and make briefings that are always belligerent; they’re always threatening the current war they launched. “Unquestionably they are the aggressors in this conflict.”
The damage caused by the TPLF in Amhara and Afar was enormous. In Kombolcha alone, they destroyed the entire industrial base there and vandalized infrastructures and social infrastructures, he said.