Who is TPLF ? by Prof. Tilahun Yilma

J’accuse the TPLF! 

We accuse the TPLF and those who support this mafia-like terrorist organization. Resurrected by its former kingmakers, they have now started a new phase of war and massacres to re-annex fertile land, a strategic prize that opens an international outlet to construct their ridiculous dream of creating a great “banana republic”, or whatever they call their cacti-covered village. The West has swallowed their lies, for these fabrications align with their hegemonic ambitions in the Horn of Africa. For the Front, expansion is vital for their secessionist dreams, concocted through the Constitution and aided by their sycophants. This outcome may yield the West strong command-post of influence, but will reduce Ethiopia to a new colony, stretched between economic mendicancy from the East and military dependency on the West. Independence, sovereignty—these concepts will go down the drain. 

Then, they willingly kneel and beg to serve a Superpower, consorting with demons, selling their sovereignty, and happily becoming a colony. They trade away their meager resources, but more seriously, they offer land as military base in exchange for aid, to eliminate dissidents like —a friend with another idea, the father who stands in their way. “Yes, kill them all and take whatever you want, but put me in power, and leave me a handful of dollars. I will buy a villa in the West, a Porsche for my children who will attend Harvard with your blessing. Then we are good.” That’s what they have been doing all throughout their history. The dead can’t speak but go and check the maimed, the starving and the orphans in the streets of Makale as well as in Amhara and Afar regions where they have been ravaging. 

And the people, the mskin youth, follow their masters’ demagogic lies without question. An empty belly or an empty brain must be filled before it can think or feel. This is the era of liars, where the primary means of communication is “What do I get out of this or that?” This has become the metric of success. This mechanism creates a vicious cycle of fish-eat-fish, an endless competition of who eats whom and how fat they become. Collaboration is obsolete. 

I have a question: How is it that in every Banana Republic, a dozen PhD-holders, having read a sentence or two in politics, and maybe Che Guevera, dream of seceding heir destitute village and transform it into their own Israel or Singapore? Their determination is so fierce that they kill anyone in their path—brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and especially friends—annihilating all with differing perspectives, like a road roller or a tank.  

How do they propose to be “independent” with the statistics of starvation and death flashing red incessantly? How are they planning to survive the never-ending conflict they have ignited with all neighbors around their piece of land? Maybe they rely on the West, but why would the West choose them once their agents get too old and expire? They will eventually. Dependence and living at the mercy of others is a slave mentality – definitely un-Ethiopian! 

TPLF has been resuscitated. We accuse the TPLF, here are some of the reasons: 

1. The TPLF Broke up Ethiopia: The TPLF played a significant role in the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It reopened the wounds of colonialism, the scramble for Africa. 
2. The TPLF Left Ethiopia Landlocked: Negotiated away Ethiopian ports and turned a country of more than a hundred million into a landlocked state. Is it possible for any sane mind to purposely sabotage the country they are ruling? 
3. The TPLF Ceded Land to Sudan: The TPLF ceded Ethiopian territory to Sudan installing a never-ending border dispute between neighbors. 
4. The TPLF Ruled through toxic Tribal Politics: For 28 years, the TPLF governed Ethiopia by emphasizing ethnic divisions to promote a kind of ethnic Apartheid. 
5. The TPLF used Constitutional Division: The TPLF used the constitution to divide Ethiopia along language and ethnic lines. This was purposeful disintegration of a people.  
6. The TPLF committed Election Fraud: They forcibly took control of elections, undermining the democratic process. This was a prelude to their aim of seceding.  
7. The TPLF Dismantled the Army: They dismantled Ethiopia’s centuries-old military. This was replaced by a structure that served only the henchmen, not the country. 
8. The TPLF Targeted Amara: The TPLF marched with the intention to destroy the Amara ethnic group. This was to eliminate the advocates of a united Ethiopian state. 
9. The TPLF Caused Mass Deaths: They are responsible for the death of one million Ethiopians – the warmongering, ruthless leaders invaded their neighbors and ended up in the loss of youth, including their own constituents. 
10. The TPLF committed Economic Theft: The TPLF created EFFORT and appropriated the wealth of the Ethiopian people. It syphoned millions abroad through its mafia network. 
11. The TPLF Reconfigured the Geography and Demography: The TPLF forcibly annexed land in neighboring provinces, created new conflict zones by dividing villages in the country, where people have been living peacefully together for millennia. 
12. The TPLF Undermined National Values: They instilled in a generation to abandon national pride, disregard historical roots, undermine social capital, scorn altruism, accept lies and corruption as the new normal, thereby breaking the fabric that holds a nation together.  

In short, 

The TPLF meticulously disintegrated Ethiopia, its history, the social fabric that created the Ethiopian psyche and replaced it with fanatic narrow ethnonationalism. Given these actions, the TPLF is considered a mafia group that is anti-democracy, anti-people, and anti-Ethiopia and talks only the language of violence, terror. Therefore, it should be removed from the political landscape by law and replaced by a genuine people’s organization. 

P.S. STOP AMHARA DEMOCIDE! When a government kills its own citizens, it is committing DEMOCIDE. 

By Professor Tilahun Yilma
Department of Molecular Biology

University of California