Foreign interference in Ethiopia is a grotesque ballet, yet international reporting favours the explanation “ethnic violence”. Read my poem “Foreign Interference Ballet”; resource-greedy UN superpowers are like evil sorcerers in Swan Lake.

Foreign Interference Ballet: a Fancy

Nations with power in the UN behave like the leads in a classical ballet such as Swan Lake with its fanciful story. They are the antagonists (baddies) and perform willingly.

The star of the show is the gorgeous swan queen. She dances unwillingly. Many a fine nation has been forced into her role: Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen… now Ethiopia.

Who are the baddies? 2 of them are a tiny-yet-huge former coloniser and its former colony, now enormous. Imagine an evil magician plotting with his or her spoilt adult child, then dancing with leftover princes from stale European kingdoms. The goal is to destroy regions that they desire.

“Foreign Interference Ballet” Poem

An African land had a queenly heart
Her lakes and rivers in her people’s eyes
Their dancing hair her perfumed clouds
‘Selam. Peace. My brother. My sister.’
These were their words, first and last.

An owl-baron cast a fiendish spell
Turning the queen into a part-time swan
Her handmaidens grew feathers, hatched cygnets, stuck around
Song stifled by sanctions and foreign fed strife.

The sorcerer said, ‘There’s still one hope.
‘Find unbroken love to break my spell.’
Then he summoned his daughter, shape shifter like him
And they grinned as a prince strayed into view.

‘Oi loik hunting birds ‘n’ ladies, but what’s this? Strewth!
‘Splendid swan and maiden – in one go I’ve caught both.’

Would you trust him? Take his word? Ms Swan had no choice.
Swearing eternal love, they danced a pas de deux
Then at midnight the prince broke his promises to her
Swooning over the shape shifter, with her swan disguise and fancy moves.

Our queen was doomed, so fled to her lake
Where the prince said, ‘Sorry;’ she forgave him as you do
One last dance, then splash! Into a deadly marriage bed
Love mended, spell ended, handmaidens gave birth
To children that sang, ‘Peace, my brothers and sisters.’

THE END—Ianet, January 2023

Foreign Interference in Ethiopia

A Crushing Spell

It is as though the poorer parts of the world are under a spell called foreign interference. The rich remain greedy for primary resources, cheap labour and strategically located centres. First, they crush vulnerable nations with sanctions and assassinate strong leaders. Next, they buy the cooperation of weak leaders that sell out innocent populations for a fleet of Landcruisers and promises of citizenship abroad. Planting enormous soldiers’ boots and dropping bombs may follow. Alternatively, interference remains indirect, yet forever crippling.

In May 2021, Amhara and others voted in Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party during peaceful elections. Afterward, recurring attacks on Amhara people increased. The West’s TPLF darlings ran over fleeing civilians in stolen UN and Ethiopian humanitarian-aid trucks. At Lalibela, they killed breadwinners to steal their taxis: 3-wheel bajaj. Ethiopian forces had refused to lend civilians a single gun before withdrawing.

The truth is unwelcomed abroad. In August 2021, the FBI imprisoned a journalist. He was protesting at the misrepresentation of Ethiopia’s crisis by the US. Police also briefly arrested street musicians. They were raising funds for displaced Ethiopians.

Plan to Split Ethiopia

Near Lalibela in Welo, Semien Mountains had uranium, titanium and tantalum deposits that they coveted; Afar was at the eastern trade route. Elsewhere in the north was petroleum and thermal energy. In the west, the prime minister had already opened gold mining.

Today, Europeans are silent as the prime minister hands over displaced civilians in Kobo, Welo to be murdered by TPLF junta. In Benishangul-Gumuz, Welega and Shewa, Shene insurgents cause chaos. Superpowers long to split Ethiopia 5 ways; her resource-rich regions are already allocated in their minds. Shene is derived from an Ethiopian word for ‘fifths’.

Dispossession and Wrecked Infrastructure

Ethiopians are in crisis: all know somebody dispossessed or homeless. People share wages with those who’ve lost their jobs. Many cannot apply their know-how due to loss of traditional and modern infrastructure. The government has not rectified systematic devastation of infrastructure in Welo and Afar by rebels.

Kombolcha textile Factory was dismantled by European mercenaries in 2021–22. In the 1980s, Mesfin repaired the denim production area. The factory had 8,000 workers per shift, with 3 shifts each day. It was the largest in Africa and 4^th worldwide. Each day, sweet locals took him out for coffee and prepared gumfo, a porridge. Now, they have nothing.

21 Million Bereft

21 million Ethiopians need help. They can no longer work or are deprived of their livelihoods and have lost family members. This includes 4 million internally displaced people due to TPLF warfare and Shene insurgency. A further 1 million are missing. Many have fled. On 4 April 2022, 93 died in the Mediterranean Sea in a small boat.

8 million are particularly desperate. Most are refugees from Yemen, Libya, Syria, Congo, Uganda, Sudan and Somalia.

By early 2022, 1.1 million children faced starvation. Others have 1 meal a day. Parents are reluctant to send their children to school if they cannot provide breakfast. Besides, the TPLF destroyed schools, clinics and hospitals in Amhara areas.

The West ordered the mayhem and contributed to it. In 2021, boys as young as 12 murdered 15,000. They had chichi short-range machine guns supplied by England. Victims were peaceful farmers and students and teachers in 3 Tigray universities. Beforehand, the boys had been sheltered and armed in a Sudanese UNHCR camp.

“Ethnic Violence” Linguistic Collocation

Foreign reports of abuses in Ethiopia played the tired “ethnic violence” card – a cheap linguistic collocation of 2 words [1]. Try this: type ethnic violence—with or without “double quotes”—into the search box of an internet search engine such as Google.

Glance at the titles of articles that appear. Are poor countries named most often? Do they have mineral resources that attract superpowers? Is there a single report on the indiscriminate murder and rape by TPLF of Ethiopian Amhara in Welo, and people in neighbouring Afar? People in Afar are not Amhara, but each area has resources.

The subtext of “ethnic violence” is, ‘Internal strife… no blood on our hands.’

Muslim Prophet Muhammad and followers settled in Abyssinia at the invitation of its Orthodox king; her people thrived on ethnic and religious harmony. Now, foreign fuelled greed drives attacks upon Amhara. All English language and foreign news reports cite “ethnic violence” as the cause. It’s more complicated than that. Mesfin has written an account of traditional Oromo hospitality and acceptance of other cultures.

In Western media reports, the subtext of “ethnic violence” is, ‘Internal strife… no blood on our hands.’ “Ethnic violence” is simplistic and misleading because more than 2 actors are involved in most conflicts.

Cultural Heritage Theft: Thieves Fear Ethiopians

Cultural-theft trails are easily obscured during hard times. 2 billion UK pounds worth of birana (Orthodox goatskin books) have mysteriously relocated to London [2]. An anonymous group tried to bribe a professor to stop investigating the cultural theft and damage.

Every Western country that has committed crimes in the Horn of Africa fears a united Ethiopia, with her 120 million mostly honest souls. Italy, Germany, Britain, France, Portugal and Greece: you know who you are. In 2022, Orthodox crosses turned up in Australia.

Challenge to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

We know who’s behind you and have had enough.

—Christian Tadele

This is the gist of a recent parliamentary challenge to the prime minister by Christian Tadele [3]. It is interpreted and paraphrased by Mesfin.

99% supported you; you came across as respectful, but now you put patriots in prison. We know who’s behind you and have had enough. Prepare to resign and face court for the death of 3 million Ethiopians: 1.2 million in Tigray, Afar and Welo and another 800,000 in Semen Shewa and Welega; plus 1 million missing, including those in Mai Kadra, Humera and Welkait mass graves. Do you know your job description? It is to restore peace, yet your troops throw bombs in Giyorgis Monastery. All Ethiopians have the natural right to move in their own country and work everywhere. Amhara are questioned as though applying for visas when coming to Addis Ababa.

Christian Tadele

Food Insecurity

Denial of Food to Displaced People

The rebels have denied food to war affected people everywhere. Food aid intended for displaced people in Raya, Tigray is still diverted to TPLF forces. In September 2021 in Welo alone, there were half a million internally displaced people. TPLF denied them food from the start. It has been Orit Orthodox monasteries that sheltered and fed the displaced, yet they are harassed by regional bureaucrats and foreigners. Ironically, Ethiopia’s leader has begun to dine with the junta, thievery unchallenged.

Jeff Pearce interviewed Stephen Were Omamo of Kenya. He was director of UN World Food Programme (WFP) 2018–2021. WFP passed over qualified Africans in favour of white staff; they would have helped Ethiopians. Instead, TPLF rebels got away with looting warehouses, stealing WFP trucks and fuel, and abusing and assaulting UN staff [4].

Agro-Industry Sabotage

High on the TO DO list of rebels is agro-industry sabotage. It looks the same in every invaded country. Not only are power supplies, roads, airports and railway stations destroyed systematically; a million beloved livestock were murdered on farms in Amhara. Aside from demoralising civilians, this results in food insecurity. That spreads to neighbouring regions, destabilising them: the superpower goal.

Ethiopia’s farms and factories were prime targets for her enemies. They especially funded Shene, TPLF and al-Shabaab attacks on communities that farmed brilliantly. The 1st were in Tigray, in former Amhara locations where people were buried alive in mass graves in 2020. They had grown maize and seed oil enough to feed Africa and the Middle East. Foreigners later attempted to buy their land. Then in Welo, south of Tigray, TPLF killed and displaced more talented farmers, destroying farms in fertile zones.

At the same time, Shene insurgency escalated in agricultural areas in Benishangul-Gumuz and Welega—in the west—and Shewa in central Ethiopia. View Rahel Getu’s music video on attacks upon Amhara.

Saudi Arabia Atrocities Against Ethiopian Workers

Recently, the prime minister has said that a hundred thousand Amhara girls are needed for export to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. They would be unlikely to ever return. Commencing in 2020, more than 75,000 Ethiopian workers were imprisoned in Saudi Arabia merely for being Ethiopian or Orthodox.

In August 2021, Addis Ababa residents protested outside the Saudi Arabia Embassy: SHAME, SAUDI ARABIA. A group of policemen had raped a 10-year-old Ethiopian girl. Others beheaded those prisoners with Orthodox crosses on their faces or cut off arms. The Holocaust ended in Europe. What about in Africa and the Middle East?

Addis Ababa Food Supply Crisis

The prime minister has barred poor Amhara from entering the city – even to attend clinic appointments. His excuse? There is too much homelessness! The problem for all is that Amhara produce most food. Therefore, he is also blocking supply of food to Addis Ababa. This has inflated prices for staples.

Teff grain increased from 1,500 ETB per kilogram to 16,000 ETB. This has pushed the price up for injera flatbread: from 8 ETB in 2021 to 75 ETB now. A security guard’s weekly wage is AUD 17, which is 620 ETB. One serve of injera daily is now beyond them. Most workers also cannot afford cooking oil, especially healthy linseed oil.

Have you read my post about persecution of Ethiopia’s best?

Resources

Notes

• [1] Aljazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/25/witnesses-accuse-tigray-fighters-kobo-killings
• [2] Yegna TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXtEAEnxTOU (Amharic)
• [3] Ethio Mereja. https://youtu.be/vHf6_yQUwjg (Amharic)
• [4] Pearce, Jeff. https://jeffpearce.medium.com/lies-deceit-and-aid-new-revelations-about-the-world-food-programmes-conduct-and-the-tplf-800438f5d479

Sources

• Aljazeera. “Witnesses Accuse Tigray Fighters of Kobo Killings”. News, September 25, 2021. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/25/witnesses-accuse-tigray-fighters-kobo-killings
• Awtar TV. “Rahel Getu. Ethiopiaye”. September 07, 2021. YouTube video, 5:14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJRjY2jlURA
• Ethio Mereja. “[Mr Christian’s Question that Shocked Everyone: Leave your Power and be the Solution]”. March 29, 2023. YouTube video, 8:10. https://youtu.be/vHf6_yQUwjg
• Pearce, Jeff. “Lies, Deceit and Aid: New Relevations about the World Food Programme’s conduct and the TPLF”. Medium, December 17, 2022. https://jeffpearce.medium.com/lies-deceit-and-aid-new-revelations-about-the-world-food-programmes-conduct-and-the-tplf-800438f5d479
• Yegna TV. March 27, 2023. “[Books Worth 2 Billion Pounds Stolen in England]”. YouTube video, 44:53.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXtEAEnxTOU

Photos

With Lalibela Torpido Bet Owner & Worker, Semien Mountains behind © Mesfin Tadesse 2017