Ethiopian diaspora group warns against conceding lands to ‘terrorist’ TPLF

ADDIS ABABA (SUDANS POST) – A diaspora group of the Ethiopians is warning the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa against conceding ancestral lands to the rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in both Afar and Amhara regions.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front stands accused of forcefully taking lands from locals in both Afar and Amhara when it came to power following the defeat of longtime dictator Magistu Hailemariam and when the deadly Ethiopian conflict break out in 2020.

“We, the undersigned members of Ethiopian communities and organizations in the Diaspora, express our resolve and determination to oppose any attempt by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) or certain Western governments and institutions to forfeit parts of the Amhara regions that had illegally and forcibly been annexed by the terrorist organization, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), between 1991 and 2020,” the Diaspora group said in a statement extended to Sudans Post.

“We view any attempt by the GoE to overtly or covertly concede these regions as none other than an integral part of a highly orchestrated gambit by internal actors and foreign entities to undermine the unity and integrity of Ethiopia, and by extension, to weaken the Amhara people,” it says.

The Ethiopian diaspora statement adds that there are attempts by the government in Addis Ababa to concede land to the TPLF asserting that “there are no historical, legal or constitutional arguments that can conceivably support the narrative that the ancestral lands of the Amhara region, including the Wolkait Tegede Setit Humera Zone and Raya, should be sacrificial lambs to appease a terrorist organization.”

“First, there is no historical record to suggest that the vast majority of the people of these areas have ever been under Tigray or have ever identified themselves as any other ethnic group but Amhara.

“Second, there is no constitutional basis to hand over these regions to the TPLF, as these areas had forcefully been annexed by the terrorist group in 1991, several years before the apartheid-style constitution was adopted, contrary to TPLF’s own bogus Transitional Charter of 1991/1992.

“Over the last couple of years, we have watched with dismay and consternation as the GoE demonstrated astonishing reluctance to allocate budget to the Wolkait, Tegede Setit Humera Zone and other liberated areas, while spending billions of dollars in the Tigrai region since the beginning of the war.

“While demonstrating indescribable indifference to the suffering of Amharas, Western governments have intensified their pressure on the people of the region to concede their ancestral lands to a terrorist organization.

“We hold the firm conviction that any recognition of the illegitimate pre-war borders of the Tigray region would not only be a blatant violation of the rights of the inhabitants of the region, but also an endorsement of a return to the atrocious rule by the TPLF that had resulted in the massacre and subjugation of countless Amharas who lived in the area.

“In this respect, we categorically and unequivocally decry the advocacy of the Biden administration to restore the territorial status quo as one-sided, prejudiced and unfair.”