The picture at the top is a screenshot of a video posted by Ermias Legesse of Addis Compass. I was unable to hold my tears when I watched the video where mothers, somewhere in southern Tigray, are praying to God in a manner so moving that one cannot help but cry. Why! Why! Why! The…
Prologue In the latest session of the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) a huge round of applause echoed when PM Abiy Ahmed said: “Let the world hear today, Ethiopia maintains a clear national interest; it needs Red Sea access through peaceful means”. In view of the existing pro and anti-Prosperity Party politics in Ethiopia one…
Tigray News: Tigray is breeding Napoleans or Washingtons? Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up” Napoleon was unambiguous about his intention to stay on the throne of France at whatever cost. He was addicted to the cheers of thousands as he marched at…
by Yohannes Aberra, PhD The Political Backdrop The war in Tigray has ended; but the post war ugly scars, of the untold death and destruction, are visible in every square kilometer of the land and in the psyche of millions. Implementation of the Pretoria-agreement, that ended the war, is stalled as a logical consequence of…
by Yohannes Aberra (PhD) The metaphor is strikingly revealing. It is a story of uninformed choice in Aesop’s Fables: “A Stag was chased by the hounds, and took refuge in a cave, where he hoped to be safe from his pursuers. Unfortunately the cave contained a Lion, to whom he fell an easy prey. ‘Unhappy…
by Yohannes Aberra (PhD) Two Sides of the Same Coin “TPLF and The People of Tigray are two sides of the same coin” said Dr. Debretsion Gebre Michael, chairperson of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in his opening speech at the controversial 14th TPLF Congress. Such politically convenient but socially disastrous statements test one’s…
During the EPRDF-years in Ethiopia ethnic identity appeared on official IDs to the elation of many ethnicity-based politicians and to the dismay of many more who found the display of ethnic identity on their official documents inconvenient and even harmful. The identity documents which displayed ethnic background were largely ‘kebele’ IDs of residence. There was…