Africa-Press – Ethiopia. March 11/2021(ENA) A memo by United Nations Development Program affirmed that the leadership in Ethiopia’s Tigray region deserves much of the blame for provoking the federal government.
The confidential memo signed by Achim Steiner, the administrator of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) points to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Ethiopia’s former ruling political party, as provoking the Ethiopian government offensive by attacking and seizing Ethiopia’s Northern Command headquarters in Tigray in early November 2020.
The four-page memo points to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, Ethiopia’s former ruling political party, as provoking the Ethiopian government offensive by attacking and seizing Ethiopia’s Northern Command headquarters in Tigray in early November 2020, in what would have been an “act of war everywhere in the world, and one that typically triggers military response in defense of any nation,” according to the memo written on February 16 and published by Foreign Policy.
The memo provides a largely sympathetic account of Ethiopia’s role in the crisis, echoing government talking points and repeating the Ethiopian leadership’s says that the international community has failed to address Tigrayan provocations over the past two years, including its opposition to government reforms and refusal to engage in political talks with the government.
The memo urges donor states to focus more on development and humanitarian goals and less on reprimanding the Ethiopian government over its human rights record and especially the excesses committed during the conflict.
It also paints a damning portrait of the Tigrayan political leadership, characterizing it as an obstacle to the government’s reform agenda, while faulting foreign governments for failing to call the Tigrayans out over the past two years when their actions challenged the rule of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The memo elaborates that “the ghosts of a repressive 27-year TPLF regime continue to torment the country—and winning the hearts and minds for social cohesion requires accepting that there is blame on all sides, including the international community.”
