Tigray Herald፡November 22,2024 (Mekele)
Written by Bereket Kiros
A mind that cannot see destroys a country:
May I remind my fellow Tegaru about one of nature’s most disconcerting but universal laws: weakness in an animal attracts predators of all sizes. Being mild-mannered or peaceful in the face of actual danger may provide temporary relief, but like all acts of appeasement, one pays with total disaster in its wake. Building a nation is not a game where you give and take some, and everything settles down to a nice and neat system. It is not like building sandcastles where you can endlessly improvise—building and demolishing over and over with no real pain or suffering. That seems absent from our political leaders and some diaspora circles.
We Tegaru have come to a crossroads where we must make serious choices about our future, leaders, and relationships with each other. There is no way we can go back to the stifling control of the TPLF after having fought our way out of their oppressive rule of fifty years. Even more alarming is that this recent squabble has opened a fissure in our hitherto solid wall of patriotism for Debretsion and Co to sneak into his defeatism and fatalism, another continued betrayal and embarrassment.
The absurdity of the proposal for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration in Tigray, the concession of territories, and the abandonment of citizens are shown clearly; we have not learned the lesson of history that the fight for Tigrai’s territorial integrity is not just for “territory” or a piece of “real estate” but for the human and political rights of precious Tegaru who live in those territories who are being killed, raped and live under horror human suffering.
Moreover, the problem is not as simple as it sounds when reduced to the simple choice of shifting the real threat to Tigrai’s continued existence as a nation to question the direction of our political effort. We must recognize that the Pretoria agreement is the only international agreement that can be used as a savior in our future. The Interim government, with its unsatisfactory scorecards, must deal with it until the democratically elected party.
Thus, my comment on TPLF’s supporters’ opinion is simply a matter of my national duty to warn fellow Tegaru of the danger of adopting DDR and disarming TDF when our people and territories are under occupation, which is to be perceived indeed as weak for our enemies. At any rate, since we are surrounded by neighbors who want nothing less than our destruction, there should be no divergent views when it comes to our national Interests.
