Desta Abadi
The Pretoria peace agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray government (TPLF) has created a huge excitement among enemies and supporters of the Tigray people for one reason or the other. The enemies of the Tigray people have gone out of their way to spread innuendo and disinformation to derail the peace agreement, one to confuse and create a rift among Tegaru, and second to excite the uniformed and falsely agitated Amhara people (I believe the Amhara elites are the main actors of the innuendo and disinformation) as well as the beneficiary of the Abiy regime to protect their interest.
Essays Afeworki and his cronies are in full gear to exert the worst social havoc in Tigray and Ethiopia, because they will be at the end of the short stick in this peace agreement, and it will be a surprise for not acting the way they are reacting. The government of Eritrea is getting paid for every ammunition and life of its soldiers in dollars from the Abiy regime and the Cessation of Hostilities agreement will dry up the coffers of Essays and his generals.
Tegaru compatriots are writing and using the youtubers to express their disappointment on the agreement which I believe is a misplaced argument because the diaspora, the government of Tigray, TDF and the people of Tigray were fighting for one thing in mind, to live peacefully, to govern themselves and to determine their constitutional given right.
One questions why then all the hoopla if the peace treaty is going to bring peace, self-determination, territorial sovereignty, and an end of hostility?
The answer is very complex and complicated. Some of us are afraid on the premises of treachery and treason done against us, and we got driven by our emotion rather our rationality, some of us, even though we were riding the mass highway of our people’s path while having our disagreement with TPLF and the government of Tigray, the Cessation of Hostilities agreement triggers our false suspicion and assumption and we fall into the blame game.
Some of us are against the cause of the Tigray fight for survival and we are in denial of all the genocide and atrocities done against us and this is an opportunity to promote our narrow interest and score on TPLF and Tigray government.
The dividend of peace is way more than the dividend of war. Our people have been denied peace for more than 4 years, they have been under 360 blockade for more than 3 years, they have been under a total siege for two years, as a result our people are dying of starvation, lack of medication, aerial and ground bombardment and a peace agreement is a great relief to our people.
Half of the population of Tigray are internally and externally displaced for more then two years, our kids are out of school for 2 years, our scholars are fighting and dying on the field instead of producing and developing their society and their motherland, and peace will bring the end of all these ills.
We can argue what guarantee do we have that this agreement of Cessation of Hostilities will sustain? We do not!!! However, it is worth a try and give the negotiators and the mediators an opportunity to make it happen.
At the end, we need to weigh the opportunity cost for waging a war and for a peaceful negotiated settlement, and I believe we will arrive at a decision to choose peace over war.