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Event Translation and Compilation – By Addis Standard Staff
Addis Ababa, January 4, 2021 – A speech delivered by Commissioner Abere Adamu, Chief Commissioner of the Amhara Regional State Police Commission, added a new dynamic to the cascading events that led to the armed conflict in the Tigray regional state, which erupted two months ago on November 4, 2020.
In his speech delivered at the opening of his newly published book, Commissioner Abere recounted how the Special Forces of the regional state of Amhara, led by the region’s Assistant Police Commissioner, Biset Getahun, recovered members of the National Defense Forces Ethiopia (ENDF), steel-clad mechanized forces stationed near Humera and ordered them to return “to face the enemy” in the armed conflict involving federal forces and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces.
Commissioner Abere also revealed that the regional state of Amhara “had already done [its] task ”and“ the deployment of forces had been carried out on our borders from east to west. The war started that night after we had already completed our preparations, ”he told the audience to several rounds of applause.
Cascade of intensified events between November 01 and 04/2020
Commissioner Abere’s account adds to a cascade of events that took place shortly before the armed conflict broke out in Tigray. The following are the main events that occurred between November 1 and 04/2020, all except one were reported by Addis Standard at the time.
November 01, more than 50 civilians were killed in the West Wollega area, Guliso Werda, Gawwa Qanqa kebele from the Oromia regional state that eyewitnesses said was shortly after the evacuation of members of the federal armed forces from the area. But news of the murder came to light only a day later, on November 2. There was no official explanation as to why the defense forces were evacuated to the area, where there is an ongoing armed conflict with members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). .
Other The reports of November 1, 2020 also indicate the mobilization of “16 buses” of ENDF members from a military camp in the city of Shilaabo in the regional state of Somali.
The same day, November 1, Eritrea issued a statement accusing TPLF of obstructing regional peace and stability, and that “the TPLF-led group” that has been declared “Game over” for a while.
November 02, President of the Tigray Region Debretion Gebremichael broadcast a 36-minute televised message saying that The regional government has “prepared our Special Force soldiers who do not need a war, but if the worst comes, to defend us.” And he warned that the Tigray region “must pay attention to the situation that is moving towards war and everyone must be prepared.”
These events were followed by the publication of a statement on November 02, 2020, by EU High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell on the growing tension in Ethiopia in which he said: “The events in Ethiopia are cause for deep concern. All parties, as well as Ethiopia’s neighbors, must act to reduce tension, eliminate inflammatory language and refrain from provocative military deployments. Failure to do so runs the risk of destabilizing the country and the region in general. “
November 04, 2020 Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that federal forces were authorized to intervene militarily in the regional state of Tigray after the TPLF “took action” and “attempted to rob the Northern Command.”
On November 13, 2020, Sekoutoure Getachew, a former TPLF official, said on regional television that TPLF forces took a “pre-emptive strike” against the Army Northern Command stationed near Mekelle, before federal forces began the military operation in the region.
Speech by Commissioner Abere at the presentation of his book
Commissioner Abere’s speech was delivered at the launch of a book he wrote entitled (freely translated) “The Supremacy of the Law for the Development of a County.” The video was uploaded on December 20, 2020.
Below is a direct translation of Commissioner Abere’s rare account of the first day of events that featured the participation of Amhara’s regional state forces from day one.
Abstract
Because it’s history, let me tell you what happened during this time. At that time, the police of the Amhara and Temesgen region [Tiruneh] who was the president of the Amhara Region, already knew that this was going to happen, especially the preparation of TPLF, since they were next to us. We have therefore already done our homework and consequently a deployment of forces has taken place on our borders from east to west. The war started that night after we have already completed our preparations.
At the time, Deputy Commissioner Biset [Getahun], the Commander of the Special Forces, called me … and told me that the war had started and that we were engaged. Because we had so many discussions in military languages, I told him to continue as discussed, he agreed. So I immediately called our President Ato Temesgen and told him the news; He told me to participate and said, “Just hold on!” And I said, “I’m on it.” After that, we were all at work.
A little later, Deputy Commissioner Biset (the deputy commissioner, in the police house is equivalent to that of the Brigadier General, and I would like to be able to call him that because that is a family title), he called me again and told me that he was going according to our discussion.
What we have talked about was, because now it is in the past, let me clarify for you today: what we discussed was that we had communication with those inside; with whom we maintained close relations, especially with those members of the Mechanized Forces stationed near Humera; We had relationships with them and we have already studied how to regain the strength to come to us if something happens. So when I and Deputy Commissioner Biset say “agree with what we discussed,” we understand what we were saying. Then he told me “things are going as we discussed it”. What it meant was having members of the steel-clad mechanized Special Forces come to us under the protection of our Special Forces, and after they caught up with us, commanding them to turn to face the enemy. Then he asked me “they are coming, what do I do with them?” so I told him to divert them in the face of the enemy; he did it. The armored mechanized members that we provided protection and recovered from there provided protection for our forces and the infantrymen entered. Everyone knows what happened next. Thus began the war; this was the day.
In the process, after the war started and having allied the armored mechanized members with our forces, I called General Berhanu Jula and said ‘General, we have recovered your forces and we have allied them with our forces’ and asked him to overturn an alignment directive; in times of war there is this alignment guideline language, otherwise incidents could arise where the allies end up hitting each other. So we had to do that and when I told General Berhanu, his speech [response] it was a mixture of joy and doubt. Joy because we recovered the mechanized armored forces and directed them to face the enemy; and hesitates because I think he was wondering how it could be possible. That’s what I meant by sharp tone. In any case, I told him that what was done was done and asked him to give us the line-up directive and he agreed; the war continued that way.
A few days later, General Ababaw Tadesse called me and told me that he was coming to Bahir Dar and asked me to welcome him. I agreed and welcomed him. When he arrived, General Belay and General Kumara accompanied him. After introducing myself to them, he told me that General Belay had previously returned from [Mekelle] airport after he was assigned as commander of the Northern Command. The general assurance is a cheerful man; and I jokingly said, “Well, you haven’t been able to get in by air before, but now you’re going to get in on foot.” It looked like an order. He told me not to have doubts. At that moment, General Abebaw took me aside and said: “I am going to enter from above in the north and you are going to hold from here.” I told him not to think of anything. For a moment we forgot about COVID and hugged.
Then they headed north with my car. In fact, the enthusiasm of the generals did not seem like they were going to war, but to a wedding. I was 100% sure that we would win the war and we won. I would like to congratulate you.
As a result, we had to wait this season to release this book. [which took] more than a month later than we think. But many people say that now is the right time. Of course.
The purpose of this book was to prevent this war from happening. As I told you before, war devours us; it gets worse when they’re together. That war could only be stopped if the rule of law was obeyed; the law is obeyed only when we know the benefits of the law. AS
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Editor’s note: Commissioner Abere’s speech continues for a few more minutes on the benefit of the rule of law and ends with a special recognition and thanks to his wife and children residing abroad. Below is the full video of the speech and related event at the Commissioner’s book launch.
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