AG Says Reform Initiatives Increased Capacity to Respond to Chaos Orchestrated by TPLF

Addis Ababa December 21/2020 (ENA) Reform initiatives undertaken in areas of security, law enforcement and military have increased the capability of the government to respond to conflicts orchestrated by the TPLF across the country, Attorney General Gedion Timotiwos said.

Speaking at Policy Matters, a conversation platform organized by the Office of the Prime Minster, the attorney general said many top TPLF officials were not really happy about the transition and the new administration when the reform took place about two and half years ago.

According to him, they believed that they lost their privileges and dominant position. So, they designed to instigate conflicts here and there with communal clashes.

This mechanism was mainly used to undermine the new administration, he added.

Various violent incidents were perpetrated in Amhara, Oromia, and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states, of which some are handled by regional law enforcement agencies while the rest have been investigated by the federal police and federal attorney general.

The TPLF deployed violent actors, militant groups and extreme elements in various regional states, either directly by giving assignments to carry out attack in various parts of the country or indirectly supporting media outlets through political mentorship and support, he explained.

Some of the militant elements that operated in that area flew to Mekele, the regional capital of Tigray Regional State, and were given instruction, weapons to support their militant and violent activities.

“Through extensive social media and mainstream media presence and network, the TPLF had been instigating, sponsoring communal clashes and violent incidents to undermine the transition, reform process.”

For example, the conflict that occurred in the border area between Somali and Oromia regional states was orchestrated by TPLF, Gedion noted.

The people of these two regional states have coexisted for at least four centuries, and there is culturally and linguistically a great deal of affinity between these two regions.

The government policy has been to ensure that there would not be impunity and to ensure that those who are responsible in this kind of conflict and violence will be held accountable, he stressed.

In the wake of the transition, the TPLF had some sort of control and influence in the security apparatus and that casted shadow and constraints in the capability of the government to effectively respond to these incidents and averting violence.

However, the reform undertaken in the security, law enforcement and the military has increased the government’s capability to respond to those problems, he stated.

Amidst all this destruction and the effort to erode the reform, the government has pressed on with the reform, the attorney general noted.

“We have recently adapted new media proclamation, which is part of the reform package, and new media policy has been adapted. The conversation about the election and political space to opposition political parties is becoming a center stage.”

Gedion finally pointed out that in order to ensure rule of law, the government has continued with the reform initiative started, and doubling down on the reform which aims at strengthening institutions and ensuring that citizens will enjoy their constitutional freedom.