Economists Warn of Economic Sabotage by Terrorist TPLF

Addis Ababa, August 19/2021(ENA) The terrorist TPLF group and its collaborators could engage in economic sabotage to weaken military and economic activities of the country, economists warned.

The experts urged the government to tighten the regulatory systems to fight against such economic crimes against the country.

Speaking to ENA, Civil Service University Development Economics lecturer Tesfaye Chofana said economic sabotage in the Ethiopian context is mainly used by opponents of the government, mainly the TPLF terrorist group and its collaborators.

“Economic sabotage can be taken by the TPLF terrorist group to weaken the military and  economic activities in the service, industrial and the agricultural sector as well,” he added.

External powers such as Egypt, USA and some other developed countries as well as local business organizations might also collaborate with  the terrorist group, the lecturer pointed out.

According to him, the economic sabotage is already manifested in Ethiopia in the form of hoarding hard currency, hiding outputs of industrial and agricultural products, attacking digital system of the country, divulging military secrets and economic information to the terrorist group TPLF, cutting development aid and loans to Ethiopia.

The government needs to tackle these subversive activities by introducing new approaches such as enhancing strong regulatory system and regulating business companies which have connection with the terrorist groups TPLF and Shene.

“In the long run, the only way out of this situation is improving governance and the security system of the country so as to control the problems,” he noted.

Tesfaye stressed that the community, in collaboration with the government, should fight economic saboteurs by exposing the perpetrators.

Soberland International Institute of Development Service Executive Director, Dereje Dejene  pointed out that the major actors in economic sabotages in Ethiopia are politically motivated persons and entities as it is believed that the one who controls the economy can control the political power.

The terrorist TPLF group had been creating economic sabotage against the country since its  inception in the 1970s, he noted, adding that the group thought that it could control the political power by monopolizing the economy.

Recalling that the terrorist TPLF group had started guerilla warfare by robbing the bank in Axum, Dereje stated that it further escalated the act by purposely creating economic sabotage in favor of their oligarchy when they had been in power.

Its collaborators could still engage in this crime and the government needs to therefore strictly apply the law to stop such economic sabotages.

The economist pointed out that the government needs to particularly pay attention to the import sector as 90 percent of this sector is under the control of few companies, he pointed out.

“It is necessary to held the oligarchy accountable and bring those illegally hoarding foreign currency, money and commodities to court,” Dereje underscored.

He noted that economic sabotage is the cause of the high inflation, a mechanism that transfers wealth from the majority of the people to the minority oligarchy and leads the country to chaos and instability and dissolution of government.

The executive director called on the government to give due attention to controlling inflation and stopping saboteurs.