Mr. Blinken: Yes, to “Unhindered” But No to “Unsupervised” Access 

The Queen of Sheba

February 5, 2021

After a phone conversation with Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed on 4 February 2021, Mr. Antony Blinken, the new US Secretary of State, on his twitter account wrote: “I spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister @AbiyAhmedAli to express concern about the crisis in Tigray and urge safe and unhindered humanitarian access to prevent further loss of life. Despite current challenges, the U.S. stands ready to support reforms and peaceful elections.”

Dr. Abiy in his response the next day twitted back: “Thank you @SecBlinken for commitment to support #Ethiopia’s deep reforms that we will pursue undetterred. Our aspirations to democratize and build a multidimensional prosperous & peaceful country for all will be enhanced through strengthened Ethiopia-US relations.”

One cannot disagree with Mr. Blinken on the need for the safe and unhindered humanitarian access to save human lives in Tigray. To be sure, this support should most certainly focus on those in dire needs not only in Tigray but also to all those equally affected by ethnic and tribal conflicts contrived by the TPLF cabal—millions of them in different regions.

The Ethiopian government is already working with numerous major humanitarian organizations operating in Tigray. The big names include ICRC, UNHCR, MCF, Save the Children, CRS, and MSF. Be this as it may, more than 60 percent of the humanitarian aid that is going to Tigray still originates from the government’s coffer.

However, the social media is awash with fabricated stories generated by TPLF cabal fanatics and their enablers, as if nothing is happening—and that the Ethiopian government has been an impediment. Enraged, embarrassed, and humiliated by the thunderous defeat on the battlefield, they are now waging another aggressive warfare on the airwaves and social media—hence the distorted story on the humanitarian situation.

Dirty History: Countless Deceit

The TPLF cabal has a long, well-chronicled history of trickery and deceit. Some forty years ago, they invited their competing comrades in the field for a truce; after pretending to have reached a truce, they slaughtered them in the dead of the night—in their sleep. Some three months ago, they perpetrated the same trickery on the Ethiopian National Defence Force of the Northern Command massacring it—while asleep.

The TPLF cabal and its henchmen also have a dirty history of swindling a relief intended for drought and famine victims. Martin Plaut—a former BBC reporter who now turned a surrogate spokesperson for the cabal—wrote in March 2010, “Millions of dollars in Western aid for victims of the Ethiopian famine of 1984-85 was siphoned off by [Tigrayan] rebels to buy weapons, a BBC investigation finds.”

Some 15 years ago, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, largely known as Qinijit, handsomely beat the TPLF on the elections held in May 2005. The ruthless and treacherous head of the cabal, pleaded that he would “negotiate on anything under the sun” to resolve the standoff. Soon, however, he reneged his words, declared a state of emergency, threw the opposition leaders in prison, and rounded up and camped some 40,000 in treacherous camps around the country. At the kangaroo court the cabal established, it appallingly slapped death penalties on the leaders of the opposition.

Five years after the historic 2005 election, the TPLF engaged donors in “negotiations” to allow them to send observers for the 2010 election. It however called their election report “useless trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage, according to Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam, a long-time critique of the cabal.

According to a leaked report, citing the former US Ambassador Huddleston: “A series of explosions were reported in Addis  Ababa on September 16, killing three individuals.  The GoE [Government of Ethiopia] announced that the bombs went off while being assembled, and that the three dead were terrorists from the outlawed Oromo  Liberation Front (OLF) with links to the Oromo National  Congress (ONC).  An embassy source, as well as clandestine reporting, suggests that the bombing may have in fact been the work of GoE security forces.”

According to another report on TPLF cabal, the Former Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia and Deputy Director-General of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Avi Granot was quoted as saying: “I was ambassador to Ethiopia when the war with Eritrea started in 1998. One of the things I learned in the Addis Ababa is that lying is a justified means to achieve greater opportunities.”

And many, many more.

Hollow Noise: Real Concern

The humanitarian agencies have their own “untidy” history too. They have helped escape some high-ranking officials following the failed coup against Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, some thirty years ago. At the danger of appearing hypocritical, I have no complaints there.

There were also an attempted, but rejected, offer from such an organization to help escape a leading judge who presided over the investigation on the Addis Ababa massacre following the 2005 election. He managed to do so on his own—and exposed the cabal of its crimes.

It is conceivable that such practices may have been at work when the UN mission in Tigray recently broke two check points—but had to be forced to stop on the third one. The UNHCR, which was a subject of my piece “The UN: What is an Apology Worth After Inflicting a Massive Injury?” apologized for its behaviour—but this did not deter it from continuing to manufacture and spread flimsy reports and news.

The Ethiopian government has a lot to worry about given these well- and lesser-known transgressions by such agencies which come in all forms and shapes—and motives.

The global noise around humanitarian crisis in Tigray has been engineered and coordinated by TPLF cabal remnants, operatives, and shenanigans—who are openly mourning the sudden—and unceremonious—demise of their benefactor. The recent desperate theatrics at the gate of the Department of State could stand as one memorable, probably climactic, stunt of the cabal families and their fans.

In Conclusion

Very few may disagree with Mr. Blinken on providing unhindered humanitarian access to prevent suffering and loss of life in Ethiopia—or anywhere else, for that matter. But, that access needs to be fully supervised by the government to prevent swindling and looting of aid, thwarting clandestine operations, and, yes, preventing the fugitives from escaping.

As I observed on Dispensing Culpability: UNHCR’s Glaring Double Standard, “It is imperative that the Ethiopian government fully honors its part of the deal to provide “unimpeded humanitarian access”. But, it should never permit unsupervised access, whatsoever. Yes, to unimpeded access, but no to unsupervised access. Because, the corrupt history of the TPLF cabal that manipulated aid organizations in the past—and helped it capitalize diplomatically, financially and logistically, as narrated by its former leaders—is such that access must be monitored—very closely.”

In the meantime, Mr. Blinken should be reminded to release the funds due to Ethiopia unjustly—and recklessly—withheld by the former administration. Those resources would go a long way to alleviate the hardships of many Ethiopians—and directly contribute to peace and stability of Ethiopia and the region as a whole.

The Queen of Sheba may be reached at QueenOfSheba2020@outlook.com | @TheQueenofSheb5