Breaking News: Meles declares war on
EthioTribune Staff Writer
The government-owned Ethiopian
Radio-Television Agency just reported that the rubber-stamp EPRDF parliament
has passed a resolution declaring war on its enemies. A declaration of war on UIC in
311 members of the parliament voted for the
resolution while 99 opposed and 16 abstained.
All members of the opposition in parliament not only voted against the
resolution but also vociferously opposed it during the debate. Opposition leaders, mainly Dr. Marara, Dr.
Beyene and Mr. Bulcha, particularly opposed the inclusion of the regime’s political
opponents such as OLF and ONLF in the declaration of war.
The opposition, both those in the political
process and outside, have unanimously condemned the declaration as an
ill-conceived adventure by the ruling party.
In a statement issued yesterday the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy,
which brings together major Ethiopian opposition parties and liberation
organizations, said: ¨The international community should not pour fuel on an
already complicated situation in Somalia by giving the green light to the Ethiopian dictator to take a poor
country into a costly war with its neighbours igniting a larger and devastating
regional conflict.¨
The statement went on to state : ¨At a
highly volatile historical juncture when relations between the world’s major
religions are increasingly getting sour throughout the world, at a time when
there is a widespread sentiment and perception in the Muslim world that the
Western World is becoming increasingly Islamophobic, Ethiopia’s tyrant is about
to plunge the already volatile Horn of Africa region into total chaos by
militarily interfering in Somalia.¨’
The Coalition for Unity and Democracy for
its part also declared that this is not the people’s war but an act of aggression
by the tyrannical regime of Meles Zenawi. The CUD warned that the only way to
resolve the problem in
The Ogaden National Liberation Front in its
statement condemned the declaration. It
went on to indicate that it sympathized with the suffering people of
It is to be noted that the senseless
Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000 caused the death of upwards of 120,000. Analysts fear that the current conundrum
could ignite a larger and deadly regional war engulfing
The situation in the Horn of Africa has
been deteriorating at an alarming speed lately.
