An evaluation of BBC Focus on Africa’s interview
Eskinder Nega has actively participated in Ethiopian politics for more than two decades, initially as a blogger and journalist before venturing into party politics. Formerly the President of ‘Balderas for True Democracy’ party he the left leadership and membership of the party to join Fano and participate in the armed resistance.
In all his time being involved in Ethiopian politics, directly and indirectly, we have not know Nega to have been concerned with issues pertaining the plight of Amharas or even the historical injustices against the Abyssinians at large, however in the recent interview with the BBC he was clear.
He boldly proclaimed that around 90% of Amhara land is under the controlled and administered by Fano forces. He also accused the federal government of only being interested in controlling and administering the main cities in the region.
He also accused the status quo of ‘half-hearted’ efforts at resolving the deep seated crisis that stems from the constitution while pointing out the grave human rights violations being committed on Amhara people. Despite that he confirmed Fano’s dedication to humanitarian efforts.
Some of these humanitarian burdens on the Amhara people are results of the ‘Northern Ethiopia War’ against the TPLF which took place after the conflict relocated to the Amhara Region were widespread human rights violations by TPLF and their OLF allies devastated the innocent.
Nega said he too accepted the call from human rights activists and said he supported calls for independent investigations, however the ball is in the federal government’s court and there is not much Fano can do in that regard unless the concerned international bodies pressure Addis Ababa.
“If there is a desire to stop war in Amhara Region, the government must stop killing us for our identity. Hundreds of thousands of Amhara people have been killed for their identity. The genocidal campaign against the people must end. We need structural change. The constitution must be amended” - he told BBC.
Since then, he has been unanimously been proclaimed Supreme Leader of Fano and there have been speculations in regards to the election process and the motives behind the proclamation, especially considering a senior Fano commander by the name of Asegid Mekonnen was exposed as a government double agent a few days later. Has the Amhara resistance been infiltrated? This is the perturbing question in the camp of the resistance.
However, we must remember that as we highlighted in our last article ‘Reviewing the National Movement of Amhara’ the struggle has now transcended organisational issues such as betrayal and leaks of information and is truly a people’s revolution which means it’s virtually unstoppable.
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