The war that started eight months ago in Ethiopia has cost the lives of tens of thousands, displaced millions, and left millions more without food and shelter. Human rights abuses have been committed. Women and girls as young as 8 years old were exposed to sexual violence.
The federal government’s announcement of the “unilateral ceasefire” hasn’t stopped the war. It just changed the battlefield from central Tigray to western and southern Tigray. Now we are getting daily reports of more deaths and displacement in the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara as well.
Abiy Ahmed took the wrong direction from the get go. He undermined the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Ethiopian people and promoted the unitary system. In contravention to the Constitution, he gave tacit support for Amhara elites’ ownership claim to areas that have been under the jurisdiction of the Tigray region for the last 30 years.
Abiy Ahmed also backtracked on his promise to bring the long-sought reforms to the country. Instead, he jailed prominent political party leaders including Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba, and leaders of the Oromo Libration Front. He put journalists behind the bar for exercising their rights. He tried to fool the international community by holding a fake election in which he claimed he won more than 94%.
While the world is paying attention to the war in the north, insurgencies are growing in Oromia, the most populous region in Ethiopia. Many of the young people who brought Abiy Ahmed to power are now joining rebels in the West and South of the country. The hopes of Ethiopians to see a democratic country jas been dashed.
The United States supported Abiy Ahmed’s ascendence to power in the hopes that he would bring stability to the country of more than 110 million people. Since the war started in the north, it has been calling for a negotiated ceasefire and all-inclusive national dialogue to resolve political issues. But it fell on deaf ears.
Now Ethiopia is in deeper crisis than it was when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power three years ago. It slipped into a civil war endangering the stability of the Horn of Africa and beyond. Worse, the leaders don’t seem to understand the gravity of the problem.
Now the United States must act. It has to stop asking Abiy Ahmed to resolve the problems his government created. He can’t. Instead, the Biden administration has to tell him to leave power.
The African Optics 
Who is america to tell the leader of a sovereign country to leave power the writer of this non sense must be one of tribal ethno fascists
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You must be An Amhara supremacist killing the people and the country. No peace in Ethiopia unless Amhara expansionists leave Tigray Territory and Ethiopian leaders face justice.
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Who is Biden? Let him go to hell. Let he minds about his own country. USA destroyed so many countries in the world. There are a lot of black afro American who need help and care out there in USA. Let Biden mind about them
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Who is Biden? Let him go to hell. Let he minds about his own country. USA destroyed so many countries in the world. There are a lot of black afro American who need help and care out there in USA. Let Biden mind about them
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We are strongly expecting from Biden government to force Abiy Ahmed from his leadership ship soon otherwise Ethiopia is dismantling form it’s existence
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Dear African Optics,
If we aren’t pretending, Abiy will be removed by TDF not by Biden administration. If not intentional, why we call Abiy as a reformer in the first place?. The reform ideas came before he became PM. When the youth protest in Oromia became irreversible, the ruling party EPRDF (if dominated by TPLF), TPLF will take the credit for bringing the change and decisions made to release political prisoners, democratization, economic reforms etc. even the very idea of peace with Eritrea was pushed by Tigrians and TPLF. What Abiy Ahemed did was hajacked the reform idea, form a new “Lema Team “ to externalized the whole problem and use the old narrative against TPLF by the Amhara elite to fulfill his ambition to be the 7th king of Ethiopia. The whole world impressed and awarded Nobel peace prize to Abiy Ahmed and yet many of them think he was the change agent including this writer. I hope historians and scholars take a close look and find out why Abiy Ahmed fooled many brilliant people in the world.
Thank you.
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I use to respect and admire you but right now it shows that you have no respect and love for yourself that how will start disrespecting and hate others Ethiopa is not for sale Dr. Abye we know why you don’t like him because he makes sure that he is not the US papet.
As usual, God is with us, Ethiopian we will stand together and pass this time but we make sure that we will not forget what you guys do.
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Absolutely a non sense article! His excellency Mr. Biden is not an Ethiopian citizen who elected Dr. Abiy and demands him to leave power. Please never forget that Ethiopia’s current ruling party is a democratically elected government organ whether you accept it or not. Therefore, it is not America who command our leader to resign, rather Ethiopian peoples who could force their leaders to leave power. Ethiopian have a capacity to handle their own domestic agenda without the interference of foriegn country.
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Well abiy ahmed took power when the country was in deeper problem. Before he took power there was serious of human right abuses, unfair economic distribution, the country fought war with eritera and b/c of this the ruling TPLF dominant party EPDRF that has ruled ethiopia for 27 years was ousted by powerful protest in 2018. The problem does not come in last 3 years – at that time the contry does not even have money to pay government employees and b/c of many problems the country was at the brink of disastrous collapse.
When he took power he had freed over 45,000 political prisoners and welcomed different armed group in the contry. And gave state human right commision and election bored to former political prisoners and made peace with eriteria. He forms a political party by including other 5 ethinic parties that was ruling with EPDRF for 27 yrs which they never been included as a main party and can not run to be a prime minister. But what happend then ?
The dominant party TPLF refused to be in the reform process and goes to its province state in tigray, and by there network, TPLF started organizing different ethinic clashes in oromia, benishangul, amhara & other regions and mind that it wad funded and coordinated by TPLF and at the same time TPLF was also preparing an army (by there words about 250,000 tropps) and suprisingly TPLF was also stabilished there own regional foreign affairs – you can see what is going own. In all of this the federal government has not responded.
And in 2020 TPLF held there own election illegally – again you can see where this is going on and now the federal government called the election illegal in parliament and suspended budget.
And on Nov-4/2020 TPLF attacked ethiopian national defense and took most of mechanized weapons, air defense systems and rocket and with the weapons they started to attack and advance to amhara region And by this time the federal government responded and retook most of mechanized weapons and killed and captured prominant TPLF memebers who are reponsible for it. And in the process TPLF fired rockets that it steals from the fed. Gov on eritrea’s capital city asmera which US condemned and in which eritrea forces responded and adding to the contry problem all of this has putted the country in serious situation.
And after biden administration took office ,US and western contries with there medias has started to pressure the federal government and even some medias accused the fed gov of starting the war, using famine and rape as a weapon of war and even ethinic cleansing.
And after 8 months the fed gov make unilateral ceasefire, in there statement they said this decision comes in order to help farmers to do there job freely and to facilitate dustribution of humaniterian aid.
What happend after that ?
TPLF refuses to make any ceasefire and started to attack amhara, afar regions and even eritrea and there are reports that TPLF attacked WFP vehicles in afar region and there is also a report TPLF is using child soliders which new york times has reported as “a very motivated young men” and now TPLF is forcing, using and sending thousands childeren and elderly man even prists in to war as a human wave and report shows thousands of people are being killed in this war – AND SUPRISINGLY NON OF MEDIAS OR WESTERN CONTRY WHICH WAS PRESSURING THE FED GOV HAS CONDEMNED ANY OF THIS TPLF ACTS.
And this week the federal government has warned TPLF is taking dead body of children and woman in sino truck from war site of boder of afar and amhara regions to make a propoganda and you can see TPLF digital misinformation group are changing there theam from victory to tigray genocide. And from being silient you will see again the rise of condemnation of western medias and contries.
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Thank you for sharing your perspective.
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leave without go must
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I think you don’t have z knowledge about what you are saying, who give z Americans z Authority to change z government of Ethiopia which is elected and supported by z majority of peoples. Don’t think that z Ethiopian peoples would accept z TPLF under any condition, remind zat T stands for terror as sayd by Ana Gomez………
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Right
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i agree 100%
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Who is Biden to tell our government to leave power. We Ethiopian brought him in power to rule our country. We are not like Afghan, Libya, or Yemen. Our issues had been always resolved by the people. We are not allow any Western countries to involve in our issues.
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Yes he must leave before things get worse.
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ልክ ሳትገቡ ኢትዮጵያ አትለቃችሁም!!
ደግሞ በድጋሜ ኢትዮጵያን ልትቆጣጠሩ ታልማላችሁ? ጭቃ አንጎል ትግሬ!
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The only independent black nation never colonized by the white, a country which has been in existence long before the USA and a member of United Nation!!! How dare you to disrespect 100+ Million people and suggest such an absurd commentary??? would you suggesting the same thing if the reverse was true or any other western nation? NO YOU DON’T — the only problem in Ethiopia now is TPLF and the idea that Tigrayans are superior than the rest of the people period. Abiy is a legitimate leader elected by the people and the Ethiopian will fight to death to make sure TPLF the mad dog continue barking!!!
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Several civilians Tigrinya are killed because of the Ethiopian government (Abiy Ahmed ). Therefore he need to leave his power before gets civil war.
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Yes and we need this ASAP
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Tplf is evil because of this most Tigray elits follow tplf’s foot print. Wolkait and Raya was part of Gonder and Wollo of Amhara region but they live together with out any discrimination before tplf come to power when tplf annexed Wolkait and Raya by force to Tigray in 1991 GC, they started dividing the people and killed the original inhabitants of Amhara s in Wolkait, this is the main cause of the conflict. To resolve this wolkait and Raya should be returned to their origonal identity of Amhara but Tigreans should also be respected nd live together peacefully.
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Just to tell you FUCK YOU!!!
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you cannot say this because we have do the right sovereignty .
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this blog is in the era of colonialism i am telling you Ethiopia never been colonized and never been puppet of any superpower
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Who is Biden to tell ethiopian government to tell leave the government in this century. The ethiopian people are already voted for their government with is prime Minister Dr abiy ahimed. So mind your business leave ethiopia alone.
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Ethiopia is a soveriegn country.so, no intervention.
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Abiy can lead the world let alone Ethiopia. He is now a legitimate elected Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Ethiopian problem can resolved by the Ethiopians.
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Who is biden to tell the leader of a sovereign country to leave power. Ethiopians choose there leader #biden mind on your business
you have to do alot on human right equality and justice on you own country in your country the cops kill unarmed people on sunlight #Jorge Floyd #Brian taller e.t.c stop interfere our internal matter
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First Biden has to leave white house. He is not efficient to rule america tell them you bunch of ediots. We are sovereign country!!!
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Abiy and his pipet neftenga the have to modernaiz them selves
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Who you are telling america the leader of a sovereign country to leave power the Author of this article is obviously one of bandits group member!!
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African optics get the fuck outta Ethiopian affairs.
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In History and infact Ethiopia never bow for any foreign powers and dictated by whoever so far, we are not some banana republic you playing with ,we are Ethiopians a sign of Freedom the African continent….hands off Ethiopia.
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Shame calling yourself African optics and still calling on america to decide on African issues. What a load of crap you wrote
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Who the fu** are you to suggest biden to interfere in our country affairs?
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We Ethiopians can be appointed by the government, not by the US government.
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We Ethiopians can be appointed by the government, not by the US government.
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Ethiopia is a soveriegn country.
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The war in Tigray, is mostly because of blind support of TPLF by western. Western officials and media are the most stupid officials because they don’t like truth. They like to control our country with remote control. Such act is done by hooligans’ and by hooligans peoples. America should take care about her reputation. Ethiopia is not Libya or yemen. America is making more problems’ to our country
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Just by reading the article it is clear to me the author is either a TPLF or Oromo extremist. Neither can ever bring a viable solution for Ethiopia. Tplf for 28 years brutalized Ethiopia, Oromuma for the past 3 years has brought the country to even worst conditions. Words in this poorly written article like unitary ..Amhara elite etc… reeks of the propaganda that is heard from activists like Awol Allo, Henok Gabisa, Alula Solomon and others like them. Ethiopias root cause problem is the ethnic apartheid constitution. Abiy didnt change that one bit. The people were asking for Citizen based representation instead of ethnic apartheidism with ethnic land borders. Abiy is incredibly incompetent, so is his administration and those around him. Him and his advisors Yohannes Batti, Yohannes Leta, Berhanu Jula, Bacha Debele are sooooo beyond their depth that they couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag. These incompetents should step down and make way for a transition government. However they won’t becuase if history teaches us anything it’s that one man dictatorships will go down in flames and for that I fear for my country Ethiopia.
Will the US eventually get its way? Who knows. Abiy will sell his own mother wife and children to stay in power. He thinks he can negotiate with tplf. Tplf will chew him out and have Susan Rice send him to the ICC. Abiy’s incompetence and his barn full of donkeys will continue to bray at anyone passing until they are put out of their misery. Who are the other donkeys … Aba Dula Gemeda, Taye Dendea, Shimelis Abdisa, Addisu Arega, Agegnew Teshager etc….
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Who the f*** are you to tell Ethiopians who should be their leader? You idiots don’t know Ethiopia & Ethiopians. Go ahead & try it & you will see he’ll on earth. Ask Mussolini about Ethiopia’s bravery when it comes to their sovereignty & territorial integrity
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Nonsense ! Who is Biden that tells Abiy to leave power!?
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RUBBISH! Who is Biden that tells Abiy to leave power!? KILLING 120 ETHIOPIAN WILL BE EASY THAN TOCHING ABIY OUR BEST LEADER IN ETHIOPIA’S HISTORY. WE WILL PAY WHATEVER PRICE TO MAINTAIN OUR SOVEREIGNITY. IT IS NOT US WHO ELECTED ABIY’S PARTY TO LEAD OUR COUNTRY IN LANDSLIDING VOTE- IT’S US-ETHUOPIANS!
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Even though i don’t support Abiy, By what power Biden do that? Is Ethiopia part of America?
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Africa who?? Didn’t you hear the slogan African solution for African problems? You better tuck yourself, Biden has his own business to deal with and for Ethiopians there is Abiye😀
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How much you got paid to write this garbage?. If you are African decent, I am sure you wouldn’t be writing such a nonsense. I am sure you are on Alula Solomon pay check lists. Ethiopia is a Unique and special peoples who has a lot of dignity. Ethiopians will never bow to anyone no matter how strong the countries are. Before wasting your time to write such a cheap propaganda, read history who Ethiopians are. Dr Abiy is there for a reasons. Dr Abiy has appointed by God. If Biden start doing anything stupid, that is the final battle for USA. Let me assure you that, a country who has a lot of inhuman and evil activity, can not tell a a country who has a lot of faith and connection with God what to do. when this two countries clashed, That will be World war 3. Do your research about Ethiopia very well. Remember, Russia and china are on Ethiopian side. The balance of power has significantly changed
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Not only telling to leave power the biden administration should also work on bringing these criminals which involve in the tigray genocide directly and indirectly to the international criminal court.
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There is three possibilities here
1 you have no insite what’s happening in Ethiopia, so u can just leave Ethipians to the legitimate leader PM Abiy Ahmed
2 you r fooled by the #TPLFisaTereristGroup propaganda and mixed up the idea of victim versus attacker and u couldn’t see things clear, I suggest u revise things carefully
3 you r just playing dumb just like western medias and getting paid for that : in that case don’t West our time #blacklivesmattertoo
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