Respond to Professor Messay Kebede Article –  By Kaleab Tessema




I barely remember a long time ago, Professor Messay had given a speech at Columbia University and I was there to listen his speech, and his speech was not inspiring to me at all. I can not even recollect the topic of his speech, just that he was speaking about the Amhara ruling class but he did not mention the name of Amhara. I could infer this from his speech.


Professor Messay Kebede has subsequently written articles on the current Oromos students uprising in which he urges that the Amharas should join the Oromos’ students protests against the Addis Ababa master plan. Of course, it is everybody’s desire that Oromo and Amhara should be united to end the cruel TPLF tyranny regime.  Indeed, Oromos can not win alone against the TPLF; Amhara’s participation is very crucial and effective to bring down the TPLF government. It is true that as J.K. Rowling stated, “we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”


 However, I assiduously read his last rebuttal titled  “Then and Now: A Rejoinder to my Critics.”  Professor Messay seemed disenchanted with Amharas because they did not join the Oromos’ students uprising in Ethiopia.  He further said,  “ነገ በኔ ነው”


I just would like to remind Professor Messay that, since TPLF came to power, the Amharas have been isolated and targeted for the last 25 years, and certainly, Messay is very aware of what Woyanne did and is still doing to Amharas. I wish the Professor had written similar article criticizing the TPLF/OLF regards to the 1992  mass slaughters of pregnant women and children in Arbagugu and in Bedno where the worst crimes ever committed on the Amharas since Mussolini’s aggression in 1935. Not even long ago in Gura Ferda and in Benishangul, the Amharas were expelled by TPLF surrogates and the Professor did not write any article denouncing  these horrendous crimes. I am dumbfounded that the Professor jumps to accusing Amharas not being participated in the Oromos students protest against the master plan.


Let me briefly attempt to elucidate to Professor two main reasons why the Amharas lack of participating with Oromos’ students protesting against the Addis Ababa master plan. Firstly, Woyane and Shabia sagaciously and systematically designed the ethnic lines of federalism in order to control the country by perpetuating the punitive policies that emphasizing the anti-Amhara ethnic group. This restrain is  inimical to the Amharas. Such cunning strategies that enable TPLF to remain in power by creating an envy between ethnic groups, particularly, among Oromo and Amhara. Hypocritically, Woyane tells to Amhara that if Oromo comes to power, your life will be at risk. The same thing, Woyanne tells to Oromo that if Neftegna comes to power again all your properties would be confiscated. So, we are the one who freed you from chauvinist Amhara, and if you try to resist us, you will go back to the system that you had before. Basically, they just made Amhara and Oromo not trust each other.


The second reason is that Woyanne quietly annexed large chunks of land from part of Gondar and Wollo to create greater Tigray. After they confiscated the fertile land (especially from Gondar), the TPLF day one, disarmed the people of Gondar, and started eliminating the original inhabitants of Welkait Tsegede, Humera to replace the Tigraians peasants. Since then, the Tigraians peasants became armed to protect the land in the areas where it was ferociously taken from Welkait Tsegede farmers. The indigenous who resisted the TPLF’s demonic action, were cruelly executed by Woyanne cadres.


Beside this, the whole Amhara regions run by the so called the Amhara National Democratic Movement (as vanguard Amhara party), which purposely created to demonize the Amharas. Realistically speaking, in Oromia region, the people of Oromos are represented by Muktar Kedir and Almaz Mamo who are belonged to Oromo ethnicity, but when it comes to Amhara regions, imagine, the Amharas people are represented by Bereket Simon, Kassa Tekile Berhan, Tsehaye (Tadese Tinqishu), and Helawi Yoseph who are of Tigre ethnicity. These fake Amharas individuals play a big role for Woyanne by quashing the Amhara voices. So, since the Amharas are heavily under controlled and its voices muffled by the ethnic apartheid regime, I don’t see this as an optimal time for Amhara to join the Oromo’s protesting at this point. Professor Messay was supposed to look at the other side of the problem: what Amharas endured under the TPLF rule the last 25 years. These are the main reasons halting the Amhara to join the Oromos’ students protests against the master plan.


In spite of that, I want the viewers to know that I am not trying to instigate the matter for either to reprisal the Amhara on Oromo at this point, I am just trying to acquaint to Professor Messay’s views on why Amharas have not instantly joined the Oromo’s student protests  against the master plan.


Having said that, the Professor’s last article insinuates that if the Amhara does not the join the Oromo’s students uprising, there will not be unity in the country because unity is the Amhara’s strong faith and assumedly if the there is no unity, the Amhara’s existence in Ethiopia will be at risk.  In other words, as if the only beneficiary out of unity is Amhara.  As the matter of fact, he is not the only speaking about these issues. There are quite a few secessionists and anti-Amhara who rant on the same ideas. I’d like to reiterate that the article written by Messay is one sided, threatened, and divisive. The professor knows well that the Amharas have been victimized since the TPLF climbed to power. In his single articles, I have never seen any criticizing or condemnation for the Woyanne’s diabolical crimes against the Amhara ethnic group, and the articles are unbalanced when it comes to the Amharas issues. It is true that the unity of the two large ethnic groups is paramount at this crucial time to bring down the TPLF brutal regime.


To the end, the professor’s article does not entice the vast majority of Amharas at all. Actually, the article reflects, as if the Amhara ethnic group is uninterested on Oromo causes which aggravates the rift between the two ethnicities instead of bringing a reconciliation where these two ethnicities are able live in harmoniously. It will take time to repair the damage done by TPLF. TPLF’s “divide and rule” strategies worked out well for the last 25 years by abetting the extremist to do heinous crimes to innocent Amharas. At the end of the day, Woyanne whatever systems are used to stay in power, it is an inevitable that all ethnicities will ever become united again.




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