i m just wondering, when one leading analyst says that there is a real possibility hang on a real possibility of genocidal violence in ethiopia and it is increasing week upon week, do you agree with him? we are clearly seeing signs of genocide being systematically pushed by the prime minister himself. he s been referring to the people of tigray as weeds to be got rid of. you know, this kind of vitriolic propaganda is obviously creating tension, so of course, the writing is on the wall. so our arrangement with the 0lf, for example, our arrangement with other political organisations is to make sure that there is some sort of responsible transitional arrangement which would somehow avoid the kind of calamities abiy s irresponsible behaviour would likely lead to. well, we have to keep watching and hoping that the worst can be avoided in your country.
the switch in addis. so that s your agenda, is it? it s separatism. what this is really all about. no, no. and it s important people around the world know this, is that you are seeking entire separation from ethiopia. you no longer regard addis ababa and prime minister abiy ahmed as legitimate rulers of your country. no, i don t consider abiy ahmed as a legitimate leader, not only of tigray but also of the oromos or even the amhara. so as far as we are concerned it s separatism to the extent that there is a tendency of separatism in tigray, it s imposed on us. it is because abiy and his partners in crime caused the kind of suffering which no one in their right mind could have imagined would come from a government that considers them its own. so, you know, to the extent that there is a tendency of separatism, i don t think this was something
getachew reda in mekelle, tigray, welcome to hardtalk. my pleasure. let me ask you this we see the terrible suffering that millions of people are experiencing in your region as a result of what, 8 9 months of conflict? why is it that your side, the tigray people s liberation front, appears intent on intensifying the fighting rather than ending it? well, it s exactly the same reason why we took up arms and tried to liberate our people from the suffering you ve alluded to. in fact, we do not consider ourselves rebels. we are a legitimately elected government who was removed from the capital by abiy and his partners in crime, the amhara expansionist forces and the eritrean regime. so these people, these partners
as long as abiy ahmed is still in power in addis ababa. is that what you re saying? i don t care if he sticks around in arat kilo, but what i care more about is whether he s in a position to threaten the safety and security of our people any more. whether he stays put in arat kilo is a totally different story. ethiopians are entitled to pick their own leader. and if they want to maintain abiy ahmed as their leader, even if he presides over the disintegration of the nation, that is the least of my problems at this point in time. hang on. my important. hang on, hang on. abiy ahmed isn t their leader, he s also your leader. you are an ethiopian. i respectfully disagree. he s not my leader. i didn t take part in the elections, and i would have. you do not live in a separate state called tigray. you live in ethiopia and tigray is one region within ethiopia. yes, i live in ethiopia, but i live in a territory which we, thanks to the struggle of our people, have liberated from the chokehold of
there are two things here. you know, we have to make sure the safety and security of our people is secure. and to do so, we have to make sure that abiy and his forces will not be in a position to come back and haunt our people any more, 0k? abiy has continued to maintain a chokehold on our people. he has cut off communications. he has cut off electricity. he has cut off access to humanitarian aid. and he wants us to continue what he has failed to achieve on the warfront, to continue through the kind of siege he has imposed on the people of tigray. so we have made it abundantly clear that until such time that such a siege is lifted and that our people are back to normalcy, that no amount of security threat continues to be posed against our people by both eritreans or ethiopians or the amhara expansionists, we will continue to take whatever action is necessary. so to be clear. yep, let s keep this