We, the peace-loving citizens of the United States, gather here today in front of the White House to make our voices heard concerning the outbreak of war in Northern Ethiopia.
On August 24th, almost one month ago, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, commonly known as TPLF,
initiated yet another deadly offensive in Northern Ethiopia, shattering a 5-month long internationally-brokered
ceasefire between itself and the Ethiopian government.
TPLF, which the Department of Homeland Security has registered as a Tier 3 terrorist organization, invaded
the Amhara and Afar regions of Ethiopia and committed war crimes against innocent civilians on the basis of
their ethnicity. Rather than immediately condemn TPLF for violating the ceasefire, the State Department
framed their actions as “renewed hostilities” between both sides, refusing to even acknowledge TPLF’s
offensive when TPLF’s own spokesperson himself told the New York Times that it was a “full-scale offensive.”
But that’s not all. TPLF—on the very same day of the offensive—raided humanitarian aid warehouses and stole
more than half-a-million liters of fuel reserved for preventing famine among the people in the Tigray region,
mostly children. The Biden Administration gave TPLF a mere slap on the wrist with zero change in actions
towards the terrorist group, which is a tacit endorsement of their behavior. Furthermore, TPLF’s leaders, on
multiple occasions, openly admitted to conscripting child soldiers, which are now being used as cannon fodder
in gruesome human wave warfare tactics.
We now have widely-circulated images of stolen baby food captured on the battlefield and children marching in
columns towards the battlefront awaiting certain death. The record is there for everyone to see. Thus, we can
say without a shadow of a doubt that the US Government, through its tacit endorsement of TPLF, is effectively
taking food out of the mouths of poor children in the Tigray region and sending those same children to die
fighting their own Ethiopian brothers and sisters. How cruel is this?
Even more shocking is the fact that, while TPLF was conscripting and preparing children for renewed warfare,
what is supposed to be the State Department’s top “peace” negotiator was seen taking arrogantly joyful selfies
with TPLF leaders in Tigray while Democratic Party leaders here in Washington, including Speaker of the
House, took similarly cavalier photos with the top-ranking TPLF member abroad and Ethiopian fugitive,
Tedros Adhanom. All these actions combined have pushed us to the brink.
These ongoing unmitigated and reckless pro-war, pro-TPLF policies of the Biden administration have brought
unnecessary suffering in not only Ethiopia but also Eritrea and Somalia, which are all the longtime victims of
TPLF terror; and these policies have now pushed the 140 million people of the Horn of Africa to the very brink.
In fact, many of the people gathered here today, naturalized American citizens, fled their homelands as victims
of TPLF with the hope that their pursuit of the American Dream would be their saving grace. However, these
citizens, many of which waved American flags outside their homes, cannot erase from their memory that TPLF
instituted state-sanctioned tribalism in Ethiopia, installed a puppet clannist government and terrorist group in
Somalia, and executed war on the Eritrean people supposedly in the name of a “border dispute”.
The weight of history is too great for the Biden Administration to pretend it has amnesia. We refuse to forget
the fact that TPLF, by its own admission and by the acknowledgement of the State Department and
Congressional Representatives, initiated this ongoing war by attacking Ethiopia’s Northern Command in
November 2020—a treasonous act that killed thousands.
Shortly after starting the war, TPLF fired missiles on Eritrea. Both countries responded in self-defense. After
the Ethiopian government extended an olive branch by issuing a unilateral ceasefire in June of last year, TPLF
immediately initiated a second offensive, murdered Tigrayan sympathizers of the federal government,
massacred Eritrean refugees, openly allied itself with other terrorist groups and committed unspeakable crimes
against the Ethiopian people, particularly in the Amhara and Afar regions.
In spite of all of TPLF’s past and current crimes, the Ethiopian government turned the other cheek, considered
criticisms of the so-called international community and left no stone unturned to work towards a negotiated
peace settlement with TPLF through a process led by the African Union under the principle of “African
solutions to African problems”. But TPLF has proven to be the enemy of peace not only for the last three
decades but, more obviously, for the last two years in which the Biden administration has counterintuitively
emboldened TPLF terrorists.
To add insult to injury, the Biden administration now seeks to open a new round of negotiations in neighboring
countries outside of the established African Union process supported by most Ethiopians and Africans. It
scapegoats Eritrea, a peaceful nation towards which some US officials apparently have an inexplicable “grudge”
against. It blackmails Ethiopia’s leaders by threatening to impose sanctions. It censors Twitter accounts of
those promoting peace in the Horn of Africa. It sends troops to the region in the name of fighting terror, which
paradoxically promotes more terrorism.
These unbelievable and shocking actions by the Biden administration have united the entire Horn of Africa, the
African diaspora and peace-loving citizens here in the United States.
Therefore, we gather here today to say, “No More!”
No more to the exploitation of Africa!
No more disinformation, division and war used to promote and maintain that exploitation!
No more TPLF!
No more to its child soldiers!
No more terror on Amharas and Afars!
No more scapegoating Eritrea!
No more puppet clannist governments in Somalia!
No more tribalism, clannism and religious extremism!
No more divide and conquer!
No more terrorism!
No more sanctions!
No more gunboat diplomacy!
No more interfering in the affairs of sovereign African nations!
No more neocolonialism in Africa!
No more insulting the intelligence of African peoples!
No more gaslighting us!
No more censorship of African voices!
No more racism!
We stand here today to say “No More!” to all these things. We call on the Biden Administration to demand the
surrender and total disarmament of TPLF without reservation. Without US support, TPLF cannot exist. Their
time is up!
The people here today are united and will never be defeated. We are one people with one heart. We are honest
and hardworking American citizens who wish for the best for the American people and all peoples around the
world. We hope you will consider and respect our concerns today.
We stand together!!