Wednesday, October 26, 2022 (Tikimit 16, 2015 EC)
To:
H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, High Representative for the Horn of Africa, AU H.E. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Peace Envoy to the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, Kenya H.E. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Peace Envoy to the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, SA H.E. Mike Hammer, Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, USA H.E. Annette Weber, Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, EU H.E. Sarah Montgomery, Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa and Red Sea, UK H.E. Xue Bing, Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs, People's Republic of China
Cc:
H.E. President Macky Sall, Chairperson of the African Union and President of Senegal H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations H.E. Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Endorsement of the Amhara People’s Negotiations Delegation (APND) to Resolve War in Northern Ethiopia
Your Excellencies,
The Amhara Professionals Union (APU) is writing this statement to express its full support and endorsement of the newly announced Amhara People’s Negotiations Delegation (APND). The APU in its previous statements has detailed the declining human rights situation in Ethiopia and the perils associated with war in Northern Ethiopia. APU has also denounced the state-sanctioned genocide against Amhara people which has intensified since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali came to power in 2018. APU has always called for peace and firmly believes this can only be achieved through a process which includes Amharas, the largest community affected by the war in Northern Ethiopia. This is evidenced by APU being one of the signatory organizations in the August 19th, 2022 joint letter issued by 28 Amhara organizations worldwide calling for Amharas to be represented (independently) in peace talks to end the war in Northern Ethiopia.
The devastating war in Northern Ethiopia has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and brought humanitarian disaster to millions more across the Amhara, Afar and Tigray Regions. With this being said, the Amhara people have bore the brunt of this calamitous war since being dragged into it when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) launched its first full-scale invasion of Amhara Region in November 2020. Almost two years later and two additional full-scale invasions of Amhara Region, Amhara civilians continue to suffer. This is on top of the unabated identity-based massacres of Amhara civilians in the so-called Oromia Region of Ethiopia by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and its collaborators including PP officials from the Oromo branch.
The PP regime can not represent Amharas in peace talks for many reasons. Firstly, whether PP has legitimacy to rule Ethiopia in the first place is questionable after a nontransparent election process. PP did not even consult the Ethiopian Parliament in its formation of the negotiations delegation. Secondly, PP’s delegates are individuals who were complicit in decades of genocide and repression against Amharas both under PP and formerly the TPLF. For that matter, the Amhara branch of PP (APP) itself has no acceptance among Amharas who largely hold the APP complicit in ongoing human rights violations against Amhara people. In fact, Amharas from across the Amhara Region held region-wide protests decrying the Amhara Genocide and the complicity of PP. Thirdly, the PP regime has orchestrated a large crackdown against Amharas from all walks of life which intensified in May 2022 with some figures estimating more than 24,000 people detained (APP admitted to 13,000 detained). These included journalists, opposition politicians, activists, and Fano patriots. Only weeks prior, protests broke out across Amhara Region following the arrest of Fano Zemene Kassie, Commander of the Amhara Popular Force (APF), who voluntarily served on the war front in 2021 along with his APF to defend against the TPLF’s genocidal invasion of the Amhara Region. The PP has also introduced discriminatory policies to maliciously target and marginalize Amhara students, a long standing practice which has jeopardized the next generation of community leaders, a tactic which has been deemed as an “Intellectual Genocide”.
APU believes in achieving lasting peace and stability in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa as a destabilized Ethiopia can have world shacking implications. Towards this aim, all actors should pursue steps to end the war in Northern Ethiopia. APU believes it is critical for the TPLF to cease provocative military offensives, for PP to unconditionally release all political prisoners and for both to support inclusion of the APND in peace talks, formally recognize Amhara administration of Welkait and Raya, express openness to amending the divisive apartheid constitution and commit to rehabilitating the war-stricken Amhara and Afar Regions.
APU also calls on international actors to push for independent investigations into the decades-long Amhara Genocide and support restitution initiatives to ensure victims of the targeted violence receive compensation. APU also encourages international actors to support these points in every way possible.
APU firmly believes in a peaceful resolution of the war in Northern Ethiopia and in AU-mediated peace talks to end this war granted Amharas, the largest community affected by the war are represented independently of the PP regime. The APU is confident the APND can represent the Amhara people, already having garnered overwhelming support from the Amhara community both in Ethiopia and abroad. This is so because the PP regime and its delegates lack the mandate, legitimacy and support to represent Amharas and any agreement made thereafter will not have acceptance among Amharas. Therefore, APU calls on all belligerents to the war and on international diplomats to include Amharas represented through the APND in peace talks.
Amhara Professionals Union (APU)
Public Relations Division
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 (Tikimit 16, 2015 EC)