ESAT News (February 29, 2016)
Eritrea said on Sunday that accusations by the TPLF regime in Ethiopia that Eritrea was behind the ongoing protest, was a futile attempt to externalize and cover up the simmering opposition by the people of Ethiopia against the corrupt minority rule.
“The purpose of these spurious accusations is to cover up the truth and externalize the spontaneous and growing protests of the Ethiopian people against the regime,” said the statement by the Ministry of Information of Eritrea.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and government communication minister, Getachew Reda have been accusing the government of Eritrean and Ethiopian opposition groups in that country of orchestrating the ongoing protest in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
Oromo political parties inside the country however denied any involvement of foreign forces in the ongoing protest and assert that they were purely self-organized resistance by the people in the Oromia region who have faced political and economic marginalization by the oppressive and corrupt government. Merara Gudina, leader of the Oromo Federalist Congress told newsmen in Addis Ababa that the TPLF regime has made it a habit that every time there is a protest, it would play its mantra of blaming Eritrea.
“The TPLF regime has marginalized the Ethiopian people in the past twenty five years to install an economy beset by endemic and unbridled corruption and that is controlled by embezzlers. It is this grim reality, at odds with a spurious and embellishing narrative, that has prompted and underpins the ongoing protests of the Ethiopian people,” said the statement by Eritrea.
“In the event, a hysterical campaign to externalize the cause and blame Eritrea or opposition movements cannot suppress the truth,” it said.
“The Government of Eritrea has no intention to dwell and waste time on fruitless acrimonious campaigns. Its current statement is designed to expose the underlying motivations behind the TPLF regime’s repetitive and insidious lies,” the statement said.