A man who has been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the public health on the global stage is busy doing vendetta politics and using the platform of WHO in spreading lies against his political rival from the past.
The Director General of World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, hails from Tigray which is in turmoil since two years. After the announcement of a ceasefire between the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the government of Ethiopia, he tweeted, “The most courageous choose peace. Give peace a chance.”
Popularly known as the face of the international response to the coronavirus pandemic, Tedros has often made statements regarding the Tigray region. Tedros also hails from the Tigray region. He told the media in the context of the civil war, “Yes, this affects me personally. Most of my relatives are in the most affected areas, more than 90 percent of them.”
Ethiopia has criticized him for being one-sided and said that his remarks question the integrity of WHO as an institution. The East African nation also asked the world health body to investigate him and emphasized that he violated his professional responsibilities.
The Ethiopian ambassador, Zenebe Kebede Korcho, said that Tedros is “using his office to advance his personal political interest at the expense of the interest of Ethiopia”.
During his news conferences, Tedros refuses to address questions on health issues, instead he loves to talk about the Tigray conflict.
Tedros’s multiple attempts to malign Ethiopia
In March, he condemned the blockade of international access to the region and accused the Ethiopian government of not allowing the world health body to transport any supplies to the territory.
Blaming Ethiopia and Eritrea, he stated, “Just as we continue to call on Russia to make peace in Ukraine, so we continue to call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to end the blockade, the siege, and allow safe access for humanitarian supplies and workers to save lives.”
In August, Tedros asked why no world leader is speaking against Ethiopia and cited racism as the reason for it, stating, “Maybe the reason is the color of the skin of the people in Tigray.”
In October, we at TFI explained how this man tried to fuel tensions in Ethiopia when he falsely claimed that the government is carrying out a genocide in Tigray without any evidence, saying, “There is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide.”
Tedros’s connections with TPLF
If the head of world’s largest health institution addresses the internal politics of an African nation on the international stage while deviating from his actual job. Then a question arises that, does Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have any vested interests in Ethiopia?
The answer of this question lies in the past. Tedros is determined in defaming the government of Abiy Ahmed because Abiy is the man who shattered the dream of Tedros to become the Prime minister of Ethiopia. Yes, Tedros is a member of the political arm of the TPLF which dominated Ethiopia’s politics for nearly 3 decades.
When the TPLF was in power, Tedros served as the Regional Health Bureau head in Tigray region, later he was appointed as the Health Minister of the nation in 2005. After the passing of then PM Meles Zenawi in 2012, Tedros was the frontrunner for the post of head of TPLF and subsequently the head of Ethopia. Instead, he was appointed as the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia and served till 2016 before taking up the role of WHO’s Chief. Tedros was also a member of the nine-member executive committee of TPLF.
Tedros’s dream of becoming the Prime Minister shattered when the TPLF was ousted from power by Abiy Ahmed and this is the main reason behind Tedros’s animosity towards Abiy.
As a prominent member of a political party, which has turned into a terror outfit which operated on the instructions of the US and Europe, Tedros used his position to malign his political rival.
However, his attempts to bring down Abiy Ahmed and Ethiopian government with him are only going to fail because the people of the African nation have embraced Ahmed and rejected the divisive politics of TPLF.
