The End of the Civil War (Part II)

The desires and beliefs of People’s Liberation Front were similar to those of the public; as a result the front accepted the initiatives of the public to end the civil war and proposed the following suggestions:
•     To officially cease fire
•    To direct the weapons of both fronts to one common enemy, the Ethiopian colonizers
•    Not to terrorize the people in supporting the front of its choice and continue its struggle
•    Both  fronts should stop campaigning against each other
•    To initiate a dialogue between the two forces

Unlike the People’s Liberation Front, the leaders of ELF who were more concerned about their position in power than the struggle and liberation of the country and put preconditions in accepting the proposals. They demanded that the People’s Liberation Front should accept the existence of one liberation front under one leadership, and should leave the highlands and return to Sahel.

Viewing the stance and proposals of the two fronts, the mediators discussed the situation with the public, and passed the following resolutions:-
•    Both Fronts should cease fire, and officially announce the cease fire
•     The front that violates the above agreement would be abandoned by the public
•    Once the proposal to cease fire begun to be implemented , the fronts  shouldn’t campaign against each other 
•    To establish dialogue for peace agreement between the fronts, and until the discussion begun both fronts should stay in their respective bases
•     Not to threaten the public despite the front it support

The resolutions passed by the committee of elders proved that the proposals of the People’s Liberation Front and the Public are similar which further proved which front is representing the desires of the public, and this becomes clear even to the new fighters within the ELF. Threatened by those developments the leaders of ELF attacked the People’s Liberation Front force in Zagre the day after they rejected the resolutions of the committee of elders. Although there was a lot of damage done to the force, in the counter-attacks of the People’s Liberation Front led to the fled of the latter force to Mensa’e. The general public stood beside the People’s Liberation Front in ending the civil war. This happened at the end of the year 1974.

This latter defeat of the ELF forces and prohibition of the war by the public: able the fighters continue their opposition within the ELF leadership. Those fighters raised their opposition within the front, and confirmed their stance the fight against their brothers and begin to establish relationships with the People’s Liberation Front. Despite the continuous efforts of the ELF, the civil war that continued for three years ended through the efforts of the public and the opposition within the ELF and the endurance of the People’s Liberation Front.  The end of the civil war able both the front and the public: to concentrate their force on the war against the Ethiopian colonizers in the country. It also able the People’s Liberation Front to campaign  and raise the awareness of the society about liberation and the struggle, and also opened a better opportunity in identifying and eliminating the individuals that used to drag the struggle and the front backward.