In the immediate aftermath of the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution, a swarm of political parties were vying to win the support of the disgruntled public eager for fresh leadership and highly sought freedom from domination as well as economic inequality. 

Among the mushrooming political parties, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary party (EPRP) was popular with the highest following amid the youth and the intelligentia.  As most of the functionaries were located in urban centers, its political activities were also highly concentrated in big cities and towns.  

With the military Junta consolidating its power under the political tutelage of the western educated Marxists, EPRP had to act swiftly to wrest power and put in place a government 'dispensing democracy' to poor compatriots anxious about delayed promises. 

A  number of EPRP tactics were employed including wee-hour shouts as an expression of anger and dissent against the tyrants of the time.  Demonstrations were staged by angry mobs armed with rocks during rallies. 

Out of ill-advised and unwise switch of tactics, EPRP resorted to urban guerrilla warfare in which cadres and officials of the Dergue were targeted.  Youth recruited to join the ranks of EPRP squad were trained to shoot at their political rivals which unleashed reprisals in the form of the infamous red-terror by the functionaries of the Junta.

Atrocities and terror reigned across the nation to leave an indelible scar on the national psyche after a generation of bright Ethiopians were decimated in a bloody retaliation and extra-judicial killings by the dictatorial regime of Mengistu. 

Almost after three decades, the CUD hardliners have tried to copycat EPRP blunders where opposition and dissent is allowed within the bounds of the law. 

Obsessed with power at any cost, applying one by one all the tactics of their old pals, CUD turned EPRP leadership, had elaborately planned to revive the shooting spree in an unprecedented move to unleash once again a vicious circle of blood-letting. 

What we have read on the press just at the start of the week was not only shocking but an outrageous and blatant terrorist act aimed at destabilizing Ethiopia reversing the democratic process to once again plunge it into chaos and civil strife. 

A clandestine group armed with explosives, bombs and other deadly weapons was arraigned by the security forces before it launched assaults against public office holders, government officials and renowned personalities. 

The group linked to the CUD, in a latest attempt by the latter to revive and foment violence, has unearthed obsolete tactics, resurrecting a failed EPRP modus operandi proved to be a recipe for carnage.  

Where the sanctity of all human and democratic rights is provided for in the legal system, resorting to violence is out rightly an undemocratic act doomed to fail sooner than later.