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Isaias
Afwerki: Playing Hardball
Engineer Ghirma
August 25, 2007
Where did all of the previously
visible leadership of EPLF go? They are nowhere to be seen.
As parents, many of us have faced
our small children, from whom we deliberately hid a harmful object
with which they liked to play. They would, sometimes annoyingly,
persist in demanding to know the whereabouts of their play things.
We would tell them that a mouse
took it away (ኣይጧ
ወሰደችው), and the gullible
ones would be distracted and go about to their playful
ways…until they remember again…and demand once more where
their play thing was. After several cat and mouse episodes, the
parent would tell them, in desperation, that the hyena carried it
away (ኣያ ጅቦ ወሰደው).
The poor kids took the hyena very seriously, and dropped
the whole matter instantly after that!
So, really, where did Mahmoud
Sherifo, Haile Derue, Petros Solomon, etc. etc., go? Well, who
else but Isaias Afwerki (the human-hyena), carried them away! Why?
Because they realized that war with Ethiopia would be disastrous
for Eritrea; and a peaceful settlement of the conflict was in the
best interest of the Eritrean people. It is not to say that those
EPLF leaders had a change of heart towards Ethiopia…far from it;
but rather they had realized that Eritrea was pursuing the wrong
course in its policies toward Ethiopia; and that it was time for
change of direction. Isaias “dumped” his comrades, in many
cases inside metal shipping containers, and proceeded with his
single minded policy, that has branded Eritrea with its current
status as a “rogue nation”,
without even a ratified constitution.
Isaias is playing hardball (ትምክህተኛነት),
and continues to intimidate Ethiopia, and the rest of Africa, by
hurling insults on those who are aspiring peaceful co-existence
with their neighbors. Ethiopia has friendly relations with its
immediate neighbors (except Eritrea) and the other African
countries. Through technical cooperation in various fields; and by
proactively promoting “good governance”, Ethiopia is
establishing new standards in the effort to face Africa’s new
challenges in the Twenty-First Century. Isaias Afwerki on the
other hand, is playing hardball to stifle Africa’s evolution
toward economic empowerment, and the war against poverty. The
Eritrean people have no such aspirations; because they have been
pre-set on a war footing in the service of Isaias Afwerki and his
cronies in the Diaspora. Eritrean youth have become hostages in
their own country, without hope of a better life. They have become
source of slave labor in every imaginable sector; including
agriculture and the construction industry. Among the Eritrean
youth’s task in the construction sector, is to build villas for
Isaias Afwerki’s military leaders. If this is not slavery in the
Twenty-First Century, I don’t know what is.
Isaias Afwerki’s latest ploy is
Eritrea’s role in Somalia in the service of al- Qaeda. The
obvious intrusion of that role into Ethiopia has openly (በገሃድ)
emerged; as was revealed by the Ethiopian and foreign press. The
UN has identified Eritrea as primary supplier of military
hardware, including surface to air missiles, to Somalia’s
al-Qaeda sponsored terrorists. The U.S. will provide the necessary
proof to that effect; and is also considering designating Eritrea
a "state sponsor of terrorism". If such a measure is
adopted by the United States against Eritrea, it will have
disastrous consequences for the Eritrean people. Mass flights of
civilians to neighboring countries including Ethiopia will
dramatically accelerate. Whereas Eritreans were expected to return
to their homeland upon their “independence”, now they are
sadly reverting to leaving their
country in droves as refugees. We may be witnessing the making of
another “Darfur” in Eritrea.
Sometimes we tend to forget that
the people who live in Eritrea are Ethiopians to the core. They
are the ancestors of Zer’ay Deres. We all know what this
legendary hero did in Roma during the brief occupation of our
country by Italia. He declared war against the Fascists from their own land,
with just a sword in his hand! He couldn’t stand the mockery by
Fascists of the Ethiopian flag, and the statue of the Lion of
Judah. He was apprehended and declared schizophrenic (ህሊናውን
የሳተ ወይም እብድ);
and they placed him in an asylum. They said he was a “mad
man”. The hell he was! Zer’ay
was “mad at”
Mussolini’s insult of his country (Ethiopia). Therefore,
Isaias’ disrespect for the Eritrean people, in my opinion, is
also an insult on all
Ethiopians. Ethiopia has a solemn duty to liberate Eritreans from
the yoke of a tyrannical regime, one way or the other.
At this juncture, Isaias is feeling
like he has nothing to lose by declaring war against the Eritrean
people. In his mind, Eritreans are absolutely dispensable
commodities. He thinks that he can get away with any and all
abuses that he damn well pleases. He
doesn’t care about the Eritrean people. He has the mentality
of a donkey (እኔ
ከሞትኩ ሠርዶ
ኣያብቅል). Desperate people
do desperate things; and it eventually becomes part of their own
undoing. The “lion of Naqfa” is nothing but a “paper
tiger”. He is the same guy who ran like a hyena, with his tail
between his legs, from Badme to the outskirts of Asmara, leaving
his troops buried in their own trenches. Don’t tell that to the
Vocal Eritrea’s mentally challenged Diaspora and their CUD/DERG
partners; because they actually believe (more like pretend)
that Eritrea won the war! Eritreans back home would beg to differ;
after all, they are the ones who had to bear the consequences of
Isaias Afwerki’s miscalculations; while the
Vocal Eritrea’s Diaspora was celebrating its cock-eyed (ሸውራራ)
victory.
Isaias Afwerki’s days of playing
hardball with the lives of the Eritrean people, and by virtue of
our kinship that of Ethiopians as well, may be over sooner than
later. The writing is on the wall for everyone to see.
Also on related subject by Engineer
Ghirma W.G.:
http://www.tigraionline.com/isaias_afwerki.pdf
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