An Open Letter to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
Dear Prime Minister Hailemariam,
Would you give one of your children to your neighbour?
Let's say God has blessed you and your wife with three lovely children. Unfortunately, the friendly couple who live next-door with whom you have also grown to be good friends are not as blessed and do not have any children. However, they are very wealthy and have a wealthy business partner who lives many miles away.
Their business partner also befriends you and your wife and one day suggests that as you and your wife have three children and your neighbour has none, you should give one of your children to your neighbour and offers to pay you a million dollars if you agree to his suggestion.
The answer is obvious. You would not mind for the neighbours to come round and spend time with you and your family in your house, you would not mind for you and your family to spend time at theirs and you would not even mind if the neighbours send your children to the shops to buy some groceries for them whenever they need to ask them to, but you would never give away or sell your child to your neighbour no matter how much you love your neighbour or how much money you are offered.
On that basis therefore, I hope you can understand why Eritrea will never give away or sell the port of Assab to Ethiopia. The Eritrean government has consistently reiterated to the Ethiopian government and the international community that Eritrea will allow Ethiopia to use its ports, not only Assab but also Massawa in accordance with international law and that Eritrea will never use its natural resources against Ethiopia. By the way, there are14 other African countries that are landlocked like Ethiopia but live in peace with their neighbouring countries.
Eritreans have paid a heavy sacrifice, over 100,000 men and women paid the ultimate price, to achieve EritreaÕ independence and defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Giving away or selling an inch of EritreaÕ land is a betrayal to the over 100,000 martyrs. Against all the odds, conspiracies, declared and undeclared sanctions designed to strangulate a young nation and its people to submission, Eritrea has survived the last 15 years as an independent nation and is set to achieve most of the millennium development goals.
The recent revelations by WikiLeaks confirmed speculations that the reason the Ethiopian government insists on dialogue before demarcation can begin is so the issue of EthiopiaÕ access to the sea can be discussed and blackmail the Eritrean government into giving away or barter trade Assab by holding the demarcation process hostage. This is a classic White House conspiracy where intimidation, deceit, blackmail, double standards and betrayal is used as a means to achieve the ultimate goal of neo-colonialism and global control. It is not in the interest of the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrean to remain in this state of no-war-no-peace situation indefinitely. Both countries have lots of common grounds and resources that they can share in times of peace and normality which can help them make poverty history. Yes, poverty is the common enemy which the two sisterly nations must team up and fight together to make poverty history just like polio has been made history in Eritrea.
Dear Prime Minister Hailemariam, I appreciate that you have only been in power for a year and I trust that you will do the right thing when the right time comes. I recognise that it takes more courage to do the right thing by the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea and by God. Let the rule of law prevail over the rule of the jungle and make history by accepting the final and binding ruling of the EEBC without any precondition. Withdraw Ethiopian defence forces from the occupied Eritrean territories and allow demarcation to commence in accordance with the virtual maps issued by the EEBC and international law.
Do not fall into the traps of the White House and manoeuvre wisely so you donÕ get hooked like your predecessor. You have one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs to do as those around you cannot be trusted. You must be one step ahead of them, also, you must outsmart them and stealthily purge out those who are chauvinist, divisive, greedy, corrupt, evil and narrow-minded TPLF officials working around you. Cherry pick those who are selfless, principled, wise and above all those who have the fear of God to replace them so the good prevails over evil and rule of law prevails over the rule of the jungle. These are the qualities you should look for in people regardless of their ethnic and religious composition and geographical location.
Your predecessor, Meles Zenawi, initially made history by recognising the Eritrean peopleÕ right to self-determination. However, seven years later he was misled and incited to violence and crimes against humanity by his clients when he kicked tens of thousands of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin from Ethiopia and declared war against Eritrea under the pretext of border dispute. To add insult to injury, he chose not to accept the final and binding ruling of the EEBC without any precondition.
The Ethiopian government under your leadership, has a golden opportunity to make history by accepting the final and binding ruling of the EEBC without any precondition, withdraw Ethiopian forces from occupied Eritrean territories and allow demarcation to take place in accordance with the virtual maps issued by the EEBC. As soon as the demarcation process begins, normalisation will naturally commence as people, goods and services will be crossing borders to and from as they have been for many centuries and will continue to do so when the rule of law eventually prevails over the rule of the jungle.
The question is when and who will be the Ethiopian Prime Minster that will have the courage to accept the final and binding ruling of the EEBC without any precondition and allow demarcation to take place so the rule of law prevails over the rule of the jungle and the power of good prevails over that of the evil.
Yours faithfully
Kidane Eyob
London UK
kidaneyob_at_yahoo.co.uk
Received on Fri Aug 23 2013 - 21:53:40 EDT