ERITREA: 'Meles Zenawi's Lower Case Treachery
''Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools that have not the wits
enough to be honest''- (Benjamin Franklin)
Today, the minority regime's cadres are lobbying members of the Security
Council, and specifically the three African states on the SC, to take immediate
action against Eritrea. They do not want the members of the SC and the Sanctions
Committee to read Eritrea's response to the erroneous and childish accusations
presented in the SEMG report, as the minority regime knows that, time is not on
its side. The regime's elaborate scheme to tarnish Eritrea's image is unraveling
and its lies, deceptions and distortions of the facts are now exposed for all to
see. It has become an embarrassment to those who provided it diplomatic,
financial, military and political shield and support and the Ethiopian people
who have to live with its shame.
I chose the phrase 'lower case treachery' (LTC) to describe Meles Zenawi's acts
against the State of Eritrea and its people because it is an exact fit for the
TPLF regime's warped mentality. I came across that phrase while reading William
R. Marcy's essays.' As I read one of his pieces, I felt as though he was writing
about Meles Zenawi and the minority regime in Ethiopia. In that little essay,
Marcy covered everything known about Meles Zenawi's crab mentality, incurable
inferiority complex and his delusions of grandeur. Allow me to share an excerpt
from Marcy's essay as he describes what lower case treachery entails. Marcy
wrote:
''No gain is involved in this sort of loathsome behavior, no money or sexual
coercion, only the gratification of inflicting a hurt on another human
being'treachery is a crime or sin against a prevailing code, but lower case
treachery is different in that there is no quid pro quo of any sort 'It is
craven, it is cowardly, it is an act that often uses a dupe'Lower case treachery
is the sin from whence other sin springs, the sin ' This sort of treachery is
perpetrated against those who have given the purveyor of such treachery their
trust' a cold and covert evil act, a spineless act of malice by one who can
never be trusted to be on either side of a confidence, or to ever do the right
thing''
Marcy goes on:
''Lower case treachery is more often than not the specialty of the insecure, one
who resents his lack of abilities, disregarded by his peers, relegated to the
outer fringes when in the company of his betters, one who strives to pass off
the fiction that he is a formidable power behind the throne of whatever mindless
melodrama he thinks someone of importance has made him a part of' who makes all
the right mouth noise, particularly if there are important ears to take in his
fatuous' someone who swears oaths to God, country, and individuals he would
betray at the drop of a hat''
Much has been written about and the international crimes committed by Meles
Zenawi's minority regime in Ethiopia. Genocide Watch, several Ethiopian and
international rights groups and independent Ethiopian and foreign journalists
have documented the regime's atrocities committed against Ethiopians in the
Gambela, Ogaden and Oromia regions of Ethiopia. There have been reports of
hangings, of brutal massacres, of detentions and disappearances of thousands of
Ethiopians. Unfortunately, the minority regime gets way with these crimes
because it enjoys the full diplomatic, financial, military and political support
of the US led international community.
Beyond Ethiopia, the ongoing crimes committed by the regime and its cadres
against the people in the region are a matter of public knowledge and record.
But that is another story for another day. Today, I want to concentrate on Meles
Zenawi's treacherous acts against the people of Eritrea. The last 12 years have
exposed the envy and hatred that Meles Zenawi and Tigray Peoples Liberation
Front (TPLF) cadres harbor against the government and people of Eritrea, and the
extent that they were willing to go to destroy Eritrea and its people.
The regime's shameful diabolical actions are not a normal act of war; it is
treachery at its worst. 'This 'lower case treachery' (LTC) is one that history
and the people of Eritrea will judge harshly. As I will endeavor to show, in
this and future articles, this lawless and belligerent regime has made
neighboring states, IGAD, AU and the UN Security Council party to its treachery
against Eritrea and its people. Of course it enjoys the full support and shield
of the US-led international community and Meles Zenawi's handlers in the Bush
Administration and Barack Obama Administrations.
The TPLF regime's bigotry and racist attitudes manifested themselves during the
Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict in 1998-2000 when the regime deported over
80,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin and confiscated properties
(houses, businesses etc.) worth billions, because the TPLF regime did not 'like
the color of their eyes'. Eritreans bore the brunt of its frustrations in the
battlefields when its marauding army invaded sovereign Eritrean territories and
wrecked havoc on the lives of the border inhabitants. From destroying and
looting private property, vandalizing villages, burning homes and razing farms,
to beating, torturing and raping innocent civilians, evidence of its desire to
destroy anything and everything Eritrean.
The regime detained and tortured Eritrean students in Addis Ababa University
participating in the academic exchange program between Asmara and Addis Ababa
universities. Thousands of Eritreans were detained in Ethiopian jails around the
country, women and children were put in concentration camps and forced to beg
with the hopes of humiliating them. The regimes forces demolished churches and
mosques and burned copies of the holy books, the Bible and the Quran.
Meles Zenawi's forces destroyed historic monuments like the Belew-Kelew Stele at
Metera that dates back to the 3rd Century A.D. Its forces destroyed residential
houses, schools, hospitals and factories in Eritrean territories it occupied.
But none was uglier than the deliberate and malicious destruction of cemeteries
where Eritrea's beloved martyrs lay. The minority regime's forces dug up
martyrs' cemeteries, stole their coffins, uprooted and destroyed trees planted
in honor of Eritrea's martyrs. Their bones were crushed and strewn all over the
place. The regime showed its contempt for Eritreans, and its disrespect for
their dead.
In accordance with the 2000 Algiers Agreements between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the
Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) was established with a mandate to
delimit and demarcate the Eritrea Ethiopia border. The EEBC delivered its final
and binding delimitation decision on 13 April 2002 and on 30 November 2007
respectively. After waiting patiently for over 5 years to demarcate the border
with pillars on the ground, the EBBC left the area in 2007 after demarcating the
border using coordinates on maps (virtual demarcation) instead because Ethiopia
refused to allow demarcation with pillars on the ground.
Emboldened by the US-led international community's silence, and the diplomatic,
financial, political and military support and shield it received, today,
Ethiopia continues to militarily occupy sovereign Eritrean territories,
including Badme, the casus belli for the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict.
Speaking of Badme ' After lying to the Ethiopian people about Eritrea 'invading
Ethiopia' and declaring war through the Ethiopian Parliament and dragging the
two peoples into an unnecessary war that cost the lives of over 120,000
Ethiopians who were used as cannon fodder and minesweepers in the regime's
aggressive war of invasion and occupation against Eritrea, the minority regime's
treachery against the two peoples is now exposed.
In a 21 May 2009 Wikileak cable, the flip flopping Prime Minister tells Susan E.
Rice, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and a mediator
during the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict in 1998-2000, the following:
''The outbreak of hostilities in 1998 between Eritrea and Ethiopia was never
about the border dispute in Badme and Zelambessa' It was about economic and
political differences''
Obviously, it didn't solve Ethiopia's economic or political problems. It only
exacerbated them. Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi ranks at the bottom of all UN
indices on development. Ethiopia will not be meeting any of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UN, 'and today, according to the 2011
Legatum Prosperity Index, Ethiopia ranks 108 out of 110 countries-just above
Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic.
In that May 2009 meeting, Meles Zenawi took the opportunity to lay out his
agenda for Eritrea and the Eritrean leadership during his 6 hour long
conversation with Susan E. Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations. Meles
Zenawi was clear in what he wanted Susan Rice to do for him:
''the U.S. and others imposed financial sanctions on him and particularly cut
off Isaias' funding from Qatar and other countries and the important funding
from the Diaspora in the U.S. Isaias still imposes a mandatory 2 percent of
salary tax on all Eritreans living overseas. Non payment results in family
members in Eritrea being denied food ration cards''
Notwithstanding the fact that 'food ration cards' have nothing to do with the 2%
tax, just the thought that he was willing to 'starve' Eritreans to achieve his
political goals says a lot about this psychopath' and even more so, 'of those
who run to Addis to seek his advice.
Only a devious and conniving individual would feed US officials with such
garbage. But judging from the cables and the literature out there, it is the
same stupid story the regime has been feeding EU diplomats and African leaders.
Why else would they all point to the '2% tax' narrative? 'Heck, he had Matt
Bryden and the Somali Eritrea Monitoring Group singing the same tune too. He was
feeding Rice with blatant lies, but blinded by her own personal vendetta against
the Government of Eritrea and H.E. President Isaias Afwerki, she set out to help
Meles achieve his agenda against Eritrea.
So what did his agenda entail? His friends as the US State Department knew well.
The Wikileak cable, 'Ethiopia's Plans and Intentions for Eritrea (c-al7-00598)',
dated 24 April 2007[1] outlines his agenda for Eritrea. That cable written by
Donald Yamamoto, former US Ambassador to Ethiopia, says the following:
''Historically, Meles' approach was to carefully keep Isaias [Eritrea's
President Isaias Afwerki ] in a "box" by strengthening Ethiopian forces along
the border, neutralizing Eritrea's influence in Somalia, and increasing
Eritrea's isolation in the international community' But now, Meles sees that
this approach must be modified to include more vocal criticism of Eritrea as a
"rogue state" sponsoring terrorism and seeking to destabilize the region. The
Foreign Ministry has pressed the international community to openly criticize
Eritrea, and wants to introduce UN Security Council resolutions and African
Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) communiques condemning Eritrea as a state
sponsor of terrorism. Further, Meles has elevated Eritrean opposition groups in
Ethiopia, designating GOE State Ministers, rather than office directors, to deal
with them. Meles is also carefully working the Sanaa Forum and IGAD to increase
pressure and isolation of Eritrea''
With that, the agenda to 'isolate' and 'demonize' Eritrea was borne. IGAD, AU
and the UN Security Council were going to be used as tools in his treacherous
agenda against the people of Eritrea.
Jendayi E. Frazer was the first US official to respond to Meles Zenawi's call.
'As soon as she returned from Ethiopia, on 23 April 2007-just a day before
Donald Yamamoto's 24 April 2007 cable- Frazer held a press briefing[2], and in
response to a question on Somalia and Eritrea responded by saying:
''Somalia and stabilizing it is to have this inclusive dialogue, and so trying
to get the Transitional Federal Government to reach out to the various clans and
sub-clans is a large part of our diplomacy'The issue of Eritrea is one that I
would say that the region needs to take some responsibility for -- the African
Union, IGAD and the neighboring countries -- that Eritrea has not been playing a
constructive role in Somalia because they continue to fund, arm, train and
advise the insurgents, especially the al-Shabab militia''
Frazer was also the first US official to call for Eritrea's placement on the US
list of countries that sponsor terrorism, an effort she carried until the very
last hour of the Bush Administration. Her vindictive and vitriolic anti-Eritrea
statements continued for the duration of her tenure as US Assistant Secretary of
State for African Affairs. From supporting anti-Eritrea individuals and
groups[3], to carrying on a vicious vilification and defamation campaign against
the government and people of Eritrea, Frazer played a key role in the gradual
souring of US-Eritrea relations.
But even after she left office, she remained a loyal apologist for the minority
regime in Ethiopia led by Meles Zenawi, her friend and confidante. In a recent
(early October 2011) Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) event attended by this
author and others, Frazer made erroneous and unwarranted statements about
Eritrea and its leadership. 'Acting more like a spokesperson for the minority
regime than a US diplomat, and exposing her contempt for the people of Eritrea,
Frazer attacked Eritrea and justified what she labeled as being Meles Zenawi's
intent to 'stamp out Eritrea'. No doubt she will appear in other forums to sully
Eritrea's image in her futile attempts to 'prop up' Meles Zenawi's illegitimate
minority regime.
Meles Zenawi's treachery was not reserved for Eritrea. His backstabbing of
Sudan, Djibouti, Yemen and others who considered him their close ally, have been
exposed by the Wikileak cables. Let us take a look at what he has to say about
Bashir of Sudan as presented in the Wikileak cable[4].' In a January 30 meeting
with acting US AF Assistant Secretary Phil Carter and AF/SPG Director Tim
Shortley:
''Meles offered that if he were the United States, he would look at two options.
First, which he clearly conveyed as the preferred choice, would be to "remove
the Bashir regime." Acknowledging that such an option was unlikely, Meles
advocated for making a clear representation to the GoS that the United States is
not/not "out to get them" and laying out clear benchmarks of actions expected of
the GoS on both Darfur and South Sudan that would be necessary to "avoid
continued challenges" with the U.S. Meles concluded the discussion by
highlighting that "they don't trust the Obama Administration," and "they trust
the Obama Administration less than the Bush Administration," and with a clear
reference to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice and former Senior NSC Director
for Africa Gayle Smith "...especially some friends of mine'."
Calling on the United States to help him starve the people of Eritrea and remove
the Sudanese leader. We also know that it was with the help of the United States
that it invaded Somalia in order to 'prop up' the TNG led by 'Abdulahi Yusuf,
only to have him removed a year later. So much for good neighborliness'if this
is not destabilizing neighbors, what it is?
If there is one thing that the Eritrean leader is known for, it is his
commitment to the people of Eritrea and the region. He is not interested in
gossip and backstabbing'that is why one will be hard pressed to find a single
Wikileak cable that proves otherwise. He is a man of honor and dignity and would
never engage in deceit and treachery. For Meles Zenawi and his cadres, lying,
cheating, exaggerating, fabricating, pitting neighbor against neighbor etc. etc.
is considered 'diplomacy' and 'politics''in Eritrea, that is called newri!
But there was no neighbor that Meles Zenawi and his cadres played (as in fooled)
like the Djibouti government. It is a matter of history and public record that
the Government of Djibouti and the Government of Eritrea enjoyed warm and
cordial relations and that was not sitting well with Meles Zenawi and his
cadres. In a 16 September 2006 cable, 'Ethiopia: Deputy Minister Tekeda Talks
Somalia, Regional Issues with Das Yamamoto', the Ethiopian Deputy Minister
Tekeda Alemu. The cable from US Ambassdor Donald Yamamoto begins with this:
''Tekeda expressed concern about increasing Eritrean influence over Djibouti as
well as CIC contacts with President Guelleh. He encouraged the USG to speak
frankly with Djibouti about the risks of its behavior'
The rest of the cable tells the sordid story. Here is what it said:
''The Government of Djibouti's opposition to IGAD actions in Somalia are the
result of its fear of Eritrean President Isaias, Tekeda said, as well as
President Guelleh's personal business interests with Eritrea. The Deputy Foreign
Minister speculated that the Djiboutian leadership was worried that Eritrea
would support Afari separatist movements, as Isaias had done successfully in
Sudan, if Djibouti did not follow Eritrea's lead in Somalia. Tekeda also told
Yamamoto that Aweys and other CIC leaders had stopped in Djibouti to meet with
President Guelleh on their way back from Libya the week before. Tekeda
maintained that the GOD was "on the wrong path," and added that Djibouti was not
strong enough to take Ethiopia's continued friendship and forbearance for
granted. He criticized President Guelleh's recent visit to Tehran as well as his
comments on a recent BBC Somali Service broadcast, in which he had called on
Somalis to be vigilant in defense of their homeland against the Ethiopian
threat''
Why was the Ethiopian official criticizing Djibouti for its relations with Iran
when the Ethiopian regime has closer ties with Iran than any other nation in the
region? Did Ethiopia not send a high level delegation an Ethiopian delegation
led by Ambassador Fisseha Yimer, Special Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Mahdi Ahmed, Director General
for the Middle East, Asia and Oceania to visit Iran as recently as January 2011?
Eritreans are known for their honesty (some call it brutal honesty) and their
abhorrence for lies and deceit. There is one occasion where it is okay to tell a
white lie. There is saying in Tigrinya that goes something like this, 'hasika
seb tiArik imber, hasika seb aytebaisn' when dealing with conflict between two
parties. The English version would be diplomatic tact-the idea is to not tell
the parties hurtful comments made by the other, but instead tell little white
lies to bring them closer. What Meles Zenawi does is tell out right lies to
anger, inflame, and manipulate. By doing that, he prevents others from trying to
find out the truth. Instead of fostering good will and friendship amongst the
people in the region, he pits one against the other.
The regime's evil acts against the Eritrean people don't come as a surprise to
those who have followed its brutal reign and stranglehold on the people of
Ethiopia; what has angered millions is that the regime would find like-minded
individuals within the US Administration to advance its agenda against the
people of Eritrea. In future articles, I will endeavor to show how Meles
Zenawi's regime colluded with US officials to create a rift between Eritrea and
Djibouti. We will see how Ethiopia fabricated long exaggerated tales to inflame
Djibouti, jeopardize its otherwise good relations with France and sever its
brotherly relations with Eritrea.
Unfortunately, the Djiboutians seem impotent to do anything about Ethiopia's
stranglehold on their country. Djibouti's resignation can be seen in Minister of
Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Mahmoud Ali Youssef's
words. This is what Youssef told the former US Ambassador to Djibouti:
''In the history of dealing with Ethiopia, the farther it is apart from
Eritrea'the closer it wants to move toward Djibouti. Djibouti benefits
economically from the existing tensions between the two countries and while
unfortunate in a way' it is "a fact of life'"
It is indeed a sad state of affairs. 'Djiboutian leaders are forced to
relinquish Djibouti sovereignty, independence and the people's dignity and their
right to live in peace within their internationally recognized borders, in order
to appease the minority regime in Ethiopia. As I said above, Meles Zenawi is
'someone who swears oaths to God, country, and individuals he would betray at
the drop of a hat''who is next' Kenya?
I'd like to end this piece with an Eritrean proverb, which goes something like
this, 'dedihri adgi zikeyid, tirat yilemid''it's about donkeys and farts,
something only the minority regime and its cadres would know'
The people of Eritrea will prevail with their dignity and unity intact'or is
that going to be grounds for sanctions too...
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
Thank you
Sophia Tesfamariam
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Received on Sat Nov 05 2011 - 18:24:08 EDT