ETHIOPIANIZATION!
Asghedom from Qc, Canada.

Let me add my name to the list of people appealing to the international community in-order to bring solution to the plight of the continuously oppressed and helplessly starving people of Ethiopia. While the world are rushing to bring the Ethiopians some relief an elite group of the previously pampered and vicious tongued Ethiopians, self-declared enemies of Eritrea and its population, chose to remain impervious and continue to sustain the Ethiopian leaders. By doing so they bring their demise. Recently Ethiopian myth with history/civilisation of over three thousand years seemed to have intimidated policy-makers or those who chose not to bother with human mistreatment of the worst nature. Recently, at different occasions, Ethiopian leaders have exposed themselves as master-liars and thereby lost credibility. Then the world had blindly obliged Ethiopian leaders claim for help until, donor-fatigue hit hard, and people started inquiring about the reasons for the inhuman sufferings in Ethiopia. This questioning embarrassed the die-hard supporters of the Ethiopian leaders, but enabled some others to discover that the culprit wasn't ' the lack of the expected rainy season' as Ethiopian leaders put it! There is more to it that than meets the eye. The root cause had been and still remains to be artificial. There are two Ethiopias:

the Leaders-Ethiopia, one that's glamorous and mythical and
the Ethiopians-Ethiopia where 'doped ' inhabitants, of this forsaken nation, silently and helplessly

One must take the following considerations about Ethiopia while asking simple questions in-order to find the true answers about Ethiopian food shortages:

Ethiopian land is fertile. And it is estimated that if properly cultivated it can potentially feed the entire continent.
Ethiopia has lot of water. In fact one of its water-sources, the Blue-Nile, pushes the Nile to reach and die out in a delta at Alexandria, Egypt.
Ethiopian leaders manifest their national pride by posting Ethiopia as being 'the only never- colonised-nation-in-a colonised-continent'. Instead of speaking about present-day Ethiopia they'd rather cite events that may have had happened three thousand years ago. And the perpetual agonies of the descendants of this proud history are undermined.
Ethiopia is constantly at war with its neighbours. Until not long ago it had a combined army of half a million men. Its leaders, it seems, define themselves as such only if they find a pretext for a war, wage it (even by hiring mercenaries) and then mismanage the country at will.

Bearing in mind the above facts one can legitimately ask the following basic questions.

If Ethiopian land is fertile then Ethiopians are not tilling their land in-order to feed themselves. Why are Ethiopians letting themselves being identified with famine-sticken population?
If the Nile flows yearlong, so does the Blue-Nile. Most of Ethiopian land is green yearlong. Drought is limited to given areas only. Ethiopia has abundance of water but the fertile land is not irrigated. Why are Ethiopians letting their land be associated with drought-stricken?
If Ethiopia is proud of what it had accomplished during thirty centuries then I think continuously feeding one's people from handouts is not worth calling an accomplishment or a manifestation of one's pride. Especially for Ethiopia, the never colonised nation! What are Ethiopians proud of, when compared with other previously colonised nations whose populations are more self-reliant?

It seems to me that the betterment of land and water management is the natural progression of a history worth being proud of. The wished results that could be obtained from the fertile land and its abundant water could have made Ethiopia an exemplary and generous nation, which could have helped others in need. Instead, to sustain their hallow pride, successive Ethiopian leaders prefer to stick to an ideal they know best: Ethiopianization!

Ethiopianization: 1- the art of creating a climate for an unreasonably never ending and helpless human suffering based on hunger; 2- the act of prolonging one's grip to power by first famishing the population, begging for donor aid to finance wars.

Ethiopian wars don't happen because of misunderstandings with neighbours. Ethiopian wars are tailored to measure events. They create a climate for them to take advantage of their tradition, which is reflected in one of their proverbs 'sishom yalbela sishar yiKoTCHewal' when translated reads 'He who doesn't eat when he's being promoted will live to regret when he'll be demoted'. This is pure-bred Ethiopian!

That's the meaning of being a civil servant in Ethiopia. And holding the highest office of the land means Ethiopia and Ethiopians belong to you and you can dispose of it or them as your wish dictates! Several weeks ago we learned that the ex-premier, who took office after chasing Menghistu, has been condemned to 18 years of imprisonment for embezzlement. He had deposited millions of dollars, like the Nazis, in a Swiss bank that came from the export of coffee (one of Ethiopia's hard currency)! Or his friends in Addis who are robbing defenceless people say so. Who knows maybe they are trying to drown their dog! Those are the same friends who set free the officers from the former Menghistu regime because they had declared war and realised they lacked officers.

The leaders see the Ethiopian plight as follows:

anyway the population is starving and perishing so why not use them as cannon-fodder;
the soft-hearted international community will not remain indifferent and will not find time and courage to formulate preconditions in front of this repetitive gruesome situation;
this becomes a moral issue and NGOs will pour food to alleviate the pain;
this material help will be diverted to the war zone in-order to maintain the war-machine going;
if and when peace will be proposed they'll keep on exhausting the patience and good intentions till everyone surrenders to their wishes;
then and only then they will accept what they dictate, as a negotiated settlement;
this being impossible their grip to power remains secured or prolonged while other nations younger than Ethiopia and with less pride will keep on feeding the proud Ethiopian population;
this enables them to buy more arms and pay mercenaries to secure their stay in power;
they keep on reminding to each other 'sishom yalbela sishar yiKoTCHewal'!

Hiring mercenaries is normally the practice of small and rich countries that don't have tales to tell or to be proud of! But Ethiopia is supposed to be proud and experienced (3000yrs) in national defence!

On the other hand, defending one's principle, family, religion, country and above all one's right to famine-free peaceful life, is very legitimate. Before claiming legitimacy Ethiopian leaders have to prove to themselves (difficult task!), to their population and to the world that they abide by the law of the land! But this is a very difficult question…. because laws are inacted by them to suite their calculated crimes. Criminals take power and dwell for decades in this land of three thousand years!

Inspite of all these, what do Eritreans or their representatives say or do to alleviate the human suffering of their innocent defence-less neighbours?

Unlike their Ethiopian counterparts Eritreans know and understand the hardships caused by wars. Everyday they strive for the illusive peace. They manage the meagre resources. And they have made Eritrea a nation of laws. The OAU led and internationally sponsored peace negotiation process has reached a stalemate or better has become Ethiopian hostage like the Ethiopians of Eritrean descent who still survive in Ethiopia. Eritrea had accepted and adhered to the proposal without any precondition. Ethiopian leaders have refused because they realised that the text they had previously signed was not amendable! Signatures are meant to bind! And the best , according the PM Meles Zenawi, is that they don't trust Eritrea,therefore, they need to do some psychological exercises before going back to the negociation table!

Then let's go to the land where the leaders don't need psychological preparations for peace. Last week, when President Isayas Afwerki has been approached and asked whether Eritrea would allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia (a country whose cabinet unilaterally declared war on his country and keep on abusing Ethiopians of Eritrean descent) through the port of Assab in view of grave famine situation looming over the drought-stricken regions.. The President assured that Eritrea would not, in principle, object to the proposal because of its moral obligation to assist in the international relief efforts to prevent a human catastrophe. He then added that this would however require an appropriate arrangement by the international community…Eritrea would further request clear guarantees that the humanitarian assistance reaches the intended beneficiaries and is not, otherwise, diverted by the regime for its war purposes. *

This is nothing but the wisdom as reflected in one of Eritrean proverbs ' TnQaQhen ti'gstn beziHoo aybehaln'. Roughly translated : caution and patience are never too much. Eritrean leaders understand that nothing is too much to bring peace in the region. So they seem obliged to play the role of water and fire. One can quench one's thirst or drown; one can get warmth or get burnt. All that one must know is how not to abuse or misuse them!

THEN:
Which country is at war?
Who is keeping peace a hostage?
Which leaders are reconciliatory and which ones are refusing peaceful negotiated settlement?

Will Ethiopian leaders dare to refuse the donor food aid that will transit through the illusive Assab, Eritrea?
OR
Will they have the courage to manifest, if any, leadership, moral obligation and desire to end their ETHIOPIANIZATION and give a chance to Ethiopians to make Ethiopia worth of the history it claims?

*source dehai.