The border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is now about 15 months old. As a result of the intransigence of the TPLF leadership, tens of thousands of ill-trained Ethiopian combatants have died, wounded and disabled. Many Ethiopian families and loved ones will, sooner or later be in the second cycle of a national grief; the first grief was the result of 30 years of conflict with Eritrea. There is no reliable statistics on the number of Ethiopians who died during this conflict; conservative estimates put the number in the range of 400,000 to half a million. The second cycle of grief is about to unfold when thousands of Ethiopians realize that their beloved ones will not return for good from Badme, Tsorena, Zalambesa and Burye with their remains unattended.

True to its principles, The Eritrean government has identified almost all the names of its martyrs who lost their lives as a result of 30 years struggle for independence. They continue to be honored and remembered almost on a daily basis. The Eritrean government also provided modest compensation to the families of those who passed away during the thirty years conflict despite the fact that it was under heavy financial constraint. On the other hand the existing opposition groups in Ethiopia who continue to lament about "the unity of the motherland" and whose interests were being pursued by the Ethiopian soldiers who died during the 1961-1991 period, could not utter a word on the plight of these half a million dead Ethiopians and their families. Civilized societies honor their soldiers who died during wars no matter what the outcome was. Americans continue to honor their soldiers who died during the Vietnam War even though they were not successful on the ground. This is also true of Italians in Adwa, Japanese during the Second World War and many others. It is only fair to recognize those who have died in the battlefield no matter what the consequence was; this could uplift the morale of their grieving families and loved ones. The TPLF regime in power could not recognize them; this is natural given the fact that the government in power is committed on preserving the interest of its home turf, Tigrai, and not of the nation. Instead the TPLF is building a multi million edifice in Mekele thereby honoring and recognizing their comrades who helped them come to power and enabled them to write a constitution that encourages and institutionalizes the dismemberment and disintegration of Ethiopia! So much for the past.

Because of the horrible consequences of the recent border war people with rational minds and good intentions were hoping and praying that this tragic conflict will soon come to an end. On July 16 1 heard one of the best news of the year when the OAU announced in Algiers that both Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed on the modalities for implementing the OAU sponsored peace plan. One of the conditions stipulates that each country refrain from...."any action and statement which could complicate matters and jeopardize the establishment of the atmosphere of serenity which is required for the implementation of the Framework agreement and the modalities" Two days later I downloaded the website of Walta information agency- a TPLF mouth piece known for its notorious lies, deceptions, misinformation and war mongering propaganda, I read an official statement of the TPLF government stating that their armed forces should remain vigilant against the 'EPLF regime". The front page of the Walta website headlined with a phrase stating thar "Ethiopia will not lessen vigilance against the Eritrean Regime". Isn't it fair to show courtesy to those diplomats who are working so hard to bring this senseless war to an end? Couldn't the TPLF postpone this double talk for more than two days? This is indeed pathetic. It is an indicator of poor diplomacy, bad public relations and bad manners.

The logical conclusion that one can draw from the activities of the ruling clique in Ethiopia is that they are not interested in peace. They now that they are extremely unpopular in Ethiopia including Tigrai. A government that does not enjoy the support of its people, a government with incoherent and inconsistency policies, a government with no vision always depends on crisis creation to survive. This is not only true of the present leadership but also of the one that preceded it. Throughout the seventeen years, Colonel Mengistu's Dergue regime had to subsist on a continuous series of crises. First it was the imperial and feudal menace; then there was the EPRP followed by MEISON, Somalia, Dergue's own generals as well as others including the so-called "Shabya and Wayne threat". All these crises were concocted in the name of national unity and territorial integrity. The latter is not genuine; it is a camouflage that would enable the so-called leaders to stay in power. in the name of national unity hundreds of thousands have perished in a series of battlefields, have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and were forced to out migrate en masse. Had the conflicts been resolved democratically and on a conference table this sad episode in the history of Ethiopia should never have occurred. The result of this fake call to national unity in order to survive was unfortunate as Mengistu abandoned the country in the hands of the present leadership.

Similar series of events can be enumerated regarding the present leadership's attempt to subsist on crisis. At first it was thought that the EPRDF was for unity in diversity, for democracy based on multi party system even though initially there was concern at the speed in which parties were formed and organized. During the creation of the transitional charter in summer of 1991 many parties were formed- some of them were based on ethnic grouping, others appealed to national audiences while still others were already active in exile and under ground. Not long after words the true motive of the TPLF leadership began to unfold, They created their own ethnic based satellite parties. OLF was replaced by OPDO (TPLF's Department of Oromol), the genuine Guraghe, Kambata, Welayita, Hadiya and other ethnic based political parties were replaced by artificial parties whose leaders were hand picked by the TPLF leadership. The leaders of these genuine and other nationally based parties were either imprisoned or forced to leave the country. One can only pass this series of crises creation by asking the following simple questions. Out of those genuine parties who formed the transitional charter in 1991, how many are still in existence? Where are their leaders? How many of them are represented in the so-called parliament? The answer is simply none.

In general the present YPLF leadership has a grip of almost all state power in its own hands. It is simply inconceivable to observe that a leadership which comes from an ethnic group that makes not more than seven percent of the Ethiopian people monopolizing almost all the critical decision making organs of the government. This is similar if not worse than the Huttu Tutsi scenario in Rwanda and Burundi. I hate to visualize the future consequence of this phenomenon for the otherwise decent people of Ethiopia.

One of the series of crises that the present Ethiopian leadership created is the so-called border dispute with neighboring Eritrea. This is a crisis that could have been resolved easily, quickly and amicably. The reason why this conflict has gone out of control and out of proportion is again the need for this type of leadership to subsist on crisis as well as the obvious desire to build a greater Tigray at the expense of neighboring Ethiopian provinces and a sovereign neighbor-Eritrea. It should be remembered that since the TPLF took power eight years back Ethiopia had border problems with Sudan in the Metema area and with Kenya in the Moyale area. This was peacefully solved without resorting to power. From the TPLF stand point there was no need to deploy soldiers then because these areas do not in any way affect the borders of the TPLF turf-the Tigray region. When the TPLF was checked from occupying Eritrean territory so as to enlarge Tigray the result was sheer madness followed by a series of wild actions and reactions. In the process the call for national unity and territorial integrity began to reemerge again.

It bemuses one to see the TPLF calling for national unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia. What a glaring hypocrisy! The truth is that the TPLF is in the records doing just the opposite. Didn't the present Prime Minister openly declare that the Ethiopian flag is a simple shred of cloth? That the Ethiopian history is 100 years old? On a more serious note isn't the possible dismemberment and disintegration of Ethiopia enshrined in the so-called TPLF constitution? In general the TPLF's own resumes does not allow it to cry for national unity and territorial integrity. The call for national unity is nothing but a pretext to forcibly conscript recruits from otherwise peace loving Ethiopian broad masses, bring them to the war front all the way to Tigray and use them as cannon fodderUs and human mine sweepers.

As a result of the newly engineered border war some of the opposition groups were hoping that there may be an opportunity for the TPLF leadership to atone and recant, call the various stakeholders and conduct genuine dialogue. This was not to be. Over the past eight weeks it imposed a 15-year stiff prison sentence on Dr. Taye Woldesmait, President of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association. Very recently it has promoted seven military officers to the rank of Brigadier and Major general. Six of them are Tigreans; one of the newly appointed major generals in charge of the Air Force is believed to be a former schoolteacher with little or no knowledge of the complex military aviation

Another action that the TPLF had taken was the massive deportation of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin from Ethiopia. The sole purpose of this ethnic cleansing was to satisfy certain vocal opposition groups, to confiscate the property of the deportees and possibly to try to weaken Eritrea. The last attempt failed miserably. Again this is nothing but part and parcel of crises creation and survival strategy. This ethnic cleansing seems to be a continuation of similar deeds by Menelik and Yohannes the two "Ivan the Terrible" emperors of nineteenth century Ethiopia. Menelik undertook his ethnic cleansing campaign among the Oromos, Guraghes, Kefas, Hararis and other southern nationalities. Yohannes took ethnic cleansing to its height by his locust type invasion of Gojjam, by denying the rights of Ethiopian Moslems in Wello and Tigray and by summarily executing Tigrean gold and silver smiths on a moronic type pretext that they are Buddhas!

It is time that Ethiopians in general and various political groups and the intelligentsia in particular to sober up a bit and take stock of what had happened in the past, what is going on now and the possible future scenarios. Over the past 25 years alone Ethiopia continues to be undergoing over turbulent political cycles all to the detriment of the well being of the broad masses. The sixty million Ethiopians deserve better than this. If one is interested in a peaceful and prosperous Ethiopia there ought to be a genuine discussion among the various opposition groups, civic and religious leaders. The present leadership needs to reconcile with reality. They cannot continue to impose their wishes on the broad masses. This tiny minority and elitist clique cannot continue to dominate Ethiopian politics indefinitely. This is simply not sustainable. They cannot continue to beat war drums against their neighbor on the pretext of a fake call for national unity. Someone has to tell the leadership to shape up or face the dire consequence. They should stop depending on the present border dispute in order to survive. Whether the TPLF leadership likes it or not the present border conflict will be resolved peacefully, in accordance with the existing laws and OAU principles, on a conference table-with or without them.

Some of the existing problems in the country can also be attributed to the stand of some of the opposition groups within and outside the country. There appear to exist few opposition groups who seem to get a kick out of the present Ethio-Eritrean conflict and who might have been instrumental in the mass deportation of innocent Eritreans from Ethiopia. They seem to believe that it is in their best interest to see the continuation and possible intensification of the conflict. The rational here is that in the process the two groups- the TPLF and the Eritrean government-will be weakened, that there may exist a power vacuum which will enable them to recapture their old glories. It is inherently inconsistent to support and oppose the present leadership at the same time. On the one hand they rightly oppose the TPLF for monopolizing power at the expense of the overwhelming majority; on the other hand they support them for the sake of a fake slogan of national unity. These opposition group should remember the consequence of this on Haile Selassie's and Mengistu's regimes in general and on the plight of the Ethiopian citizens in particular. The call for national unity should be genuine and not a pretext for subjugation and domination; they need not duplicate Mengistu's and TPLF's sinister motives. What is important is the unity of the people; geographical unity is a derivative of the former. The best way to have unity is to recognize and respect other people cultures and values. Opposition groups should not undermine the wishes and aspirations of the various nationalities such the OLF as well as other political and religious organizations.

Over the past 25 years the main losers in Ethiopia have been the broad masses especially those destitutes and other low income group irrespective of their ethnic or religious affiliations. Those currently in the leadership and many political groups who continue to plant seeds of hatred within Ethiopia and between the two neighboring countrieshave their families, children and relatives in American, European and other cities. The Ethiopian people need a break; they are fed up with parasite group such as the TPLF as well as some elitist and inconsiderate political groups.