Human memory is very short; even the Weyanes, who know Eritrea better than most, have, in the seven years since independence, forgotten why and how Eritrea fought a thirty year long war against Ethiopia. They have forgotten the spectacular military defeat Ethiopia suffered at the hands of Eritrean forces and how they, whose horizons never extended beyond Tigray, were brought to power in Ethiopia by Eritrean assistance.
The international community, as represented by the United Nations, has, of course, long forgotten the tragic consequences of the ill-considered federal arrangement that it imposed on Eritrea which triggered the thirty year long bloody war with Ethiopia. For thirty years Ethiopians and Eritreans butchered each other, with over a million and a quarter human losses on both sides. For reasons that will be discussed below, the UN will, of course, never accept that this has anything to do with it. Such is the moral decadence of the UN that it never accepts responsibility for the consequences of its actions.
Africa's heydays were in the sixties. Many of the newly independent countries were then ruled by revolutionary leaders whose vision was to save Africa from the image it had as the dark continent. They envisioned peace and stability as a precondition for the development effort of the continent. Thus, in their wisdom, they decided to abide by the existing colonial borders to avoid fragmentation and chaos. Less than forty years later it is a tragedy that the OAU does not even remember that such fundamental principles existed. Unfortunately, the problem with the OAU goes deeper than just a lapse in memory; it is sick and actually suffering from an advanced state of dementia How else can the ineptitude of an organisation that said nothing when horrendous human rights violations were committed right under its nose be explained?
The UN and the OAU have long ceased to be what they ought to be and it is an open secret that, apart from their names, they are now under the directives of the US's foreign administration. The US's control over these bodies is total; it uses or ignores them as it pleases. Examples are abound and the immorality of the Oval Office is being reflected in the actions of these organisations. Consider the recent Security Council's meeting on the Eritrea/Ethiopia conflict; it is recorded that the Security Council sat for only five minutes to consider the issue. The meeting began at 1:20 pm and ended at 1:25 pm. The US had done all the ground work and the Security Council did not need to discuss the issue at length. What a joke and what an insult to the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia to marginalise their case in such a manner.
Gone are the days of UN impartiality and of the dream Africa had of the OAU as the body that would stand for justice. That these bodies are totally manipulated by the US is clear from the above mentioned meeting of the Security Council which blindly called for the Framework Agreement that the US promoted to be "accepted and implemented without delay". Such is the US's arrogance and immorality at the present time that it feels no inhibition in applying bullying and threatening tactics to impose its own ill considered and partisan solutions to world problems. It can order that its will should be done "without delay", just like that. Gone are the days of the art of diplomatic language.
The world cannot go on like this and a start has to be made somewhere. The US, including its UN and OAU appendages, needs to be told that Eritrea cannot, and will never, forget and nor will it allow itself to suffer another injustice. Eritrea need not mince its words in reminding the world that its motto was and remains NEVER KNEEL DOWN and that it will stand up to the injustice that is being perpetrated against it. Her hope should be that the decent voices that are forced to remain silent now will become loud in its support eventually.
US /Weyane Connivance
It is now clear
that, as far as the Ethiopia/Eritrea conflict is concerned, US hands
are muddier than many analysts realised them to have been. But it is
still not clear what the US stands to gain by openly siding with the
Weyanes. Is it economic interests, fear of Ethiopian break-up,
Islamic Fundamentalism or what? Maybe there is no substantive reason
and it is possible that the US was tricked by the Weyanes and, rather
than admit and retreat, has decided to stick with its misguided
policy. Otherwise, it is difficult to comprehend that people of the
calibre of Anthony Lake would fail to understand Ethiopia's aggression
on Eritrea.
The alternative is that the US knew all along of the Weyanes' wicked ambitions and it may even have instigated them. Such a scenario would have implications of gigantic proportions because it would mean that a world power together with its satellite organs, the UN and the OAU, would have connived with a country that threatens the sovereignty of another independent country. That is why it is important that the reason behind the US's involvement in this conflict is fully explored and exposed.
Not much should be read into the other countries' (EU, Britain, Canada, Italy etc.) open support for the OAU proposal. None of them would have a clue, or care much, what the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea is all about. Their case is simply one of blind following blind and their hasty declaration was merely to comply with what the US would have demanded of them.
Whatever the reasons behind it, the US orchestrated plot has been to threaten and bully Eritrea into submission. The Weyane bluffs of declaring northern Ethiopia a no flight zone and announcing school closures etc. are all part of the ploy to create hype and gain support for their aggression towards Eritrea. War may not be the prefered option for the Weyanes as they have been reminded of what they had forgotten last May that they will gain nothing. All the noises and lies coming from them and their reliance on the US is thus their alternative strategy.
Ethiopian conspiracies are not new for Eritrea. As already said, Eritrea has faced them all throughout its history, challenged them and won. "The stick of truth", an Eritrean saying goes, "may be thin but it does not break". The United States and its blind allies are by their short sightedness creating a dangerous world and they do not seem to realise that it will be they who will eventually pay the heaviest price. As for Eritrea, it is always NEVER K...... .
A re-visit to the cause of the conflict
Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi's recent pronouncements have much enhanced our
understanding as to the real cause of this conflict. In his speech to
the OAU Central Organ at Ouagadougou, 17-18 December 1998, the Prime
Minister attempted to paint a picture of a quarrelsome Eritrea that
has a "shout first and talk later" approach towards its neighbours.
Curiously, he said: "those who requested that this be stopped have
also been unceremoniously treated". What this 'request' entails was
made clear by Mr Meles in a response to a letter he received from the
ambassador of Malawi to Ethiopia. In it he said: "To the long
stability of the region, there must be an end to this behaviour...
peacefully if possible, by non-peaceful means if necessary". He could
not be clearer and, as he admitted, the issue to the Weyanes was not
about Badme but about the behaviour of the government of Eritrea.
Serious questions have to be asked now. Is this how Meles tricked the US and so is the meteoric transformation of Eritrea to an 'Iraq' level the reason why the US government has decided to side with Ethiopia? The US must come clean because, if it is so, a serious crime of violence against an independent state would have been committed.
Meles is deceiving the world by using various tricks as a means of achieving his goal. We have long realised that this conflict has nothing to do with Badme, and from the beginning. the Weyane's poor plan was to achieve their expansionist dream using Badme as a smoke screen. And how had they envisioned sustaining their hold on the territories they so occupied? As Meles elaborated, by installing a puppet government in Asmara by "peaceful or by non-peaceful means". (This leads to another area of inquiry as to what collaborators they had in mind to install)
Already ten months into the conflict, the Weyanes have used both of their trump cards and one wonders what would be next. In fact, when the going got tough for them at one stage they sent signals of retreat which Eritrea failed to pick up. Eritrea should, of course, seize the opportunity should a similar signal come from the Weyanes again for her to 'withdraw' from the Yirga triangle that they claimed was under Eritrean occupation. A new Badme has been conveniently created in the Yirga triangle and, hopefully, the Weyanes will make use of their treacherous ability and use that as a face saving mechanism for settling the dispute. Obviously Eritrea would welcome such a move!
Options for Eritrea
The Eritrean President's recent
announcement that "Eritrea shall not fire the first bullet" may have
the effect of unbalancing the Weyane plot. When will the Americans
realise though that this has indeed been Eritrea's position from the
very beginning? The effects of war are fresh in Eritrea's memory and
no one else knows better than her that "war is not a picnic". For the
reasons elaborated above, the Weyanes' current strategy has been to
mislead and gain support from the international community. As this
article has been in progress, the Weyanes have started making noises
about an Eritrean air attack on the town of Adi-Grat. To their
dismay, diplomats in Asmara and Adi-Grat residents have confirmed that
nothing of the sort occurred. But, again, it was a deliberate attempt
to confuse world opinion.
How can one communicate to the international community, the US in particular, to stay clear of meddling in a situation of which they have no understanding? Who is to tell them that this is a quarrel between brothers and all their interference is doing is worsening the situation? The US and its allies should be told clearly and unambiguously that in the event of a war they will be held responsible for its consequences. They will of course ignore such a call, being filled with arrogance, but it should nonetheless be said for the record and for the sake of the silent voices of the word.
It has been said many times that this is a world that has gone mad otherwise there is no cause for this war. Eritrea's problem, if it can be called that, is its smallness and hence insignificant to the "man eat man" world that we live in. So until her oil starts flowing and becomes a match for Kuwait, it will remain a soft target. Faced with such despicable behaviour from the so called international community, Eritrea's options in this conflict are limited to the following points:
Eritrea shall prevail!
Berhane Woldemichael
Nottingham, UK
(06 February 1999)