In my opinion, the most immediate and fundamental issue that the country faces today, and one for the resolution of which the country needs to be mobilized is that of PEACE. Without PEACE none of the other crippling national problems can ever be solved. Sadly, in the pervasive circus atmosphere of people trying to "out-patriot" one another, PEACE is the one issue that few dare touch with a ten-foot pole. Most have chosen to cower for the safety in the "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil" posture. Many prominent individuals, organizations, religious leaders and political parties that would have been expected to speak up for peace are surprisingly mum.

At the moment, with Ethiopia's formal rejection of the OAU peace plan, those who tell us that a military "solution" is the only option to settle the conflict are running the circus. But what has this element achieved in the last twenty months? To say that all their attempts at ending the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict militarily has only led to a blind alley is to state the most obvious. Yet, the ringmasters of the circus are still determined to lumber along this path - result or no result.

Ethiopia at the beginning of the conflict had entreated the international community to help achieve peace. No, I don't necessarily agree that the world chose to ignore the conflict as most have suggested. The whole world, shocked as it were by the outbreak of hostilities and its ferocity, did in fact oblige. They went way beyond the call of duty to formulate what is now by common consent the most comprehensive peace plan. For this we ought to have been grateful, if our appeal to peace had been genuine. Initially, it should be remembered that Ethiopia had shown untethered enthusiasm for any and all peace proposals that came from all directions, and enjoined the international community to bring pressure to bear on Asmara to do the same. The stark reality our leaders must face and be courageous enough to accept today is that the Eritreans had thrown down the gauntlet by their official acceptance of the OAU peace plan in its entirety. They had told the world repeatedly that they would forthwith adhere to both the letter and the spirit of the peace plan. And they have been challenging Ethiopia to do the same since. Careful reading of Eritrea's position since the beginning of the conflict clearly shows that Asmara, in its acceptance of the peace plan, has made significant concessions. It can even be said that, despite its initial misgivings and missteps, Asmara has since bent over backwards to accept all the instruments presented to it by the OAU.

Ethiopia, too, could have done the same for the sake of peace. But why are Ethiopia's leaders finding it so difficult to approach the search for peace with calm fortitude? To use someone else's more elegant prose, why not approach this demon weighing down our shoulder with "an absence of malice, a steady willingness to believe that your opponent is an honorable man as you are, and may even be right?" But the curious and mind-boggling insistence by Mr. Meles & co. that all decisions on the dispute be rendered completely in Ethiopia's favor, and the demand that the opposing number be labeled this or that even before the adjudicative process gets off the ground smacks of disingenuousness. Such bizarre and incomprehensible stance turns all the accepted norms of diplomacy and jurisprudence topsy-turvy. It is counter-intuitive. Even common sense, the commodity that is not so common in Addis these days, can't accept it.

Well, we have now come to a cul-de-sac with Mr. Meles & co. slamming the door shut on peace. Will it then be unfair for the international community, having expended so much time, energy, and goodwill to see Ethiopia and Eritrea have a second chance at peace, to feel that it has been kicked in the groin? This is a grave and very disappointing development. Those of us who have been waiting to see an end to the nightmare feel as though we have been taken on one mean, long, and bumpy ride, without an end in sight. It is most disheartening that the Ethiopia of Mr. Meles & co. has decided to usher in the new millennium with all the baggage of the old one, for without peace the problems mentioned above will undoubtedly continue dragging the country into a never-ending cycle of violence and poverty. What is more, violence and poverty should not continue to be Ethiopia's trademark, as it has been throughout the past millennium.

The bitter fruit of choosing war over peace is already strangling the country. And this is not a fantasy of pacifists. Ethiopia, even before its formal rejection of the peace plan, was already feeling the sting of international isolation. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the two major financial sources for Ethiopia's development loans in the past seven years have made it known that they would not fund any new project. The European Union, Ethiopia's major donor, the United States, and others have all turned the spigot off. By the Prime Minister's own admission, this isolation has caused undue problems for the country. There are those, who, by some loopy logic, interpret the actions of Meles & co. defiantly thumbing its nose at everyone as patriotic. But, from here on, the noose, I am afraid, will only be tightened. The leaders of Ethiopia had been given one heck of a chance to extricate the country from a loose-loose dilemma, and they have blown it.

Excuse me for not sharing the enthusiasm of some, but I see no virtue in being viewed by everyone else in the world as enemies of peace and a pariah. I see no genius or statesmanship in the attempt to split hair where no hair exists - no pun intended. It is true that even in the most ideal of peace plans one can conceivably find potential points for misinterpretation, if that is all one is looking for instead of commonalties. But without magnanimity, the essential missing component in the question at hand, no document, no matter how thorough, can bring about peace. It takes people of great vision and farsightedness to realize this simple yet profound fact. As one who has carefully studied the details of all the documents, I can say without a moment of hesitation that, on balance, this peace plan was the fairest and about as perfect as any can get. This, of course, is assuming that border dispute and nothing else is the core problem separating the two protagonists.

Now that the OAU peace plan has been trashed, what kind of future do those in power hold out for the people of Ethiopia? From the Prime Minister's own statement, the answer is more of the same - death and destruction. I can already hear the echo of John Bright's statement in the Crimean War that the same cruel "angel of death has been aboard throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings." May God save the people of Ethiopia! In an apocalyptic plea fit for the new millennium, the Ethiopian people are once more being asked to brace for more hardship and sacrifice in the stormier days ahead. We have, Mr. Prime Minister, nothing more left to sacrifice, especially not for this war that is avoidable and unnecessary. If you can understand, what we want has never been victory, but PEACE with HONOR; and certainly not vengeance but justice. Voices of the countless mothers, the widowed and the orphaned are crying forth for this. These calls may not be all so very important for those who are safe themselves and have tucked away their families abroad for safekeeping. But, Mr. Prime Minister, we are tired, really sick and tired of perennial conflict. We want to start the new millennium with a clean slate. We want PEACE and a new beginning. Is that too much to ask?