"But leadership means more than unbending will and a piece of land. The wisest sovereigns sometimes walk away from war to win peace."

Indeed these are words of reason and expressions of wisdom and hopefully people who want to mediate peace will quote them for generations to come. Yes wise and bold leaders should walk away from wars to win peace.

The above words were quoted from a bold, clear and loud call for peace that was echoed in the Washington Post Jan. 3, 2000. They are words of Representative Benjamin A. Gilman's article "Ethiopia Needs a Push Toward Peace". Indeed the words of a wise man that the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea may ignore only at their peoples' peril.

No doubt Mr. Gilman, as the Chair of the House International Relations Committee, has many other conflicts he has to attend to, conflicts that could be ranked higher or equal to the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict in the American "interest list". Without a doubt all these would require his attention and voice. However the fact that he remembered Africa and took the initiative to speak up, call, and stand for peace in the Horn of Africa is most commendable and very much appreciated.

The long suffering people of the Horn of Africa will be most grateful for Mr. Gilman's voice of hope. His is the first clear voice for peace in the 20-month old mega-tragedy. Given his stature in the co-equal branch of the American government, the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea should be grateful for his candor and concern. His voice will be heard.

Let's just hope prominent members of the US Senate and House, but especially those in the African Affairs Subcommittees will follow his lead and unequivocally call for peace.

In the same vein, we look forward to other political leaders to add their voice to that of Mr. Gilman and be counted as voices of reason. They all should come out and call for an immediate end to the war and the deportations of innocent civilians that are being carried by the Ethiopian government.

To date more than 70,000 innocent civilians have been deported from Ethiopia for no other reason but for tracing their ancestry to Eritrea, and 2600 children have been separated from their parents. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, U.S. Special Envoy Tony Lake, UN Special Envoy Mohamed Sahnoun, EU Special Envoy Rino Serri and other prominent world leaders have to break their vow of silence and should openly condemn these deportations. At the same time they should openly call for a just and peaceful solution to the war. Like Representative Benjamin Gilman they should address the cause of peace frankly and forthrightly. They should not mince any words. Too much is at stake.

So far Ethiopia's reaction to Mr. Gilman's call has been more intransigence and intemperate name calling, in a fashion too much familiar now, but we hope the world puts more pressure on Ethiopia so that its leaders would respond affirmatively to the calls of peace.

So far their response has not been encouraging. But we can't afford to give up.

Ethiopian leaders should be wise enough to walk away from war to make peace. Saying "no" to peace in order to teach Eritrea a lesson will not bring about peace but more death and destruction. Deporting innocent civilians, taking away their property, breaking families and locking up young people in concentration camps will not heal wounds but generate bad feelings that can last for generations. They should realize that by deporting, harassing and terrorizing people of Eritrean origin they are destroying the very same bridge that could have helped them walk to peace and coexistence with Eritrea.

Seven years ago, when peace between the two countries was the norm, Prime Minister Meles, in an address to the Eritrean people said that they should not scratch their old wound, wound that was cut by former Ethiopian regimes. Wise advice. Unfortunately not only is he now scratching the old wound, but creating new deep wound that can develop to be gangrene. This is not as it should be.

Ethiopian leaders should also remember that it is not only Eritrea that would benefit from peace, but also Ethiopia. Should Ethiopia abandon its aggressive posture against Eritrea and accept a just and a peaceful settlement of this conflict, the suffering masses of Ethiopia would benefit tremendously.

The billions of dollars that Ethiopia is squandering to acquire jet fighters, helicopters, missiles and mercenaries could be used to feed the 10 million or so Ethiopian population that is at the brink of starving to death. Ethiopia's leaders should wage wars against AIDS and famine instead of their neighbors.

Let Meles and Co. "walk away from war to win peace."