Who is "rogue"?

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe while still shouting "bandits" at the Eritrean freedom fighters. It seems the Woyanes are going to fall shouting a  reincarnated version of "bandit" but in a more sophisticated sounding word. "Rogue government" has been their latest obsession. At the beginning of the war and in order to mobilize the Ethiopian people using Arab-phobia, it was using "Shaabia" (Arabic for Popular) and now it is using, non stop, "rogue government" of Eritrea. All designed for international consumption.

Do the Woyanes want to talk about "rogue"? Ok let's talk about "rogue"! Who is "rogue"? But first what does rogue mean? In its modern context, rogue means. "an unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal."

Now after reading what the word "rogue" means, let's ask again, who is "unprincipled"? Who is "deceitful", who is "unreliable", who is "a scoundrel"
or a "rascal"? I have no doubt the Ethiopian and Eritrean people know the answer and very well as that. Even Susan Rice, Anthony Lake, Ahmed Ouyahiya and Bouteflika will tell you the answer without a moment's hesitation.

The above definition of "rogue" cannot, in any stretch of imagination, fit the Eritrean leaders. Far from being "deceitful" they are naively and
"brutally" honest and far from being an "unreliable" they are the most dependable and truthful leaders in the Horn. Far from being "unprincipled" they are the most ethical and honorable leaders one can ever hope for. I will try to back my statements with non-Eritrean third party quotations below. 

As the character of the Woyanes I need not say much on it. They are already regarded as "deceitful", "unreliable", "rascals", wicked, evil and "scoundrels" by the majority of Ethiopians.

There is more to "rogue". To my surprise, while searching for its etymological roots,  I learned that "rogue" also means "A wandering beggar; a vagrant." I was dumbfounded when I discovered this root meaning. Do I need to say more as to who is the "beggar" then? I don't think so!

Again, take both meanings,  who is "rogue"? A government that is despised by the majority of its population, or a government that has been enjoying unmatched popularity for the past 9 years? A government that begs to feed its people or a government that works for its people? A government that steals property of innocent civilians and was condemned by all human rights organizations or a government that respects and protects the rights of people no matter where they come form? The answer is clear, the "rogue", "thief", "scoundrel" government is the one in Addis.

For the record let's look at what the world used to say of Eritrea and its leaders before the war erupted in 1998. If any one can get me words, written
about the government of Ethiopia, either by Ethiopians or outside observers, that matches what you are going to read below I will apologize publicly.
Before I let you read the quotations, let me say this, the Eritrean government has the support of its people and it will win. The Woyanes, for
their own good, better not mess with it.

Here are the quotations:

The Wall Street Journal, May 31, 1994 --The Wall Street Journal, May 31, 1994

"...Postwar Promise: Africa's Newest Nation, Little Eritrea Emerges As Oasis of Civility. Eritrea is Africa's newest nation: ...has become an unlikely oasis of peace and civility ... Secretary of State Warren Christopher calls Eritrea...a beacon of hope astride the Horn of Africa.....Perhaps even more astonishing, Eritrea is beginning to develop without the corruption so common else where on the continent. Nobody to Bribe 'You can't find anyone to bribe here,' ...That makes one U.S. aid official wistful. Of more than 20 countries he has worked in, he says, 'Eritrea: is the one where you feel comfortable that every nickel you put into the place is going to be used properly....'They're on a takeoff here,' he says. 'All they need is a little  wind.'"

"...Proud, principled and impoverished, Eritrea is virtually without peer in Africa as it pursues its own model of development and vision of democracy. And when Eritrea's army won its war for independence, demobilized fighters handed in their weapons. Weapons were not sold to criminals, or stashed in expectation of further political conflict, as happened in southern Africa. The foreign investor trying to clinch a deal in Eritrea may experience many things, but the knowing wink and outstretched palm common to so many African encounters are unlikely to be among them. Irritation? Maybe. Exasperation? Possibly. But corruption? Almost never....'They have created a climate where if a businessman tried to pay a bribe, he wouldn't be able to do business,' says Mr. Robert Houdek, the US Ambassador. 'They know what an asset they have in establishing a reputation for cleanliness and they're going to work hard to maintain it.' ... Given Eritrea's grim legacy, its challenges are formidable. But thirty years ago most observers doubted that Eritrea would even win its war for independence. Who is to say that Eritrea will not again surprise the world as it seeks to liberate itself from poverty?"

"...Though one of the world's poorest nations, with an annual per capita income of $150, Eritrea is being seen as a model for the regeneration of a whole continent. So many African countries are struggling to recover from ruinous onflicts-Mozambique, Angola, Sera Leone-yet few exhibit Eritrea's enthusiasm. "We have all seen so much waste and loss in Africa," says Glenn Anders of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the development agency of the U.S. government that has made Eritrea its biggest per capita aid recipient on the continent." This country could be one of the biggest success stories. The nationals' sense of purpose, the discipline of its people, the hard work, which is evident in the countryside, gives us cause
for hope. The government has also been financially responsible in the use of its resources." 

"...While many Africans are asking themselves what went wrong over the last three decades, Eritreans are embracing the future. While ethnic and religious conflicts make many African nation-states fragile, Eritreans are nationalistic and cohesive to a fault. While almost every African country depends on foreign aid, Eritrea in some cases refuses it. Now, four years after becoming independent, Eritreans are bringing to government the same confident, do-it themselves approach that helped them win the war. Government officials many of whom are former fighters now talk about the need to achieve "real freedom." They don't want to be slaves to any foreign donor country. They want economic self-sufficiency and they want to do it their way and with their own blood and sweat."

 Africa Today May-June 1997

"...Eritrea, Africa's youngest country, is embarking on a campaign to abolish food aid and stand on its own feet four years after its independence from Ethiopia. From the ruins of war, which cost more than 250, 000 lives (on the Eritrean side alone), the Eritreans are transforming their new nation into a country that works."

"...As the program converts warriors into workers, it also addresses a major global challenge of the 1990s: With the end of the Cold War and several little hot conflicts, oversized, big-budget armies are being downsized or demobilized. And governments from Maputo to Moscow are scrambling to figure out what to do with the soldiers. Little Eritrea, about the size of Pennsylvania and with 3.6 million people, has proved to be a  model--especially compared with highly publicized efforts in Cambodia and Angola, where the United Nations spent millions to restore peace and sent thousands of troops to keep it. Both efforts eventually imploded... Eritrea's success is all the more striking because the new government fended for itself for the most part--and succeeded. Last year, it completed the phased demobilization of about 60,000 of 95,000 troops. The only outside funding came for retraining--and then only in small amounts. 'The Eritreans bring a lot of positive things to the nation-building experience, including a strong sense of self-reliance,' said Gregory Craig, a senior U.S. State Department official. The odds were against success on many fronts: Ethnically, Eritrea has nine groups roughly split between Christian and Muslim--a formula for disaster from Africa to Eastern Europe, the Middle East to South Asia. Politically, Eritrea--the biblical land of Punt, later the Aksum kingdom and, over the past century, an Italian colony and an Ethiopian province--had to start from scratch. "

"... In Africa, a continent racked with wars, revolutions and repression and increasingly regarded as an economic and social basket case, there is one country that is reversing the trend and today is the democratic hope of the continent. It is Eritrea, the newest African state and UN member, about the size of England (or Florida) with a population roughly that of Toronto (3.5 million), situated on the Red Sea, above the Horn of Africa, bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. ...Since it won independence at a cost of some 250,000 lives, Eritrea has confounded experts and reversed a trend in Africa that has been depressingly and persistently gloomy since the first country (Ghana) achieved independence from British colonial rule in 1956. As one who has reported from a score of African countries over the past 40 years, I've no hesitation saying that Eritrea is unlike anything I've encountered in Africa. After his first visit to the capital of Asmara, journalist Frans van der Houdt, with 14 years of covering Africa for a Dutch news agency, remarked: 'I'd just about given up on Africa as hopeless, until seeing this country. Now I have renewed hope.' Eritrea has no political prisoners (itself an oddity), there is no corruption in high places, no government limousines, bribery is unknown, and all the 'leaders' live modestly -- some without pay. Eritrea refuses to accept unlimited foreign aid, which it feels is corrupting; ...Religious aid is accepted only if it's secular. "