Selam Dehai,

On one hand...

We have Ethiopian leaders bragging of their firepower and larger population to crush Eritrea militarily. These same leaders seemed highly sympathetic to Eritreans only a few years ago. For example, less than ten years ago the Ethiopian Prime Minister (then Presidnet), Meles "the beggar dictator" Zenawi, addressed the Eritrean people during celebration of their independence. He said: "qusluKum aytHkeku::" (Literal translation, "do not scratch your wounds." He was begging the Eritrean people not to live in the past and not to dwell on the wrongs done to them by previous Ethiopian dictators, Mengistu and King Haile-Sellassie.)

Meles pleaded with the Eritrean people with those seemingly wise and honest words, "qusluKum aytHkeku." We believed him and fell for his trap. Today, the same man, the beggar dictator of Ethiopia, has abused the human rights of Ethiopians of Eritrean origin. He is on record proudly declaring that he can deport (and loot) them even for simple reasons as "not liking the color of their eyes." He is on record of boasting "to teach Eritreans a lesson they will not forget" and his leutenants are on record of boasting "to crash Eritrea's spine" and "to continue the war for generations"....

On the other hand....

We have Eritreans and their friends from all over the world, calling for peace and an end to the "senseless" and "absurd" bloodshed. The Eritrean government made concession after concession to the sponsors of peace package. Such calls for peace and concession for peace are out of fear for human lives, not out of caving in to demands of Africa's evil empire. In 1998, when the conflict was fresh and confusing, we demanded PEACE. In early 1999, when "blood was flowing", we pleaded for PEACE. Now, when blood is about to spill, because the rains have stopped, we are begging for PEACE. Our voice has been a consistent call for PEACE. (We know it's being interpreted as a sign of weakness and as begging for mercy.) We are pleading with the international community to put pressure on Ethiopia to stop the war, the carnage that is terminating the lives of tens of thousands. We have made it clear that we are at the mercy of the international community for peace to prevail in our homelands.

Our call has consistenlty been for peace. We don't have people we can use as human mine sweepers ("fenji-regaCH"). We don't have states that would serve as harvesting grounds for teen-age boys to be used as cannon fodders. We have no place to ask: "Brother, can you spare an Oromo?" [The Oromos, the oppressed majority ethnic group in Ethiopia, constitute the majority of those used as fenji-regaCH.]

As has been demonstrated again and again, the Eritrean people will rise above petty politics and heroically defend their hard won independence. The war is right at the corner, ready to consume even more lives, because the international organizations and countries like the USA, who authored and sponsored the peace package, are not doing their job. They are as guilty as the beggar dictators in Addis for what surely be a destructive war that will cost. They have blood in their hands.

I am convinced that the war will start soon; I just hope Eritrea has enough fire-power to destroy its enemies!

Mobae