Under the heading "Words of Desperation", Mr. Elias Shiferaw recently responded to my article entitled "US Breaks Another Promise." He claims that I wrote the piece "out of anger and desperation resulting from the humiliating defeats the Shabia Regime is currently suffering." After finding my article "rather incomprehensible" he attemped to describe what he comprehended from it:

• a barrage of verbal abuse on the Ethiopian and US Governments;
• an attempt to ridicule Ethiopian military strategy;
• insinuating that Oromia, Sidama and Somalia are vassal states of the Ethiopian Empire
• falsely accusing Dr. Susan Rice

Here's my attempt to be more comprehensible:

1. Whatever "barrage of verbal abuse" I hurled at the Ethiopian Government is based on their ACTION not, as the ones directed at the president of Eritrea, speculations about his state of mind. My goodness, they have compared the man to Hitler and Mussolini; all I have done is call them common thiefs. My criticism of the Ethiopian Government is shared by many Ethiopians who can see clearly when they are not blinded by their hatred of Eritrea and its Shabia government. (By the way, Mr. Shiferaw, you are not keeping up with your government's buzzword: "Shabia" is out; "Isayas Regime" is out. The trendy one is "rogue government.") As for the US Government, my criticism is directed at 1/3 of the government: the Executive Branch. The Clinton Administration does have a muddled foreign policy that confuses being hyperactive for being productive. That's why their defense to every failure is that they've been "working very, very hard." In a just world, Clinton should have been impeached not for the Monica fiasco but for his crimes against the people of Rwanda.

2. Unlike our good friend Field Marshall Dagmawi, I am not a military strategist so I cannot possibly criticize the Ethiopian military strategy. I wasn't ridiculing it; I was exposing it. While the Ethiopian Government repeatedly claims that it has no interest in annexing Ethiopia--it has to say that because if it declared its intentions openly, even the UN and the OAU would be condemning it-- it has been pursuing a policy that, under the guise of, first, holding a supply line then allegedly pursuing the Eritrean Defense Forces, occupying large chunks of uncontested Eritrean lands. I am sure you've heard the Ethiopian Prime Minister's claim that the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line. It is this kind of thinking that says that the artifitial line connecting two rivers (Setit-Mereb) need not be a straight line and results in a fradulent home-brewed map that contradicts every published map of Eritrea and Ethiopia. There is cause for alarm given the Ethiopian Government precedent of going in "hot pursuit of territorists" and then refusing to leave. (Adi Murug in Eritrea; as well as large areas of Somalia still occupied by Ethiopia for "security" reasons.) After all, we are dealing with an Ethiopian Government famous for harboring twin goals at all times: secede Tigray from Ethiopia. No, no, democratize Ethiopia. Maybe secede and democratizeIThe Ethiopian Government's attempt to destroy the Eritrean Defense Forces, "democratize" Eritrea by planting opposition, and other grandiose mission creeps will be defeated--even if it takes 100 years.

3. I am not the only one insinuating that Oromia, Sidama and Somalia are annexed portions of the Abyssinian Empire (Tigray + Amhara). It is an opinion shared by, among others, Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM). As I have stated repeatedly, this is none of my business; in fact, I believe this is not the business of any Eritrean-other than that of a sympathizer who understands their situation. It is up to the Ethiopian nationalities to answer the question why, even now, under the Federal arrangement; Abyssinian troops are stationed in their land and they are second-class citizens in their own land used for mine sweepers in a war that is entirely unnecessary.

4. I did not falsely accuse Dr. Susan Rice of anything. I asked her a straightforward question and she answered, in the presence of four other witnesses (three Eritreans and her Aide), that if Ethiopia were to start a war, that the US would "come down on them like a ton of bricks." The Clinton Administration is full of clever lawyers and they may have all sorts of explanation on what they really meant ("it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is," as Clinton would say.) I did not expect the US to intervene militarily on behalf of Eritrea. Unlike Ethiopia, Eritrea does not ask foreign powers to fight its wars ( as it did in the Ogaden war when it brought on the Russians, the Cubans, the Yemenis; or when it asked the Allies to save it from Mussolini). I did expect the United States to impose a trade embargo or, at the very least, direct the institutions it controls (World Bank, IMF) to suspend ALL help to Ethiopia, the largest per capita recepient of aid. In any event, my criticism of Dr. Rice is much, much milder that the ones the Ethiopian propagandists directed against Congressman Benjamin Gilman for the simple reason that he criticized the Ethiopian government's obduracy.

   I do agree with Elias Shiferaw on one thing. As he put it: "On the whole, I believe that the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea are one and the same." As are the people of Eritrea and Sudan. I also believe that every war is a civil war. Every criticism I've directed is against the Ethiopian Government. Whenever I write, "Ethiopia thisIand Ethiopia that", I mean the Ethiopian Government. And, no, I do not believe that Eritreans are superior to Ethiopians and, for that matter, I don't know any Eritrean who believes that. I do share the belief that Eritrea suffered immensely at the hands of successive Ethiopian governments; that this was partly the result of Eritrea being too weak and too fragmented to defend itself and that it should never allow itself to be put in that position--ever. Much as I would like to advocate that Eritrea pursue the Costa Rica model (no armed forces, only police) and concentrate its meager resources on developing itself, our history with Ethiopia is such that any Ethiopian government suffering from internal problems can always reverse its predicament by going north and distracting the people with the "Eritrea problem." The only deterrent against a neighbor with Empire-building and conquest tendencies is to maintain a well-trained, well-equipped professional army. And please spare me the "we were the first to recognize Eritrea" mantra. It is like an abusive spouse that's been divorced who stalks his partner relentlessly and, when caught, claims that the divorce was his idea.

   With respect to Mr. Shiferaw's assertions about Eritreans "hero worship" and the other psychobabble, all I can say is that this allegation is a result of people with a long history of having lived under successive tyrants and cannot comprehend why ordinary people would love and respect its leader. Thus, they must be agents, slaves, victims, conspirators, etc. I would ask him to visit Tigray. Is the love the Tigrayans have for the prominent members of the TPLF--Seyoum Mesfin, Meles Zenawi, etc--blind "hero worship" or is it gratitude for a group of people that liberated them from the yokes of oppression? Why is it so hard for Ethiopians to understand that the affection of Eritreans towards the Government of the Republic of Eritrea is no more complicated than that?

   As for when will Eritreans express themselves freely and criticize their government, well, Ethiopia--according to legend--has a 3000-year history and it still imprisons journalists for asking unpopular questions. Eritrea has been independent exactly 9 years. Isn't Mr. Shiferaw's concern a bit misdirected? The problem is not Shabia or the Isaias Regime or the Rogue Government. The problem is that Ethiopia won't give up its culture of conquest and war. Example: Shiferaw in Amharic means "He Who Scares A Thousand". And Eritreans just refuse to be scared. I rest my case.