Paul Henze: A Mercenary Writer for Ethiopia
Tseggai Isaac

         One of the most revealing developments in the crisis involving Eritrea and Ethiopia, is the extent to which the Ethiopian regime has
sought outside assistance in fighting its war with Eritrea. In the last two years, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, (TPLF), a minority ethnic insurgent, was involved in massive military purchase including some of the most sophisticated jet fighters, tanks, chemical weapons including weapons of germs and biological warfare. The germs, chemical, and biological weapons were started by the Derg. Now they are being developed and managed by the impersonal and illusive North Korean advisors building on their earlier cordial relationship with the Derg. In addition to its splurges on sophisticated and expensive weapons, the TPLF is supplementing its military
purchase by buying a phalanx of foreign military personnel such as pilots, gunners, technicians, instructors, and political consultants. In fact there is a curious confluence of foreign presence in Ethiopia today. It is composed of foreign mercenaries who were recruited to do war with Eritrea, and foreign humanitarian workers who came to combat famine in Ethiopia.

This is a banal mix of sin and righteousness working together to sustain an ethnic minority regime that is habitually violent, inhumane, and anti-peace. Added to these array of war footing is TPLF's ability to secure mercenary writers such as Paul Henze gunning false information hoping to perpetuate the conflict on which they depend for their bread and butter. Yes, Mr. Henze, a man of falsifications and misinformation, is actively encouraging the TPLF to go on pursuing its war project.

         Mr. Paul Henze, with characteristic shamelessness wears his turncoat garb and poses as an expert to encourage war instead of advocating for peace. In the 1970s, Henze worked for the Carter Administration as a National Security mid-level official apparently with responsibilities on the Horn of Africa. Observers will remember the Carter Administration's debacle on the Horn then. That Administration, mixing flippant idealism with utter callousness, duplicity, and hypocrisy on the field of human rights, tolerated the Mengistu regime as it conducted the Red Terror between 1976-1978. Ethiopia was entrusted to the calculations of Mr. Heinz
to offer his views to the Carter Administration. With his apparent "analysis" of the Horn, he offered a policy mix of passive-offensive
neutrality as the world watched the Derg slaughter innocent civilians. The rational of the analysis was that Ethiopia is a strategic point and that any regime that comes to power, regardless of its methods of ruling, must be passively repudiated on some issues, but actively indorsed on other issues in order to protect the disintegration of the Ethiopian empire. As the Derg intensified its brutalities, the Carter administration distanced itself from the regime, but supported the Derg's war efforts against Eritrea. Mr. Henze as the architect of the Horn policy is credited with America's policy towards the Derg - a toleration of a genocidal regime to safeguard a regional policy that was already a lost cause.

In the 1980s, Mr. Heinz went on to capitalize on his association with the Carter Administration. Apparently the Rand Corporation saw nothing wrong with having him as a "resident scholar" for spinning documents based on Ethiopian newspapers, and embassy printouts to be packaged by Henze at Rand offices as scholarly research. What a travesty of scholarship! Even during the dark days of the Red Terror, Paul Henze managed to see some carcass to salvage from the death and destruction which ravaged Ethiopia. He used that
calamity to issue "studies" which were too elementary to be elevated to the level of "studies." Today, Paul Henze is at work simultaneously recruited by the TPLF to publicize propaganda lines framed in TPLF's media outlets. They are compiled as "scholarly" insights at the magnificent offices of Rand Corporation. This is another unhappy coincidence: Rand Croporation unwittingly or wittingly hosting a man of no intellectual credibility and allowing him to disseminate false information tailored to toe TPLF's propaganda lines. How strong is money as a motivating factor for Rand Corporation to allow its credibility to be compromised to the level of a
propagandist for an illegitimate rogue regime, ruling one of the most poorly governed states in poor Africa? How is it that Rand's scholars, otherwise known for their meticulous standards, are willing to allow imposter scholarship in their company to go unchallenged?
 
In his latest pronouncements, Paul Henze informed a quote from President Issaias Afewerki. Henze admitted that he appreciated the
President's peaceful approach to regional politics. However, in a manner grossly unscrupulous, Henze blames the Eritrean President for resisting aggression committed against Eritrea. Eritrea as a new regional member in the Horn was loathed by Ethiopia and those who supported Ethiopia's inhumanity in Eritrea. Even though some of those neighbors later recognized Eritrea's independence, some were still luck warm, and even hostile to the point of trying to destabilize Eritrea. Eritrea and its Head of State stood firm and protected its sovereignty, as they always will and MUST. To the TPLF and their mercenary writer, Paul Henze, Eritrea resisting aggressors
of its sovereignty is unacceptable. How dare the Eritrean President assert Eritrean independence and sovereignty! It is the President's holy duty to do so.

         Heze's ill-tempered outlook of Eritrea is his willingness to demonize Eritreans by demonizeing the Eritrean President. This is a
calculated strategy designed by a racist American warmonger taking advantage of African crisis to perpetuate war, and mayhem among Africans. It has been used in the past, and Henze has found effective vehicle in the personification of the TPLF to propagate his racist dream of seeing Africans kill each other. As long as he is fortunate enough to have African war devils hark to his call, he will persist in his fascistic propaganda to reap his silent reward of death and destruction of Eritreans and Ethiopians. Paul Henze stands out as an advocate for war among Africans in contrast to the many good Americans who are calling for peace and development among Africans.

         Many of the research organizations in the West have their roots in conservative attitudes. Most of their funds are generated from conservative donors who were phobic about decolonization and communism. Communism came in different forms. It came as an anti-imperialist philosophy designed to confront colonial values and way of life. It also came as an inspiration for Third World countries who were ending their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, and Apartheid. The targets for vilifications by conservative think tanks were Africans who wanted to set themselves free from colonialism, imperialism, and Apartheid. They were singled out for demonization and falsifications. Conservative think tanks had recruited, financed, and advised foolhardy African clients and actively lobbied for
the Apartheid regime in South Africa, the UNITA of Angola, the Lords Resistance of Uganda, and the Renamo of Mozambique all known for their savagery against Africans. There is nothing to differentiate Paul Henze's eagerness from the eagerness of those who resisted Africa's independence and freedom. As he condemns Eritrea unfairly, and advises Ethiopia to deport Eritreans, boycott Eritrean ports, and to prepare to do war with Eritreans, he is expressing his hatred of Africans. He is one of those mercenary writers who benefit from the death and destruction so common in Africa and in Ethiopia in particular. He benefits from the shelterings of  the Rand Corproration, a think tank with little heart for Africa and Africans.