The Ethiopian regime is trying to pick a fight
By: Naizghi Zekarias
May 28, 2004

The Ethiopian regime is trying to pick a fight not just with Eritrea but also other neighbors for political survival.

The Ethiopian regime is busy these days trying to pick a fight with just about anybody who happens to share a boundary with it. The fact that this rogue regime initiated the recent war of aggression against Eritrea has increasingly become clearer to any international skeptic. For some time now, Eritreans have been warning that Eritrea will not be the only victim of the current Ethiopian regime’s aggression. The genocide that is taking place in Gambella against the Anuak people is just the beginning. It is just a matter of time before the regime finds a reason to cross into Sudan and displace more people in the area. It has already attracted the attention of the Sudanese government farther north when it terrorized some villages in Eastern Sudan. No one should be surprised if the TPLF issues another map of Greater Tigray that incorporates the Sudanese villages that were the victims of its marauding army recently. Kenya has been one of the most stable states in the region.

Unfortunately, the sense of stability is being disturbed as Kenya is finding out that this regime is trying to pick a fight with it. Somalia cannot be stable largely because a stable Somalia is not in the interest of the Ethiopian regime. Djibouti is only safe because the TPLF knows that picking a fight with it will mean antagonizing more than just Djibouti. The international community is ignoring the belligerent behavior of the current Ethiopian regime. But sooner or later it may have to put a stop to it since it is becoming clearer by the day that this regime is bent on destabilizing not only Eritrea but also the whole horn of Africa. There is a saying in Tigrinya that describes a selfish behavior where a donkey says “let no grass grow on earth if I am dead”. That is exactly how the current Ethiopian regime is behaving these days. The regime is politically finding itself on shaky ground in Ethiopia. This is why it is trying to make sure none of its neighboring states are politically stable by picking a fight with each and everyone of them. But this is more than just a case of if I cannot have peace none of my neighbors should have peace either. War is like a legacy of political survival to successive Ethiopian regimes. Like its predecessors, the TPLF regime is using war against its neighbors to quell internal political turmoil. It sees war as the ultimate uniting factor, the best tool for political survival. War is very expensive, it takes lives, wastes resources, brings more poverty. We all know that Ethiopia is the last country in the world that can afford war. It is able to afford war because the international community is indirectly financing its wars by providing massive economic aid at a time when the regime is shopping for expensive and destructive weapons.