We would like to share with you what we have learned about the cause of the Ethio- Eritrean conflict that has been puzzling Ethiopians, Eritreans and the international community. We know for sure that the border conflict was motivated by some evil tendencies in part of the Weyanes beyond the thoughts and expectations of any peace loving Ethiopians and Eritreans and we believe this information will clarify most of the confusion behind the conflict by revealing its real causes and effects.

The current conflict is nothing but a direct function of an attempt of implementing the February 1976 TPLF manifesto, which clearly defined who a Tigrian is, the land that the TPLF considers of Tigrai, and the final destination of the TPLF. The following comprises some important contents of the manifesto.

a) A Tigrian is defined as anybody that speaks the language of Tigigna including those who live outside Tigrai, the Kunamas, the Sahos, the Afar and the Taltal, the Agew, and the Welkait.

b) The geographic boundaries of Tigrai extend to the borders of the Sudan including the lands of Humera and Welkait from the region of Begemidir in Ethiopia, the land defined by Alewuha which extends down to the regions of Wollo and including Alamata, Ashengie, and Kobo, and finally the lands of Eritrean Kunama which includes Badme, the Saho (close to the conflicting area of Zalambessa), and Afar lands including Assab.

C) The final goal of the TPLF is to secede from Ethiopia as an independent "Republic of Greater Tigrai" by liberating the lands and peoples of Tigrai.

This being the manifesto of the TPLF in 1976, the question is how much of this program is implemented so far, and what relationship it has with the existing Tigrian instigated "border conflict" with Eritrea. We will try to answer this as follows.

The implementation of the manifesto had two important stages classified as a first stage of re-demarcating Ethiopian internal boundaries and a second stage of acquiring Tigrian lands from Eritrea and secede as an independent nation. Accordingly, the following important events took place;

1 ) After the Weyanes succeeded in holding power in Ethiopia about 7 years ago, they have been working hard to change the internal regional administrations of Ethiopia at large and of Tigrai in particular. As a result, they have imposed dictation on the Ethiopian parliament and succeeded in redefining the borders of different nationalities within Ethiopia. The boundaries of Tigrai were defined exactly according to what was registered in their manifesto. They did this by annexing the lands of Welkait Humera up to the borders of Sudan from Begemidir province and Wollo’s Raya including Ashengie Alamata and Kobo. In order to justify the demarcation, they had to give up something in return and the lands closer to the Taltal and Afar regions of Ethiopia in eastern Tigrai were temporarily sacrificed until the second stage of the project takes place. This important re-demarcation of Ethiopian internal boundaries resulted in the successful completion of the first stage of forming "Greater Tigrai" later to be converged into the "Republic of Tigrai" after the second stage is completed.

The above being few of the massive investment of Ethiopian economy in Tigrai, their political and strategic plans were made to be effective when the group of top Weyane leaders moved their offices from Addis to Makalle. The movement coincided with the completion of the first stage of implementing the manifesto so they can closely monitor and design the implementation of the second stage of the project. In the process, they have been effectively preparing a "strong army" from within Tigrai that can finish the job against Eritrea. The group includes Siyie Abraha, Abai Tsehaie, Ghebru Asrat and etc. and the same group dictates terms on the entire Ethiopian issues. The central government of Ethiopia listens to the central committee of the Weyanes residing in Tigrai which has been working under the confusing philosophical banner of the "Marxist Leninist League of Tigray". This group is instrumental in the process of completing the second stage and the frame work for the future government of the "Republic of greater Tigrai".

After years of preparation and deception, the second stage of the project finally was initiated by the Weyanes by creating a scenarion of "Eritrean invasion". At this point, full military and logistic preparations have been made to finally assume they can beat the Eritrean forces and invade their land. taking advantage of good faith and trust of the snoozing Eritreans, massive armaments have been smuggled into the heart of Asmara with people trained to operate the same. The plan was to push inside Eritrea from the conflict zones and completing the job of overthrowing the Eritrean government from within by thhe clandestine personnel they infiltrated Asmara. The confidence they had at the beginning of the conflict reflects this preparation. This is so because the Weyanes declared an "unconditlonal withdrawal" from "Tigrean lands" or for the Eritrean government to be forced out of the same. Simply speaking, they made such an arrogant and a miscalculated decision that denied them negotiating flexibilities, as can well be seen today. There are critical documents that show how exactly the Weyanes created this scenario. Without going into details, when the Weyanes started to slowly dismantle Eritrean local governments in the currently disputed lands, they well knew that the present situation would definitely take place. They knew that Eritreans would react to their actions particularly when they shot dead some Eritrean observers sent by the government to study how much areas were invaded by the Weyanes in Badme short time after their invasion of Adimurug inside Eritrea. They knew well that Eritrea would not withdraw from its lands unconditionally as the Weyanes tried to impose. They definitely wanted war and the plan worked exactly the way they designed it. As a preliminary matter, there are letters between the president of Eritrea and Mr. Meles Zenawi after the Weyane infiltration into Eritrea took place first at Adimmrug and then at Badme. These hand written letters have signatures of both leaders and are currently revealed to the public in the latest Eritrean magazine "Hwyet". Any body interested to see the letters can access the information from Eritrean offices since the magazine is currently on sale.

Leaving this subject aside, everybody knows now about the war in the region and it would be timely to discuss some important issues at this point. Whether we believe it or not, the TPLF has already lost the war against Eritrea, at least in the first and most decisive round. Years of preparation to accomplish the second phase of the project and form an independent Tigrai failed unexpectedly for the Weyanes who have now become victims of their own evil designs. They were badly defeated irrespective of the fact that they shamelessly lied to the Ethiopian people of killing about 11,000 Shabias. They have nothing, not even an inch to show for the ridiculous Shabian casualty they told the Ethiopian people and the whole world, inflicted by their forces. To the contrary, the Eritrean forces are now some 12 miles deep into the Tigrian territory as a buffer zone in the Zalambessa front with all of Badme and Assab zones completely under their control. The front lines are now reasonably quite and uncontested. After several boasts and attempts, the Weyanes finally seem to have realized that they were only dreaming and they have no capacity both organizationally and militarily to implement the dream of "republic of greater Tigrai" with Assab as its major port. After refusing to peacefully resolve the problem and boasting a lot on how they will teach Eritrea a lesson, they have now become the ones that have taken some serious lessons. Instead of using the lessons they learned not to make another as such and leave the Ethiopians alone, they are now talking about postponing the war and of course the pain of people until this coming winter is over. According to Eritrean military experts, the Weyanes have lost their dependable forces, meterials and possibly generals already in their inferior performance at the war fronts, and the chances they can equate that strength from the scratch is very minimal. According to the Weyanes, however, the fight is going to be protracted and long and in the final analysis the Eritreans will lose. They don’t seem to know time is running against them and that they can not continue to fool anybody any more. Nor do they seem to understand that they either will soon have solved the problem peacefully or else face a more decisive war that could probably result in their total downfall and unwanted effects to both countries. The actual truth is that they can run but can’t hide now, and very soon, they will have to chose one of the only two alternatives they have.

Finally, by temporarily ignoring international legal issues, let us see what would have happened if the Weyanes had indeed defeated the Eritreans? Would they have annexed Assab to Ethiopia as most innocent Ethiopians think?

This article is based on facts to educate Ethiopians and Eritreans by a group of Eritreans for peace who have no political ties with the government of Eritrea. By all accounts, the contents of this article could justifiably be considered biased by any one who has a chance to read it. Further, it might also be considered as an Eritrean government propaganda. Irrespective of what one thinks, we have presented the information thinking it will help clear away the confusion in most of us about this meaningless war, and to show any one interested in the issue the real motives of the same. We encourage Ethiopians to prove the validity of the contents in this article by requesting the manifesto directly from the Weyanes or other organizations who can provide the same. In our part, we are trying to do the same and hopefully will be able to make it available for everybody interested soon. This dangerous manifesto which is causing this tragic bloodshed between our peoples is revealed by the TPLF in February, 1976 during the initial stages of the organization, and we think Ethiopians and Eritreans are entitled to the information. It is in particular more important to Ethiopians since we seriously believe that they have to raise the level of awareness on the issue and know what exactly is going on behind their backs. Insecure and completely disorganized Ethiopia is the result of this crazy manifesto if implemented. Materially, the north eastern Ethiopia including the entire Afar and Taltal regions and the already taken portions of Wollo and Begemidir, and politically, a chaotic and uncertain future that can lead to any thing one can possibly imagine are the results of the Weyane’s manifesto for Ethiopians. As for Eritreans, the plot is well contained and we think it will have to be over soon one way or another so that we can leave a better world for the children of Ethiopia and Eritrea in coming generations. The writers are also firm believers of the fact that the Tigrian people are as victims of the plot as any Ethiopian and Eritrean can be. We have nothing against the Tigrian brothers and sisters and we hope our friendship will be normal again in the future. The responsibility of this mess is directed towards few expansionist TPLF leaders who recklessly and selfishly betrayed their own people’s struggle of 17 years. They forgot the bitter struggle in the past to achieve the present peace of our peoples and became the same type of chauvinists and oppressors they fought against in the past after they started living at large as Ethiopian leaders.

Finally, whether Ethiopians admit it or not, we strongly believe Eritreans and Ethiopians are strategic friends or allies specifically on the issues causing the current conflict. In light of the above, we encourage Ethiopians and Eritreans to compare the current Tigrian Administrative Zone and the old boundaries of Tigrai, and see for themselves the newly annexed areas of Begemidir and Wollo and the Weyane’s attempt to do the same in Eritrea and to find out how reflective of the manifesto their actions were.

Peace and prosperity to the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea.