RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

“Asha Dehan Allo Zemed Asha gin Kefiu’wo allo”, roughly translated ‘the fool is fairing okay but the relative of the fool is in distress. That is the current state of affairs in Eritrea. The Eritrean regime cares very little, if at all, about the people and country. In one of the recent government seminars, the President said ‘war is imminent’. Definitely, he is opting for war. I sincerely hope that I can be proved wrong, but I am afraid, he is in a mood to gamble with the fate of our people and our country just to salvage his bruised ego.

Evidently, there is no Eritrean citizen with a sound and healthy mind who could have been happy with the result of the war with Ethiopia. How can we be happy when 19,000 of our precious youngsters perished in that nonsense war? How can we be happy when the enemy soldiers could easily find their way into the heart of Eritrea? How can we be happy when one fourth of one land, and for that matter the fertile part, is out of our hands? How can we be happy when the spirit and self confidence, that was built up over half a century during our historical struggle for independence, have been shattered by irresponsible, disorganized and short sighted leaders with inflated egos? No one with a sober mind can be happy with the fact that a generation of youngsters who could have gotten educated and produced children has been deprived of normal life? How can we be pleased when the Eritrean economy is utterly in disaster and shambles? How can one be happy when the country is diplomatically stranded? How can we be pleased when our visions and dreams of democratic and prosperous Eritrea have been derailed? How can anyone be happy when a ratified Constitution is collecting dust in the president’s shelf and a population of 4 million is besieged by a dictator and held as a hostage under pretext of a border dispute?

Nonetheless, another war under the current circumstances is not only irresponsible, but it is absolutely a wrong answer. To the contrary, it is a gambling with the fate of our people and our country. No doubt, the government is quite stressed and frustrated and has come to the end of its Latin. Therefore, more likely that not, the regime in Eritrea is going to plunge the country headlong into another senseless war.

On the other hand, I don’t want to create a wrong impression about Ethiopia. Undemocratic Ethiopia has been ever an ardent enemy of Eritrea; it is now, and indeed it will be an enemy for a very long time to come. Hence, we should never, never trust Ethiopia, because it has constantly an eye on Eritrea and it ports. To that end, it is diligently working to see Eritrea fall apart like its neighboring country Somalia. For that reason, Ethiopia has bluntly rejected the border ruling with a premeditated calculation that no war no peace environment will plunge Eritrea into a political, social and economic hazards. To our dismay, Ethiopia is achieving its stipulated goal, because Eritrea is in many aspects steadily but surely getting weaker and weaker come each year.

The burning issue at hand for all concerned Eritreans is, therefore, what must we do to spare our people and country from being trampled by these two monsters, namely, the Eritrean and Ethiopian regimes? How can we stop any armed confrontation before it is too late? Our people have suffered enough and our country has bled beyond any human imagination. If we fail to stop this coming despicable war, history is going to condemn us. The consciences of the fools may live up with any dreadful result with out any remorse, but the consciences of the relatives of the fools will be tormented undoubtedly for ever. It is therefore, natural, that we must do all in our efforts to abort these nonsensical and wicked plans of these two regimes to ignite another armed clash.

I believe it’s worthwhile that all Opposition Parties, Civic Societies, all Eritreans for that matter, add onto their agendas the following three topics:

What diplomatic measures can be taken to move the International Community to put more pressure on Ethiopia to accept the border demarcation?

How can we send a clear message to the Ethiopian regime, that if the worst comes to the worst, that is to say, the abhorred war becomes a reality, we, Eritreans, are unequivocally determined to stand firmly and united to defend our Sovereignty?

Our two countries should learn a whole lot from Nigeria and Cameroon how they settled down their long standing border dispute in a pretty civilized and peaceful manner. In fact, Nigeria had all alluring reasons not to hand over an area which is rich in the valuable oil. Hat up! Indeed, Nigeria has overcome this temptation.

In any case, the Eritrean people need to get mentally prepared for any unknown event that the future might bring. Our fate is in our hands and we can’t afford to kneel down, neither to a home grown dictator nor to an expansionist arch enemy, neighboring country, Ethiopia. Let’s bury down our animosity, organize our people, get united under one umbrella to bring down the irresponsible regime in our country and achieve respect from Ethiopia.