Ethio-Eritrea Agreement: Mutual Concern is Good Leadership Impetus
The agreement is driven by concerns. The threat to internal peace is real. If the central stage is to save Ethiopia from disintegration as a falling empire, equally the menace of Somali-like failed state is also hovering over Eritrea by reason of prolonged tyrannical rule. The dictatorial rule in Eritrea has created the worst human rights violations that led to youth/children mass outpouring to neighboring countries and beyond fleeing the endless slavery and starvation.
The actual concern is that Eritreans are passing through their worst times and the Ethiopians are departing their best times and heading towards obliteration of their internal peace and co-existence. Turning every stone to find solution is the two people’s dream and duty, to which no one is against. However, the lack of openness and transparency on the part of Eritrea is failing the signed agreement.
Although the agreement has not been made public, it cannot be denied that the agreement’s language is failing it. Unless so, why the absence of statements on the side of Eritrea. Additionally, to see Ethiopians, under the agreement, do freely cross-border businesses and go anywhere they like, while the Eritreans are not allowed to do so or go anywhere, it can be said that the agreement is morally and unreasonably unfair to Eritrea and the Eritreans.
Indisputably, it is a shock to Eritreans to see the Eritrean tyrant concerned with the Ethiopian concerns while ignoring theirs (the Eritrean concerns). Indeed, the agreement with Dr. Abiy has put the Eritrean tyrant in the moment (full focus) of the highest desire to save Ethiopia. According to the Eritrean opposition opinions, the moment also surfaced the Eritrean tyrant’s long-held dream of Ethiopianizing the Eritrean politics and as such he is trying to become the architect of new Ethiopia with ports.
At the forefront of the surprising meeting with the Ethiopian leader, the Eritrean tyrant did not hesitate to replace the Eritrean foreign minister (Osman Saleh, who is always ankle-monitored and bugged by Yemane Mankey). This fact was announced in the Asmara meeting by Dr. Abiy declaring himself as the person representing Eritrea in its foreign affairs, to which the Eritrean tyrant gave his blessings and agreed by clapping his hands. Thus, the Ethiopian leader has been given complete authority over the foreign affair of Eritrea. It followed that during the Eritrean tyrant’s visit to Ethiopia; Dr. Abiy returned the favor or reciprocated by allowing the Eritrean tyrant to interfere in the internal political matters of Ethiopia, taking the role of interior minister.
Indeed, it is frustrating for the two illegally appointed ministers to find out that their roles as ministers have caused the two countries to slip into more internal tensions due to their interferences. As the two ignored their own concerns, the two countries status shifted from “between life and death” to “between slow death and fast death.” This fact is evidenced by the new situation in Ethiopia where many kililis are now pushing from autonomy to independent statehood. And, on the Eritrean side, the callers for “enough is enough” are growing bolder threatening the repeat of the Sudanese mass protest triumph. According to AssennaTV, the “enough is enough” Eritrean movement is organized and led inside Eritrea by People’s Eritrean Liberation Front, newly organized.
Calling for change in Eritrea goes back to late 1990s. Life is different when seen through the eyes of the starved and suffering people. Lip services cannot address the people’s concerns and pains. The ex-Sudanese leader, when faced with the continuing public pressure, he could not lie the people into submission or deprive them from taking their concerns to the streets.
Motivated by the Algerian military’s intervention to address the people’s concerns, the Sudanese army stepped in to stop the unnecessary actions by Al-Basheer to stay in power. However, the opposition did not like the replacement of a military leader by another military leader of the country for that would only endorse the existing repressive and oppressive system to continue for another 30 years. The concern of the concerns is that the next Sudanese military leader would have the tendency towards indulging in tyrannical rule in order to serve outer powers. Had the Sudanese waited for the remaining days of AL-Basheer term and voted him out, they would have been better off than the military takeover.
The Sudanese concerns differ from that of the Eritrean. Indeed, the tyrant’s policy of starving to death ended the life of the starved before taking her/his concern to the street. The Eritrean tyrant has killed the will of the Eritrean people, even he made them unable to protest when he (the tyrant) not only declared that the border demarcation was not his concern but also went further to state that he was happy to put Eritrea in the hands of the new Ethiopian leader.
A combination of betrayal and incompetence blinded the Eritrean tyrant to the sufferings of the Eritrean people. The tyrant’s murderous regime has turned the life of every Eritrean upside down and made them all emotionally not able to differentiate between justice and injustice. The grownups can swallow their pains but they have to be loud in their protests when their children are denied food and medicine, which better known as mass starvation. But this is not the fact in Eritrea. The Sudanese, unlike the Eritreans, had to remove the regime over bread price increase. What a difference!!!!
Finally, the politically conscious Eritreans are responding to the concerns of Eritreans. Externally, the “enough is enough” movement is calling on all Eritrean Diasporas to rally behind it. To gather more support for the movement, many of the Eritrean-tyrant’s ex-comrades, who are in deep pain caused by the tyrant’s betrayal, are coming forward to draw the attention of the world to the fact that the Eritrean-tyrant is only good at backstabbing and betraying trusts. Thus, the advice of the Eritrean veterans to the region’s leaders on eye-opening, given what the Eritrean-tyrant did to his lifelong comrades and his international supporters, to consider the Eritrean-tyrant as unfit for the proposed regional economic cooperation because he does not believe in formal economic or institutional structure. The advice emphasizes the fact that in Eritrea, without constitution and the rule of law on trade, no business can be safely conducted and no business contracts can be settled legally in case of disputes as well as no trade-related investment are encouraged in the absence of regionally recognized practices and laws.
The Two Confirmatory Tests that Failed the Eritrean-tyrant
The United Nations’ sanctions on Eritrea, other than the Al-Shabaab linked support of terrorism and the destabilization of the region, most are focused on promoting democracy and human rights. It was the UN’s understanding that the Ethio-Eritrean agreement would upscale Eritrea at least to the level of Ethiopia on human rights and closing down the tyrant’s prisons. Even the UN has gone further in its expectation when it allowed Eritrea of Isayas to join the UN’s human right council despite the tyrant’s record of violations.
Instead of positively responding to the new UN stand, the Eritrean tyrant appears to have refused to crack or slightly open up his secretive and repressive regime. The tyrant, so far failed the UN’s adjusting factors that help to reshape and encourage acceptance of democratization. The tyrant even failed to carrying out the border crossing agreement and making statements or giving explanations as to why the border-crossings were only open to Ethiopians and then or finally all crossings are totally closed. As a matter of fact, every step of refusal to the proposed changes counts towards the awaiting UN’s severe sanction. What the tyrant does not understand is that the sanctions can revisit him in upgraded forms to be immediately imposed through the actions of the UNSC.
The UN has evidences that cannot be denied by the tyrant about his abusive regime. No doubt, the tyrant has ruled Eritrea since 1991 through combing every house, village and city. All who can speak up or have opposing views left the country. It can be said all those who are considered threats are either forced to flee or put in prison.
Through years of his rule, the Eritrean tyrant flooded the Eritrean people with false promises or lies and disinformation making the people less-focused on their daily lives and their future. Yes, the Eritrean-tyrant has made the innocent Eritreans view the world only through his eyes. So, what is holding the tyrant from not making statements or giving explanations about the agreement signed with Ethiopia?
No doubt, the Eritrean tyrant knows well that the Eritrean people’s rights to free expression and making choices are long-long time taken away. Conversely, the Eritreans in the Diaspora know well that the tyrant made it a condition, when entering into the agreement with Dr. Abiy to save Ethiopia from disintegration that he must be cleared of all his crimes. Accordingly, the Ethiopian leader had to shuffle from country to country to have the UN sanctions lifted. As promised, the tyrant was winged by the Ethiopian leader to fly high escaping all the UN sanctions on him.
The Eritrean tyrant, as the opposition describes him, he is only good at betrayals. He betrayed all those allied with him in the past and recently he betrayed Dr. Abiy who saved him from the UN’s sanctions by failing to carry out the border crossing agreement. The Eritrean opposition pointed out that the tyrant’s betrayal reached its highest level when he shamelessly stated that he was happy to leave Eritrea in the hands of the Ethiopian leader. That statement reinforced the stereotype that the Eritrean-tyrant has no Eritreanism, signifying that he hates Eritrea and its people. That statement was associated by many Eritreans to the lyrics of Alamin Abduletif and Tebereh song about betrayal – paraphrased as to fit the accusation: “you are physically with me (Eritrea) but your heart distant with her (Ethiopia).”
Still more, that tyrant’s statement confirmed that his (the Eritrean tyrant’s) love for Ethiopians stemmed from his hatred to Eritreans. And, no doubt, that statement triggered opposition within his inner circle. Even Ethiopians who are politically aware of the involved dangers have started tapping into the Eritrean people’s rejection of the tyrant to assume their responsibility of conscience in speaking out against the Abiy-Isayas agreement as unfair because it does not represent the Eritrean people’s wishes.
Out of no-Concern Dr. Abiy Chose to Treat Eritreans as Prisoners of War
When Dr. Abiy of Ethiopia proposed his home-tested changes for Eritrea, many Eritreans wholeheartedly welcomed the proposed change. Like they say, the destination/goal of a change is defined by its starting points (love, lasting peace and cooperation). The proposed change for the region was a combination of democratization and economic cooperation. Indeed, the good doctor launched a lasting peace and change for the region when he accepted unconditionally to implement the peace deal with Eritrea [promising to withdraw the Ethiopian troops out of the disputed areas].
Eritreans expected from the agreement changes to their country that at least matched those introduced by the good Ethiopian leader in Ethiopia. But instead, the agreement has given all first-things first to Ethiopia and Ethiopians. All Eritrean demands for change were not only put bottom on the list of the agreement but were also considered as weaknesses and threats of failure to the signed agreement. Soon it became clear that the logic of the proposed change was not for both countries to get better.
Yes, it did not take long for Eritreans to change their opinion/stand towards the proposed change and the purpose of the surprising visit of the Ethiopian leader to Asmara. The new Ethiopian leader surely came to make friendship with the Eritrean tyrant in order to find ways on how both to survive their threats. The tyrannical rule in Eritrea was out of the play in that the Ethiopian leader promised to let stay the root of tyranny in Eritrea intact. According to many Eritreans’ findings, it is clear that the proposed change has failed because the Eritrean tyrant denied the agreement the needed structures and means to be carried it out.
It is now described by all Eritreans that the Abiy/Isayas agreement is just complementary to the “no-peace, no-war” ploy of the Eritrean tyrant. Only the first (or the new agreement) being that last touch towards finalizing the plan (or the dream of handing over Eritrea back to the folds of Ethiopia), and the latter (or the “no-peace, no-war”) being the groundwork for the first through drastic mass outpouring to other countries.
It can be said that the only difference between the two ploys is that the “no-peace, no-war” ploy was powered by Qatari leaders and the border-crossing agreement is propelled by the Ethiopian and UAE leaders. As a means to achieve a common end (the plan), the tyrant is using drastic depopulation through holding the country hostage and using forces of fear and starvation.
Eritreans never expected the good doctor, as the son of the Ethiopian revolution for democratization, to become an accomplice of the Eritrean tyrant against the Eritrean people. The dynamics of the new relationship was supposed to be based on justice and wellbeing for all the people of the region. How can, therefore, the Eritreans not only be excluded but also their living conditions got worse than any time before, reinforcing the continuation of mass migration.
It is really a shock to see the good doctor, who gave a boost to the Ethiopian democracy by bringing all the Ethiopian pains to an end, ally with the Eritrean tyrant in violating the Eritrean sovereignty and their rights to live freely and participate in their country’s affairs. The Eritreans would have liked the good doctor to hold to the fact that each country in the region is to equally participate, as sovereign country, in the proposed economic cooperation rather than giving the impression that their man (Isu) in Eritrea is giving Ethiopia back its ports as if the Eritrean people are prisoners of the war and have no say. Although the given impression is to trigger the old Ethiopian heroism for united and strong Ethiopia amid the ongoing threats of disintegration, conversely the impression represents Ethiopian threats to the Eritrean sovereignty making the promise of lasting peace carry no weight.
In honor and support of the rekindling movement of the shattered Eritrean hopes and dreams, calling with pride: Enough is enough!!!!!
Mamino
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