By Dilwenberu Nega
6th June 2009
The recent warming of relations, not to say
honeymoon, between Geemboat 7 and Shabia reminds me of two fictional characters
– Tweedledum and Tweedledee – that appear on Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice
and Wonderland, “The Looking Glass.”
They also appear on numerous comics.
Like Geemboat’s Birrhanu and Shabia’s Isaias, the two Tweeds always
conduct their criminal activity in partnership. Consequently, therefore, Tweedledum and Tweedledee are names used
to describe two people or groups who are almost the same as each other,
especially when they are at their wits’ end.
We, in Europe and America, must have somewhat been
on an emotional rollercoaster for the
past 4-5 weeks as political developments in Ethiopia were nudging the avatars
of hate politics within the Ethiopian Diaspora to upgrade their hate politics
from toxic to radioactive. But like
the dotcom bubble of some years ago, the Geemboat 7- Shabia pincer rise aimed
at conquering the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian Diaspora was deflated and
will continue to deflate until Birrhanu and Isaias will come to rue the day
they agreed to destabilize Ethiopia.
One of the blowbacks of the foiled terrorist plot in
Addis was the fact that it provided long awaited oxygen of publicity to
Geemboat 7 whose catchment area then had hardly gone beyond Washington
D.C. That explains why Birr and Andy
were quick to avail themselves of this unique opportunity and fulminate on
radio and TV. At all of their
interviews they gave the impression that they were in total control of a
clandestine movement that was ready to detail a guard of honour for the duo’s
arrival at Bole International Airport after it had forcibly removed the EPDRF
government. The rumour mill of the
Diaspora, on the other hand, was working overtime with the Ethiopian community
at-large being jet-hosed with naked lies.
“The EPDRF Government was imploding,” and EPDRF was a Government of – as
the Amharic saying goes – “one more Thursday.” Now the dust has settled and Ethiopians have seen for themselves
that EPDRF is as firmly ensconced as it has been prior to the news of the
foiling of the alleged terrorist plot, morale amongst Geemboat 7 has hit an all
time low.
To make matters worse, much to the ire and chagrin
of Ethiopians both in the Diaspora and the Homeland, the Triple Alliance of
Ginboat 7, EPPF and Shabia has been made public. In fact, the very idea of twining Ethiopian oppositions in exile
with whimsical Shabea has been in gestation since the morning after Ethiopia
regained Bademe in 2000. The Reporter
even exposed that notorious Kassa Kebede and Andargachew Tsige had been seen in
what in recent years has become the mecca of terrorists in the Horn of Africa –
Asmara.
Anxious to
see, hear and decide for myself whether our ‘liberation leader’ has the Fidel
Castro or the Che Guvera or the Yuweri Museveni or the Meles Zenawi in him, I
bought my £20.00 ticket (burning with the thought that every pence of it was
going to Shabea’s coffers) and legged it to London’s Irish Centre where
Ethiopians had converged to hear from Birrhanu Nega when he expected to march
into Addis. A few words about the
arrangement of the public meeting with Birr are essential for it will speak
volumes about Geemboat 7. There were
between 300-350 Ethiopians with some 50 Ethiopians returning because they
couldn’t afford the exorbitant entrance fee of £20.00. Security was very tight as the organizers
feared the presence of EPDRF supporters with their cameras. The subdued atmosphere prior to the start
of the various speeches made me wonder whether I had, indeed, entered a
wake. How shall I best describe what
was missing at a rally to be addressed by the very leader whom the Ethiopian
Government had ‘elevated’ to a leader of an armed struggle other than the
gathering lacked that oomph of a victor.
Anyway, Birr entered the hall not to a rapturous applaud that I had
anticipated, but entered like someone who had come to pay his condolences. Before the official opening, however, a
onetime Head of Presidential Security of the Derg, Brigadier General Tamene,
looked so enraged by the highly discouraging reception accorded to Birrhanu
that he got up and admonished the gathering that Ethiopian convention demanded
that we at least stood up and greet our guest of honour. The whole event smelled of Birr; I don’t
mean Birr the liberation leader, but Birr the currency. Ethiopia’s ‘sacred’ tri-colour was
auctioned for a mere £500.00. Dare we
shout “Erri bey Ageray!” And, like at
the end of a church service, a mudai was passed around which fetched a further
£3.500. With the receipts from
entrance fee Geemboat 7 got less than the £20.000.00 concert organizers got for
an Easter concert night. And this from
a London that witnessed unprecedented bravado from Geemboat 7 supporters the
day the news of the foiled terrorist plot was announced!
The close to two hours that I stayed did, indeed,
allow me to see, hear and decide for myself if Birrhanu has got what it takes
to deliver his promise of dismantling what has painstakingly been put in place
in Ethiopia – a robust union of Ethiopia’s peoples, nations and nationalities
and replace it with his strong Ethiopian unity based, of course, on a unitary
state which instead of celebrating ethnic differences will suffocate ethnic
differences. In reaching my verdict, I
was reminded of an article that I read on one of the Ethiopian web-sites in 2006
entitled “If Kinijit is a spirit then Ethiopia is a bon-fire waiting to
happen.” Well, after listening to
Geemboat 7’s green paper for the Ethiopia they are going to liberate in 4 years
time, I was tempted to paraphrase the title of that article to read: “If
Geemboat 7 is a government then Ethiopia is an ethnic inferno waiting to
happen.” I didn’t see Fidel, or Che,
or Yuweri nor tried and tested Meles in Birrhanu; though I have to admit I did
see sparks of author Kebede Michael in
Birrhanu which – with all due respect to the late Ato Kebede Michael – provides
precious little by way of getting Birrhanu out where it really matters. To be a good sound-bite Ethiopian
politician outside Ethiopia is one thing, to go out in the battle field where
bullets and mortars rain on you on a daily basis quite another.
The month of May also ended with a four hour
interview Isaias Afewerki gave to two political activists cum journalists,
Elias Kifle and Sileshi Tilahun who were observed exhibiting an acute lack of
the fundamentals of journalism by displaying their visceral hatred of the
Ethiopian Government when posing to the sworn enemy of Ethiopia. President Isaias’ well choreographed
interview and the subsequent barnstorming of Birrhanu as well as the visit to Asmara
by Andy where synchronized in such a way as to mount a blitzkrieg on the hearts
and minds of Ethiopians both at home and abroad. The opposition parties’ alibi for establishing an axis of evil
with Shabea based on “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” line of thinking, is
absolutely untenable. Shabea’s enemy is Ethiopia; Shabea’s opponent
is EPDRF. And that has been the case
since the inception of Shabea.
Ethiopians will not be taken by the overtures of seemingly born-again
Isaias Afewrki, for they have come to realise – and realise the hard way – that
the mouth of Wedi Afo has always been the abode of lies.
There, therefore, is little real difference between
Birr and Isaias – a case of choosing between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.