Ethiopia, destination of Eritrea’s top exports: Refugees and Terrorism

Suhul Jan 29, 2012 - One of the poorest countries in the world, a twenty-year old country with a population of under four million led and owned by a tyrant unable to outgrow his rebel mentality has been destabilizing the horn of Africa since its inception and its main target has been Ethiopia.

Shaebia, which at times was willing to settle for a regional autonomy every time life in the Sahel trenches was getting tougher, fought for thirty years and Eritrea finally gained independence mainly as a result of the internal armed struggle of the TPLF against the Dergue. Even though it became officially independent in 1991, it remained a spoiled child of Ethiopia for seven years till 1998.

Shaebia, a mortal enemy very well known to the leadership and rank-and-file of the TPLF was the cause for the loss of more than a thousand lives during the 1984 famine by blocking a safe corridor to the Sudan. What is surprising is that the same Shaebia which was known for its evil intentions against the TPLF and Ethiopia went naively unchecked while building an army well beyond its size and resources for seven years, which led to the occupation of Badme for TWO long years. While Isayas is known for committing blunders and miscalculations, the EPRDF gov’t is also to be blamed for miscalculating the possibility of a danger at the time. If we were to apply the term colonization to an occupation of a district or sub district by an enemy, then Badme and its inhabitants were colonized by Shaebia for two years. The plain truth is that Ethiopia was unable to evict the enemy from its territory, until the humiliating defeat of Shaebia after two years. The Ethiopian army not only crashed the enemy, but had Shaebia on a marathon-run for its life and Ethiopians were all proud of the army and the gov’t with a refreshed sense of unity.

The Eritrean gov’t, humiliated and left with no choice at the time but to accept whatever was on the table, entered into an agreement to set up a 25 km buffer zone and the set-up of an international tribunal to resolve the conflict. The Ethiopian gov’t while in a position to dictate terms in its favor settled for less and naively confident about the outcome of the ruling, accepted a future verdict as final and binding and agreed to the inclusion of Badme as a disputed territory. Instead of explicitly stating that Badme is undisputed territory, everything Shaebia claimed was on the table and was left to the discretion of the international court.

After the unjust ruling of the international court, Shaebia recovered morally and started singing with almost a “Final and Binding” album on the market. After Ethiopia’s reluctance to accept the decision as is, followed by the eviction of UNMEE peace keepers from the Temporary Security Zone, the 25 km buffer zone was then occupied by Shaebia and deployed its forces defying the Algier’s agreement. Breached by Shaebia, the Algier’s agreement was then practically null and void, but other than implied statements from officials, we have not seen a formal statement from the Ethiopian gov’t declaring that the agreement is null and void. It’s unclear why the gov’t pretends to keep it alive while it’s actually dead.

Ever since the occupation of the buffer zone, Shaebia has been terrorizing our people in the border areas and also opened another battle front in Somalia with a concerted effort to destabilize Ethiopia. With a mission to turn Addis Ababa into Baghdad during the AU summit, Shaebia deployed its terrorist task force which was foiled thanks to the Ethiopian intelligence.

The Eritrean youth are abandoning the regime and fleeing to neighboring countries and the Ethiopian gov’t is to be commended for its handling of the influx of Eritrean refugees that cross the border to Ethiopia every day. In strengthening the people-to-people relationship, the gov’t has even gone to the extent of allowing many Eritrean students in Ethiopian universities. The Ethiopian gov’t has also won a diplomatic victory in sanctioning and alienating Eritrea by the UN Security Council for its terrorist acts, but it seems that no amount of international pressure will stop Shaebia from its mission to terrorize our people. The latest killing and kidnapping of foreign tourists in Berahle is a case in point. Obviously, this will not only discourage tourists to the area, but also the flow of private investment in the bordering states.

The gov’t recently announced a policy change towards Eritrea and promised to help the Eritrean opposition in their struggle to oust the regime and also PM Meles said that any future terrorist acts by Shaebia will be reciprocated. The question now is what’s the Ethiopian gov’t going to do about the latest attacks and Shaebia’s persistent terrorist acts against our people? The Eritrean gov’t probably has many more terrorist plots in the pipeline waiting to be executed.

As a commander-in-chief, if PM Meles doesn’t solve this problem while in power, despite his development achievements, he will be turning his supporters into a silent opposition without a “logo and seal” and his legacy will be overshadowed by the Eritrean issue and conflict.

The Eritrean regime which is the sponsor and hub of all evil in the horn needs to be stopped.

Our people deserve peace NOT no-war no-peace