ON THE HORN OF AFRICA
The Hyenas, the Wolves, and Actors of Animal
Farm!
The behavior of the Stranger Hyena [of the Strange Land] – the creation
of the Ethiopian proverb, the four-legged Nocturnal Beast who lives in
the bushes, caves, and foxholes had never been a big deal, whether He demanded a
mattress and pillows or leather sofa! He will maintain His right place in the
Ethiopia proverb. I will respect that and leave Him alone.
I will deal with the Hyenas of the No-Strange Land – the two-legged
Diurnal Beasts who have never been stranger and yet never failed to crave for
the ‘proverbial mattress’. Fortunately, they will never get it again. This time
around these dark-striped, No-Strange Hyenas, their closest counselors – the No-Strange Wolves in Sheepskin and few unsuspecting characters of Animal Farm will convene in
Washington DC, 09-10 April, 2010. What is at stake, one may inquire. It is an El Nino season;
I would love to say. The Tsunami had already gone!
Once up on a time, famine was looming over the skies of the Hyena Kingdom
and every member of the Kingdom was called for an Emergency Conference to seek
solutions to avert the crisis. In attendance was the smartest and most trusted
and loved personality – the Lady Fox, who happened to be the niece of His Excellency the King of the Hyenas.
Soon after, His Excellency began chairing the Conference. After explaining
about the magnitude of the crisis, His Excellency invited everybody to come up
with any kind of good ideas, suggestions, or possible solutions to abate the
famine. Lady Fox stood up, greeted her Uncle and delivered her smart idea this
way. “I would suggest that we can have your right leg for dinner and evade the
crisis”. Who would question the intelligence of Lady Fox? Done! The King of the
Hyena Kingdom supported this intelligent idea and concluded the Conference.
What a success!
It would be a waste of time and energy to deal with the “Who is Who” of the unfortunate souls who will talk in the upcoming Washington
DC Conference. The same is true with outcomes of the Conference. A number of
conferences, town-hall meetings, street demos, and Sunday morning cursing
sessions by all sorts of born- and made-hyenas as well as wolves in sheepskin
of extreme hypocrisy have come and gone. What they were/are doing all the way
(for the past nearly 20 years) is to do the impossible. But, this doesn’t mean
that they have to be left alone as they are dying natural death. We rather opt
to tell them what we feel.
The remnants, losers, and leftovers of the Ethiopian political struggle
of the past 40 years – who are miserably trying to pull themselves out of the
ashes to no avail – are “Hyenas” in real sense but are “no stranger” to ask for
any mattresses. A good deal of them are where they are at the expense of the
meager resources of the Country and the Peoples, they cry foul and drop
crocodile tears for all their exiled lives. We are not going to do anything
about them, but we will tell their children about the kind life histories their
fathers have – which are not pleasant at all.
Nowadays, the sheepskin that the wolves would use to cover their true
intentions is becoming their tag, and thankfully no one can be deceived by
their propaganda. In fact, they don’t care whether their true intentions are
known or not. The swift economic development in China and the other BRIC
members in particular and in many non-western nations in general is devastating
them. They are being terrorized. Thus, they have to come up with any sort of
stupid excuse to derail the socio-economic development and political progresses
of emerging countries like Ethiopia. They will keep on doing the same thing for
unforeseeable future. As far as Ethiopia is concerned – no one ever kicks a dead dog!
I would like to describe the personalities represented from various
genuine African and African Diaspora Civil Society Associations to guest-star in
the upcoming infamous DC Conference as “Unsuspecting Actors of Animal Farm”
deceived by the smarter pigs! Their intentions to solve the ills of Africa can
be commended. Nonetheless, it is their individual and collective responsibilities
to figure out and align themselves with those who sincerely work for that end.
As far as the upcoming Washington DC Conference is concerned, the only way they
can serve Africa or the Horn for that matter, is by staying away. Africa’s
predicament cannot be solved by exiled, No-Strange Hyenas and Wolves in Sheepskin.
For this very reason, the DC Conference will end up the same way the above tale
ended up.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I heard the tale from a respected Ethiopian scientist whom I am acknowledging
without mentioning his name.
Desta Berhe
April 02 2010