HERE AND THERE FROM THE FORUM

By Fetsum Abraham//4/16/2013

Shewit:  “Fitsum; No wonder Eritrea is where it is now with citizens like you. Empty bravado, limitless hate, delusion of identity, self inflated ego like yours seems to speed up the burial of your fake nation”

belay nega:  “SHEWIT IS AN AUTHENTIC ETHIOPIAN WITH IDENTICAL ETHIOPIAN FEELING: SHEWIT IS JUST TELLING US WHAT ETHIOPIANS FEEL TOWARDS ERITREA. THESE ARE THE ETHIOPIANSWHO CANNOT AFFORD TO REMAIN LAND LOCKED ESPECIALLY BY THE PEOPLE WHOM THEY THINK ARE BROTHERS BY BLOOD AND ORIGIN.” THE ACTUAL SITUATION IN ERITREA IS ABOUT TO BE OR NOT TO BE A COUNTRY. BIG EVIDENCE THAT ERITREAN PROBLEM IS DEEP ROOTED”

jonah: “Border conflict are natural occurrence in Africa [] Nigeria and Cameroon. So, what is different in erit/ethio case? Ethio has continued to function normal and focusing on what is best for its people largely. Eritrea on other hand has been in stand-still or jumped into Foxhole and looking for an enemy at every side.

Belay/Shewit- With Eritrea been a fake country. I don’t think that is something Ethiopian feel. Maybe some Ethiopians and if that is case so what? There is nothing fake about Eritrea- it exists – make sure that you go to AU in Addis Ababa- and tell those Kenyan, Nigerian, Ghanaian- there nationality is fake. You can go the United Nation and also tell the Croatian(1992) or Slovenian(1990) or Serbian, etc.. that they are fake also…This is comedy.”

Me: Ethiopians’ desire to see Eritrea within their country is not new but a natural feeling of some people in our situation. It will continue to exist without any effect on the sovereignty of Eritrea. That is why I like Johnas’s confidence in “so what?” In so saying, the entire world cannot change the Eritrean independence let alone someone in deep “fake nation” fantasy.

Further, Ethiopians have shown that they can live without our ports like the 47 other countries in the world. They cannot own ports because they do not have any but they have the right to use their neighbors’ including ours. Therefore, I sense brother Belay is advocating for unity through this indirect message. Relating the Eritrean situation to the consequence of its independence vis-à-vis the Ethiopians denies Belay’s Eritrawinet with confident and clear state of mind, leaving him in permanent insecurity for the rest of it.

Contrary to Belay’s mindset, we need a constitutional government, strong economy and intellectual; capacity to be fit enough to defend ourselves from any potential threat in the future, making the dictatorship a double sword in our quest for a confident society in Eritrea. We cannot afford external threat and internal dictatorship simultaneously; we need freedom in order to challenge external forces logically or militarily.

Zola: “Dear Titsum, as a concerned Tigrian, I read the article closely and found it largely balanced and well articulated. Indeed, Eritreans, with a right cause, earned their/your independence and I respect and always appreciate it.  we as Ethiopians/Tigrians feel uncomfortable when it come to engaging with Eritreans. Many of here in Tigay believe that we, as people, basically did nothing wrong to Eritrea to deserve such a huge hatred as it is today in many Eritreans. We therefore tend to be suspicious of any possibility fair deal, at least for some foreseeable time.

Me: Brother, thank you for participating: the feeling is in both sides because many Tigreans feel negative against us too. Our meeting point to solve the problem is admitting its existence in both sides. I think the Eritrean and Tigrean grass-root masses have close to nothing to do with this and let us not give the few narrow-minded people from both sides a chance to destruct out historical attachment as people of the same roots. The good thing is that many Eritreans in Diaspora respect the Tigreans better than in the past, more than what the Tigreans think about it (Seriously speaking). The so stated hatred is mainly contained within the Afwerkists in Diaspora (such as Sophia Tesfamariam and government infiltrators acting activists) and that negative energy is dissipating fast as a result of increased awareness of the Eritreans. Work on your community to this end and we will continue working on ours to improve the situation and I guarantee you brother, not to worry about this feeling if you convince yourself on our capacity to do it. Activists like you and me should resolve the issues from neutral point of view for the sake of our people. Please see what Zebib wrote in response to Dawit’s fascism and have the gut to condemn the fascism in Shewit to be equally effective. We should together isolate the elements of hate in both sides by working hard to this effect within our communities.

I, however, agree with you that the wounds suffered by the two societies will take a while to heal but let us start the journey together.

“The hate/war propaganda that the regime in Asmara has been blowing for decades meant that a great portion of the existing generation in Eritrea is more militaristic in thinking disillusioned in orientation.”

Me: The forced militarization of Eritrean youth and denying it education have been the sources of said disillusion but this will also die with Afwerki, it is only a matter of time.

“I strongly oppose your argument for Eritrea to get Badme while you yourself admitted that Eritrea invaded the place in the first place. I don’t think any lasting peace would be achieved, even if the Government in Ethiopia would forsake Badme for peace, as this won’t be just. I leave your assessment of the Weyane of today to yourself.”

Me: you will be surprised how immaterial Badme is compared to the big stake for the two societies. Personally, Badme’s Tigrawinet or Eritreawinet does not matter as much because the people of the village are related to each other one and would only want to live in peace either way. The fact remains, however, that Ethiopia and Eritrea went to court on Badme and other issues with agreement to accept the verdict unconditionally. This reality will live forever and the case is closed by international recognition of Badme’s Eritrawinet. ONE DOES NOT GO TO COURT ON THE CONDITION OF WINNING for this nullifies the concept of justice all together.

It is true that we invaded Badme and ignited the war but the event precedes the international court procedure by which Badme was found to be Eritrean; there is no relationship between both events. Ethiopia can temporarily hold Badme illegally at the expense of peaceful coexistence but this cannot go forever. Further, being just is accepting the agreement you made on the conflict and its verdict, and I have no idea what Ethiopians expect us to do in this situation.

I am, however, confident that we will settle the case rationally with any Ethiopian government in democratic Eritrea for at least the following reasons.

1)    As much as Ethiopians feel they can survive without Eritrea (proven) Eritreans will continue surviving without Ethiopia (proven even under this dictatorship) but rather more efficiently in democratic Eritrea through free business economics using the coastal lines, fisheries and mineral resources while focusing on educating the society as the primary goal of the nation.

2)    The RED SEA is the busiest sea rout in the world and therefore Eritreans can develop the ports and islands to accommodate the traffic and the potential tourism industry to sustain the nation’s economic demands, meaning Eritrea can generate income from other sources than Ethiopia. Afwerki’s policy is the biggest obstacle that could not prove this hypothesis.

Emiru Isak: “Brother, You have come to your senses now. It seems you have taken notice of some of the criticisms you got last time. But you have missed one thing in your analysis: What shall you do if the Ethiopians won’t give you  your  badme back? It seems you don it understand why Ethiopia doesn’t want to do that or you don’t want to discuss it because of fear of backclash. In that case you are decieving your self.”

Me: Thanks for your input but I do not remember any criticism that influenced my last article. I hope you will read this to grasp the consequence of your subjective mentality that does not represent the interest of Ethiopians collectively, but I cannot see peace without Badme in Eritrea.

“The Tigrians consider Badme as legitmatley theirs as you considert it yours. That will not be changed by Algeris agreement or by discredited judges at the HAgue. So consider other options rather to solve the empass rather than singing old song. .”

Me: It will change. It is not whether the Eritreans or Tigreans think about the ownership of Badme. The issue is that Ethiopia lost it in court and must give it up. Your “by Algeris agreement or by discredited judges at the HAgue” is an emotional discharge than lacks rationality on the subject, let alone to impress the universe. The case is not between the Tigreans and the Eritreans but between Eritrea and Ethiopia and you need to understand this first and convince yourself that abiding by the law on Badme is the only solution to the stalemate. I am sure the new Ethiopian government knows this very well specifically for the following reasons:

1)    The Weyanes after all had accepted the verdict but procrastinated it through the DIALOGUE FIRST approach to keep the political power under, until now. It could not have survived the political environment of the time: this screened excuse does not work today: It can no longer keep the Weyanes in power.

2)    I don’t think Ethiopians will scarify peaceful coexistence and mutually benefiting economic development for the pride of 6% of the population (if we stretch the issue and assume this matters to all Tigreans which I do not think so). Any Ethiopian government cannot survive international resistance on the issue in democratic and peaceful Eritrea because the so far dormant collective Eritrean intellectual mind can challenge this issue easily.

 The catch:

I see two important effects concerning the Badme saga on the development that a non-Tigrean head of state runs the country today:

1)    The return of Badme would not affect the value of Tigreans (psychologically) in all aspect of the sociopolitical relationship. It would be effective without compromising the Tigrean pride, sense of patriotism, etc. because it would be done without the responsibility of the TPLF. Meles’s vision here vindicates the Tigreans from the fate of Badme in view of Ethiopian politics.

2)    The return of Badme would not affect the current Ethiopian government in its current ethnic composition since it did not sign the agreements concerning the issue with Eritrea. Therefore, the Ethiopian government can easily give Badme to Eritrea based on the legally abiding verdict that the new leaders have nothing to do with directly. Meles’s vision thus, vindicates the new politicians from taking direct responsibility as well. I think he was intelligent to arrange the situation as such before he passed away because he knew the eventual return of Badme is legally, rationally and strategically inevitable.

In conclusion; I must apologize for delaying discussion on Petros Haile’s ideas of solution because of the important questions forwarded by few Tigrean brothers in the forum on Badme (I could not ignore them). Thank you