Neither the Mercenary group from Tigrai nor his Karma can save Afwerki except
by Fetsum Abraham

I closely followed Assenna’s interview with brothers Doctor Assefaw and General Tekeste Haile, two dedicated Eritreans who served our struggle for independence to only look the country from distance as a result of the president’s insensitive outlook of life. I enjoyed it very much. My impression is that the Eritrean case vis-a-vis the dictator is fundamentally over and the government has entered the last phase of survival fearfully expecting anything to happen any time soon. The situation of the president is like an arrogant champion boxer in a ring too exhausted to deliver and receiving merciless punches from a humble opponent, barely surviving the damage a second at a time until he touches down by the final knockout punch on the face. Once he losses faith on his strength and his coaches, he would not know what was going on in the ring and may not even understand he was boxing all together as he stays there staggering and confused about his fate until he wakes up in a hospital bed alone for his surprise. WHAT HAPPENED? is most probably the first question that comes to his mind at that point in his lonely experience. No one would be there, however, to explain the public information that he alone does not understand as he tries to figure out his condition still thinking he was a champion having no idea that he had become history. The only difference is that Afwerki may not have the chance of facing his destiny in custody, probably in hell.
To be honest, it feels good to witness the moment a brutal dictator is finished. I am not sadist but I felt good witnessing the heartless Shah of Iran humiliated all over the place after chased out of the country he used to oppress through endless dictation. I felt good witnessing the brutal Mengistu leaving the East Africans alone for his refuge in Zimbabwe. I felt good for the Libyans when it was over, though I did not appreciate the way they treated him after they found him in a tube like a RAT with a golden gun that he had no gut to use on himself. I felt good witnessing the ridiculous Saddam pulled out by the hair of a grave yard six feet under alive with American candy bars, yet with a gun that did not get a courageous finger to pull the trigger against himself. Likewise, I will certainly feel good when the menace dictator in Asmara gets his sooner or later, of course if I live that long. I predict it will be over soon and he will not kill himself at the end of it: He will be humiliated like all other coward dictators who destroyed society for just one life to live.
Afwerki chose a wrong path unnecessarily when he could have enjoyed the love of his people as a dignified leader for life. He delivered 22 years of anarchic punches to the Eritrean people to only find himself isolated from them and the world at large at the tail end of it. In fact he deserves what ever he will face in the future more than the other dictators that ended up with similar fate. Mengistu, Kadaffi and Saddam at least came to power by means of coup-de-etat to have been motivated staying in power by means of dictatorship. Afewerki however, had everything he needed to pass on impacting the Eritreans positively and his extent of dictation was unnecessary should power had been his objective. He had the best opportunity to serve the society’s cause of freedom more than any other leader in history. He, nevertheless, chose to hurt the people and his dignity for the heck of devil’s advocacy. He chose to destroy the people who gave him unconditional love without any provocation and inflicted incalculable damage, waiting to pass on as the worst nightmare of the poor Eritrean people in the near future.
As the two gentlemen said in the interview, Afwerki finally found himself totally isolated from his people trying to defend the rest of his ridiculous dictatorship through a mercenary group called the Tigrean Front for Democracy (this group was said to have had better privileges compared to our forces (materially and morally)). Can you imagine this notorious anti-freedom dictator to promote democracy in Ethiopia through worthless groups as such? Can you imagine this man to loose faith on the 300,000 Eritrean armed forces and depend on this good for nothing group for protection? If this reality does not hit him hard in the head, nothing will!! If this desperate act of humiliation does not irritate our all inclusive armed forces and motivate them to pull the decisive trigger that nullifies him, nothing will!! The fact remains that no force could stop the Eritrean objective for freedom, after all, let alone this group that has today been condemned to die with him at the moment it faces the Eritrean style of confrontation; meaning that neither will he be protected by this group effectively not will this group survive the final push of Eritreans for freedom even at individual level of the political game.
The question is if my classification of this group as MERCENARY conforms to the objective definition of the term universally.
“A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict and is “motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party.” Further, “a mercenary is essentially motivated by money, the term mercenary usually carries negative connotations.”
By this I close my case stating that the group is a foreign force that will end up being a sandwich between the people and our armed forces with no exit or place of retreat at the time of action. It has no power to suppress our freedom and neither can it retreat to Ethiopia for it is a useless entity created by Afwerki to hurt the Ethiopian democratic development.
The next question is if a mercenary group as such is protected by international law! To this effect, research says the following:
“International treaties established to control the use of mercenaries include the Additional Protocol I and II to Article 47 of the Geneva Convention (1949), the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa (1972), and the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries (1989).”
By this, I close my case stating that no Law protects this mercenary group now stationed in Asmara to “save” the president. Eritrean forces have the absolute right to destroy this group if necessary without any reaction from the international community. It has to surrender upon instruction or face extermination otherwise.

In conclusion: I believe the president is a loner today without any control of his actions. He is paranoid and can not sleep peacefully anymore. His only way out is giving up power willingly and it better be soon for Eritreans have no longer the time to waste on him. In the mean time, we have to continue vigilance until the resistance finalizes its objective effectively. Hope has been constructed by the gallant Eritrean forces that ignited the flame. I feel dignified to express my utmost respect to our armed forces that sacrificed their safety for the cause of freedom. I feel dignified by the courageous move of brother Ali who killed himself in defiance of Afwerki. That brother was designed to be the icon of freedom for us as a matter of destiny. May Allah rest his soul in peace at heaven!