Ethiopian News, Current Affairs and Opinion Forum

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 13:11

.....1. Protecting the Sovereignty & territorial integrity of Eritrea.
As long as they're for this, all the power to them in their endeavor for an open democratic system & for a country of justice & rule of law!

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 13:17

When were they ever not for that? Moron, Agame Issu still has not accomplished that 22 years since he started his warfare adventure to derail the course of constitutional democracy.
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 13:11
.....1. Protecting the Sovereignty & territorial integrity of Eritrea.
As long as they're for this, all the power to them in their endeavor for an open democratic system & for a country of justice & rule of law!

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 13:22

I wanna remind these parties that,

On Sept.19, 2003 the late Ethiopian PM Zenawi asked the UNSC,
to set up an alternative mechanism to demarcate the contested parts of the boundary b/n Eritrea & Ethiopia..
Mind you:

Ethiopia is the only country in the world that had openly refused to implement a 3rd party boundary award.




The UNSC rejected Ethiopia's request stating that,
... only the full implementation of the Algiers Agreement will lead to the sustainable peace...and Ethiopia has committed itself under the Algiers Agreement to accept the Boundary Decision as final & binding.

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 13:46

Really, donkey? :lol: That's why, we call you a MLLT cadre!

Even Saleh Younis, disagrees:
Ethiopia: Living with Lowered Expectations

Saleh AA Younis

July 28, 2000

Politicians the world over are advised by the professional consultants that the secret to success is to lower expectations. This way, if expectations are met, it is a great victory; if they are not, they never were meant to be, anyway, so what is your beef? It is, as they say, a win-win situation. If expectations are exceeded, it is a license to throw caution and reason to the wind and start ceaseless sessions of self-love.

While African politicians everywhere try to emulate their Western counterparts in the Lower The Expectations game, the Ethiopian leaders--true to Ethiopia's myth of 3000 year history--are way, way ahead in the game of deception and deceipt.

(1) Instead of taking responsibility for the drought and famine in Ethiopia, Ethiopian leaders told the world that at least they, unlike the Derg, didn't try to keep it a secret. Don't expect us to prioritize our resource and feed our people; be grateful that we told you that we are starving. Victory for Lowered Expectations.

(2) Instead of taking responsibility for placing their nation and its leader on the Enemies of the Press list for five consecutive years, they said the jail accomodates more. Don't expect us to live up to the terms of our constitution; be grateful that we at least have a quasi-free press. Another victory for Lowered Expectations.

(3) Instead of taking responsibility for the looting and devastation of Tessenei and Barentu and the bombing of Hrgigo, they told the world that at least they didn't carpet bomb Eritrea. Don't expect us to fight using the rules of the game; be grateful that we didn't do worse. After all, we had total air superiority. Another victory for Lowered Expectations.

(4) Instead of taking responsibility for the bogus elections that saw them re-elected by 90% + margins, they told the world at least we had elections. Don't expect us to implement democracy; be grateful that we are exercising a little charade. Another victory for Lowered Expectations.

There has been one case of exceeded objective expectations and failing short of secret expectations.

For two years, the Ethiopian spokesperson, the Walta writers, the officials at the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the governor of the sovereign state of Tigray, and every TPLF cadre worth his stolen Eritrean villa were singing from the same hymn book. It went like this (all together now): Aggression must be reversed. Ethiopia wants nothing more and nothing less. Nothing more; nothing less. That was the bottom line.

Back then, I wrote a piece for Visafric entitled
Ethiopia's Bottomless List of Bottom lines
warning of the ever-shifting Ethiopian conditions for peace.

I am told from reliable sources that the piece was circulated at the US State Department amongst the Henze-ites. Not as evidence of Eritreans concern; but as one more proof of Eritrean paranoia. Moreover, I got a letter from the Man with Information Advantage (the American Mekele NGO guy who couldn't stop crying about the tragic bombing of the Mekele school) chastising me for my foolishness and telling me that Ethiopia has no interest besides restoring status quo ante. How paranoid of me.

Status quo ante did not include Senafe, all that claim of reversing aggression was bogus and the State Department, as usual, was wrong. The Ethiopian government's response?

(5) Don't expect us to withdraw from undisputed Eritrean territories; be grateful that we didn't go further because if we wanted to, we could have. Really. After all, 60% of Eritrea's force has been decimated. And, they admitted, they had thought about marching to Asmara. Or, as the Prime Minister put it in his diplomatic briefing, the temptation was there.

Another Temptation of Lord Meles was, Asab. Port, the final frontier. After trying and failing to capture Asab, he pretended that he never tried to get it anyway. If I wanted to, I could quit smoking. I just don't want to. More lowered expectation. The game of lowered expectations first started with Meles telling us that he doesn't care a whit about Massawa and Asab, which, after all, according to him, is nothing more than a watering hole for camels. This is a classic case of
Adgi zeyblus beqli y'niek.
(A man who doesn't own an [deleted], scorns a mule.)

Then the usual assortment of "Ethiopia tiKdemers" (an alliance of Dergistas, Janhoyists and permanent Eritrea-haters) started openly expressing their lust of Asab (It has been seven years since Eritrea formally became a nation in 1993, so this must be another 7 Year Itch.) In his usual mock-professorship, the Prime Minister gave a few reasons why he doesn't want the mule. What he is telling is that he never once said that he, on behalf of Ethiopia, has committed to the United Nations and the OAU (in countless documents) that he respects Eritrea's sovereignty. Even using crooked maps made in Mekele, Eritrea includes Asab. Case closed.

It is in the long-term interest of Eritrea and Ethiopia to strike a commercial deal on Asab. But this deal has to be one among equal and sovereign nations. It is something that can come about not as part of peace process negotiations but after the peace negotiations have been concluded and the land is demarcated. In the meantime, Ethiopia can use many of the fine alternatives it told us it has like Mombasa, Berbera, Port Sudan.

Sometimes, politicians have to live with the consequences of their lowered expectations.


Awash wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 13:17
When were they ever not for that? Moron, Agame Issu still has not accomplished that 22 years since he started his warfare adventure to derail the course of constitutional democracy.
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 13:11
.....1. Protecting the Sovereignty & territorial integrity of Eritrea.
As long as they're for this, all the power to them in their endeavor for an open democratic system & for a country of justice & rule of law!

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 13:48

"The No.1 enemy of the Eritrean people is Isaias" Gen. Mesfin Hagos
Please wait, video is loading...

[/quote]

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 14:08

Warping History, Ethiopian Style

Saleh AA Younis

June 26, 2000

Back in 1993-1994, an Ethiopian scholar from Tigray and a graduate from UC Berkeley in California, was working on a thesis to explain why, in 1991, the EPLF opted for Eritrean secession, whereas the TPLF
preferred to grab the state machinery in Addis Ababa and stay Ethiopian.
His field survey included visiting Eritrea and Ethiopia, interviewing Eritrean and Ethiopian civilians and government officials (even the usually tight-lipped EPLF officials were willing to be interviewed on the record) and pouring through Eritrean and Ethiopian archives as well as the Public Records Office (London) and the U.S. National Arhives (Maryland.) The research culminated in a book ("Identity Jilted or Re-imagining Identity?",Red Sea Press, Inc., 1998)



In the last two years, as Eritrea and Ethiopia faced one of the toughest periods of their history, Ato Alemseged was nowhere to be found. When the Ethiopian Government shut down the office and deported the employees of his publisher (Red Sea Press), because they were Eritreans, he wasn't heard from.

Fast forward to June 20, 2000. In a piece entitled "A truly tragic and fratricidal war", Alemseged Abbay gives us four reality checks and invites
Eritrean leaders to face realities.
It seems that only Eritreans have something to learn from this bloody war and every Ethiopian is going to tell us what the lesson is. Alemseged's lessons are called "realities" and they go something like this:

Reality # 1: Africa's stupidest war was fought among siblings. The Afars, Agaws, Kunamas and Tigrayans straddle the boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Reality # 2:
Eritrea's unity with Ethiopia is necessary... Eritrea can not achieve economic growth with out unity [with Ethiopia].

Welde-Ab Welde-Mariam, 'Ertra n'men?' ['Eritrea for whom?'] Nay Ertrea Semunawi Gazetta, May 22, 1947, part IV, p. 4.
Reality # 3: Italy did not give education, or significant technological skills to the Eritreans.
Reality # 4:
If we do wish the best for our children and the future generations, then let us not hate unity [with Ethiopia]. Unity is strength, unity is dignity, unity is prosperity, unity is victory.
Welde-Ab Welde-Mariam, 'Ertra n'men?' ['Eritrea for whom?'] Nay Ertra Semunawi Gazetta, May 22, 1947, part IV, p. 4.

Let's first address "Reality # 2" and "Reality # 4" because they are, in reality, the same realities. To quote Wolde-Ab Wolde-Mariam to argue the case that he was for (conditional or unconditional) unity with Ethiopia is like talking about Saul before he became Paul, on the road to Demascus. It is like writing the biography of Malcolm X, without talking about his pilgrimage to Mecca and how the experience totally transformed him. This would be typically ignorant if coming from the typical Walta writer but coming from a serious researcher like Alemseged Abbay, it is, to put it charitably, intellectually dishonest because the writer knows better.

Wolde-ab Woldemariam's political activism, spanned 50 years (1941 - 1991). In the 1940's, he began his political career as a unionist, then moved to the Liberal Progressive Party and then finally to the Independence Bloc. From the 1950's on, he was a very vocal critic of Ethiopia's attempt to destroy Eritrea's autonomous status during the Federation; he was an outspoken critic of the leadership of Tedla Bairu in facilitating Eritrea's absorption by Ethiopia. He was maligned; an election was stolen from him and he survived not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six but seven assassination attempts on his life by the Ethiopian Unionists. When he asked for a visa to be a political immigrant, the Haile Selassie Government tried to bribe him with a cushy job at the Ministry of Information; he declined. When it acquiesced to his request, it tried to suggest that he go to Europe; he declined. He took refuge in Egypt in 1953 where, thanks to Jamal Abdel-Nasser, he propagated his fight against Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea via radio broadcasts. For nearly 40 years, he lived in exile at once promoting the Eritrean cause and serving as an inspiration to a generation of Eritreans. He lived long enough to see a free Eritrea: he returned in 1991 and, true to his legend for eloquence, said:
O, my land! Forty years ago, before I left thee, I shed blood for thy sake. Today, forty years later, I return to shed tears of joy.
But then I am telling Mr. Alemseged Abbay information he knows because his books includes hundreds of reference material; including from Research and Information Center of Eritrea (RICE). Why then this dishonesty? Can't people like Mr. Alemseged Abay see nothing beyond ancestry and the theory that heritage is destiny? Why is Mr. Alemseged trying to turn an Eritrean legend, into a poster boy for Ethiopianism. What is next? Ibrahim Sultan, at heart, was a unionist? Abdelkader Kebire, had he not been assassinated by the unionist, would have endorsed union with Ethiopia? When will the desecration of our heroes end?

That's exactly the point, isn't it? To many Ethiopians, the entire existence of "Eritrea" is a sacrilege; an affront to Ethiopian one-ness. And so, a student of identities and how they are jilted comes now because he knows that one way to destroy Eritrea is to destroy its icons, to steal them and to sully them. Another way is to exile them (something successive Ethio governments have done.) Still another way is to destroy its towns its assets so that people will say,
an Eritrea without ____ is not worth fighting for.
It is all futile, but they never give up.

Let's now address more, of Alemseged's realities. Going back to reality # 1, yes, the people who straddle the Mereb River are siblings. This may be earthshaking news to Alemseged, but there is nothing terribly remarkable about this. The "hadendawa" who straddle the Sudan-Eritrea border are siblings; the Somalis who straddle the Ethio-Somali border are siblings; the Bedouin who straddle the borders of all the Gulf States are siblings. So what? What made the Eritrea-Ethiopia war senseless (not stupid) is not that it was waged between siblings, but that it was waged at all.

Another entirely unremarkable observation is Alemseged's reality # 3: that the Italians treated Eritreans, shabbily. Oh, what a shocker that a colonial European power would abuse its African colony. When the fate of Eritrea was in the hands of the "international community" and Eritreans organized themselves politically to chart their future, those calling for return of Italy were almost non-existent; the pro-Italy party was made up largely of retired war veterans of Italy's wars. What was a shocker (to the international community) was that faced with an option of partitioning Eritrea to Sudan and Ethiopia, all the parties (except for the pro-Ethiopia unionists) formed an Independence Bloc to successfully fight the partition. What was a shocker (to Eritrea), was how cruel its African colonizer (Ethiopia) would be in destroying its autonomy and waging a war of extermination against its "siblings."

That Italy would be a cruel colonizer and that, at the same time, Eritrea would be more politically and economically advanced or value education more than Ethiopia of the first half of the 20th century are not inconsistent. In 1949s, in one of the exchanges between Ibrahim Sultan (representing the Independence Bloc) and the Ethiopian delegation to the UN, Ethiopia was trying to make the point that Eritrea could not be a viable state because it doesn't have an educated class that could run the government. Ibrahim Sultan, after acknowledging that because of Italian colonization, Eritreans had to be educated in neighboring countries including Ethiopia says the following:
...The educated Eritreans that we have, let alone for their country Eritrea, they are doing a service for Ethiopia. If evidence is needed, without going too far, in this assembly, 99% of the Ethiopian delegation to the UN are of Eritrean ancestry...
People like Alemseged can read Eritrean history without and fast forward the pages, that deal with people like Ibrahim Sultan. In his thesis, Alemseged argued that the Derg's viciousness drove Eritrea away from Ethiopia. What he forgets--or perhaps is not terribly concerned about because it doesn't involve people of the "trans-Mereb"--is that Ethiopia's organized savagery against Eritrea did not begin with the Derg and, sadly, has not ended with the Derg. For every "sheEb" that the Derg pepetrated, there was an "Una" that Haile Selassie initiated. So, yes, Eritreans do indeed speak in broken Italian and and play Amharic songs at weddings not because we are proud of either period in our history but because it is our history.

Remember Paul Henze telling us that the Eritrean referendum was a sham, because Eritreans were not given a choice? Well, now Alemseged carries that argument further by saying that the EPLF made a mistake in presenting Eritreans with an "all or nothing" choice. Well, here's another reality check that a researcher like Alemseged can find out: during Eritrea's armed struggle, the Eritrean field was crowded by quite a few idologues: the ELF, ELF-PLF, EPLF and their splinter groups and subgroups: the MenkaE, the falul, the Sagems, the Baath party (Syrian and Iraqi brands), the Hzbel Amel, etc. They disagreed in virtually everything but every single one of them had one thing in common: they wanted to bring about Eritrea's independence and they all pledged that they would die trying to bring that outcome, rather than settle for anything less. That was the mandate of the Eritrean people.

Whether Eritrea can be a "viable state" because it cannot sustain itself or feed its population, if self-sustenance was a pre-requisite to statehood then Ethiopia wouldn't qualify to be a nation for a year much less "3000 years." As to the cliché of Eritrea wanting to be Singapore (ha, ha, what a riot), why does that ambition cause so much giggle in Ethiopian circles? Ethiopia is on record, as pursuing an import-substitution economy. Should I experience hysteria and giggle that Ethiopia wants to be (hee, hee), South Korea? Or, should I applaud and wish Ethiopia best of luck? An Eritrea using Singapore as an economic model, would be a net benefit to Eritrea and Ethiopia. To argue that while it would help Ethiopia marginally it would help Eritrea significantly and therefore it must be rejected, is straight from the Patrick Buchanan School of Economics. While Buchananism's "America First" economics is considered kooky and backward in the US, judging from everything I read, it is the mainstream belief of every economist in Ethiopia.

The real reality check is this: Ethiopia's economy is modeled after Patrick Buchanan; its political organization is modeled after the Roman Empire; its government is elected by margins approaching those that used to be announced by the Soviet Bloc; its health care system is a mess with one of the highest cases of HIV; its chronic drought and famine is world-renowned; its peace and security is dependent on one elite ethnic group not being too impatient to wait their turn "to grab the state machinery in Addis Ababa" And this is the nation that is inviting Eritrea to join it.

Thanks, Alemseged, but Eritrea's odds don't look that dismal, relatively speaking.
Last edited by Zmeselo on 20 Sep 2020, 14:34, edited 1 time in total.

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 14:33

Anything Even More Obscure?

Saleh AA Younis

June 19, 2000

A writer at Walta commenting about the "cult status" of President Isaias Afwereki was providing the following as proof:
It would seem that even the direct mention of his name was tacitly considered to be blasphemous; he was instead respectfully called "wede Afewerki" - the son of Afewerki.
Yes, this is what passes for insight in Walta Land.

The writer, let's call him "wedi Shiferaw" - the son of Mega-Frightener - postulates the brand-spanking-new theory that referring to people as "son-of-so-and-so" is not a term of endearment, but fear of blaspheming by using the entire name. So when Eritreans referred to the now martyred Eritrean fighter who escorted the first few dozen TPLF fighters (now grown to monsters) from Sahel via Akeleguzai to Tigray as "wedi Afa" and not by his full name (Ibrahim Afa), that is a tacit admission that to call him by his full name was blasphemy? Sure. What about referring to the Eritrean fighter who engineered the TPLF march from Tigray to Addis as "wedi Ephrem", and not by his full name "Sebhat Ephrem"? Dito.

This is new to me. As far as I know, in Eritrean culture, there are only two reasons why you shouldn't be called "wedi-so-and-so" (in Tigrigna) or "wed-so-and-so" (in Tigre) or "ibn-so-and-so" (in Arabic):

1. if you are using a pen name and your name is bogus, or
2. if your mother is not sure of who your father is/was.

Another Walta writer, was supposedly writing about the importance of freedom of the press within the Ethiopian context. The writer, after identifying that the flaw of government press is self-censorship, circled around his wagons and did not once make reference to the big while elephant in the middle of the room: why Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been named as Enemy of the Press for the five consecutive years. As Alanis Morisette would ask: "isn't it ironic?" Meles, she might say is like:
A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
Speaking of the good Prime Minister, he gave another rambling briefing to Your Excellencies in Addis Ababa. The PM and his entire cadre of the thieving, lying, looting accomplices have developed this habit of prefacing all their lies by saying "as you know", "as you all know." Protocol prevents the diplomats from saying, "no, we don't know that" so they have to be silent conspirators but the reporters, once in a while, will say, "no, we don't know that" as the BBC told Salome when she was saying-"as you know"-- Ethiopia accepted the peace proposals and Eritrea didn't. An unusually alert BBC reporter reminded the Spokesperson of Ethiopia's procrastination on the Technical Arrangements long after Eritrea accepted the deal.

Back, to the Prime Minister. In the ego massages that go for serious addresses, he told his captive audience that unlike in Ethiopia, (where the ruling party was just re-elected with over 90% of the vote in a free and fair election), in Eritrea, matters of war and peace are decided by "key individuals in Asmara." Then he felt that that was too generous and said that Eritrea is, "a one man show." He didn't name who the one man is, but went about saying things about sons and daughters that is usually said by people in a straitjacket. Maybe "wedi Shiferaw" would consider the Prime Minister avoidance of naming the "one man", as tacit fear of blasphemy. Maybe our freedom of the press advocate Walta writer will tell us what the Prime Minister's role was, in this two year mess. Maybe Walta can tell us why the Prime Minister who objected to the Technical Arrangement because it, among other things, was advocating too much role for the UN because it was "inconsistent" with the Framework Agreement that envisioned no more than 30-40 Observer Group is now asking for about 2000-3000 UN Peacekeepers that has to be approved by the US.

I recently read a piece about the alleged "US Invasion of Eritrea." I hope to do a serious assessment of the role of the US in Eritrea and the entire Horn of Africa fairly soon, but for now please read the following excerpt from an exchange between the State Department spokesperson and the press that was reported on June 2, 2000:

QUESTION: Did you take a position on Ethiopia's insistence on international guarantees they won't be attacked again or, alternatively, on the Eritrean demand -- refusal to declare a cease-fire until the Ethiopians withdraw?

MR. REEKER: The US delegation is at the peace talks, and they're working very actively to do that. And I think our statements stand for that, and we're trying to get a resolution to this. Other subjects, ANYTHING EVEN MORE OBSCURE? [Emphasis mine]

No matter what our "first black President" Clinton tells you, the death of tens of thousands, the displacement of hundreds of thousands and the maiming of thousands more Africans-in short, the deadliest war in the world--is nothing more than an obscure fact because it happened in Africa. What is sadder is that the politicians who should have made the most noise about this--the Congressional Black Caucus--were nowhere to be found. In fact, the only American politicians who stood up for Eritrea were people who would be dismissed as right-wingers in nice progressive circles. Was this a coincidence or does it have something to do with the fact that Eritrea is a self-sustaining, dependency-hating, freedom-loving, iconoclastic country?

"Wedi Abdu"


Tesenei: An Exhibit of Ethiopian Treachery

Saleh AA Younis

June 21, 2000

WARNING: The following may provoke Ethiopia to re-occupy Tessenei

On May 30, 2000, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry told us that
After Successfully completing their mission, Ethiopian Defense Forces Withdraw from Western Eritrea.
Why? Because
Ethiopia has no territorial claims over Eritrea. The withdrawal of the Ethiopian defense forces from western Eritrea is proof of that.
Actually, what the Ethiopian Ministry meant to say was that the (valiant, heroic, stupendous, fill in your favorite hyperbole) Ethiopian Army did was withdraw from Southwestern Eritrea (Barentu), to Western Eritrea (Tesenei) on its way to Northwest Ethiopia (Humera). This is either because the road from Tesenei to Humera is far more accommodating than the path from Barentu to Humera or the road via Tesenei provides the "highly disciplined" Ethiopian army with greater opportunities for looting and vandalism. In either case, the gallant Ethiopian army had completed its mission and had withdrawn. All the (demolished, routed, annihilated, decimated) Eritrean Defense Forces had to do was stand by the road and wave goodbye to the Ethiopian Army cheerfully.

On June 6 and June 7, 2000, the annoying Eritrean Defense Force engaged the valiant Ethiopian Defense Force in the vicinity of Tesenei. What? No, I cannot tell you the outcome of this obviously lopsided war which
had clearly been a big battle.
You have to read it for yourself what CNN, Reuters and the BBC said about that. If I report it, it will be seen as "provocation" by the trigger-happy folks in Mekele.

Whatever was reported, was not looked on favorably by the Renaissance Leader in Addis Ababa. After Eritrea had accepted the Cessation of Hostilities proposal from the OAU, Ethiopia rolled in its tanks once again to Tessenei on June 14, 2000. Why? Because the peace-process was not going well and Eritrea responds to the stick, said the Deporter-in-Chief. And, the decimated Eritrean Defense Force needed to be decimated some more. And, PS, there was more comprehensive looting and vandalism to be done.

Five days later, on June 19, the gallant Ethiopian Defense Forces, having accomplished its "mission" withdrew from Tesenei. Given the double-speak nature of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, don't be surprised if Ethiopia withdrew from Tesenei to positions 10 miles north and deeper into Eritrean territory. As for the vandalism and looting if, as we are told by the experts, the Ethiopian army is "highly disciplined" then the only logical conclusion is that the crime perpetrated was not the work of a rogue lieutenant but planned and orchestrated by the organized shiftas running the Abyssinian Empire.

These are our partners for peace! These are the people, that the critics tell us we could have made a deal with in June 1998 and avoided all this carnage. These are the people, we are negotiating with. These are the people that will honor agreements; these are the people, we are told, that will accept decisions of the OAU and the UN as binding.

Eritrea, unfortunately, has been put in a position where it is negotiating from a clearly inferior position. But, this is not entirely due to the military balance of power. After all, the balance of power was clearly in our favor in 1998 and for most of 1999. It has entirely to do with amateurs at the State Department and the National Security Agency who stalled the peace process for months while Ethiopia re-armed and re-grouped and it has to do with corrupt bureaucrats who funded its war machinery. We have accepted terms, that include placement of looters in our territories for a "temporary" period.

Don't Learn The Wrong Lessons

It is said, that a mad scientist was running an experiment with a frog. The scientist chopped off one of the hind legs of the frog and ordered, "jump!" The frog limped. Then the other hind leg was chopped off, and the scientist ordered, "jump!" The frog moved even more slowly. The process was repeated, until the frog had no legs left. When the scientist ordered "jump!" the frog, of course, did not move. Wrote the scientist on his clipboard:
curious phenomenon. When you cut off the legs of frogs, they turn deaf.
We are the neighbors of Ethiopia, historically the home of expansionist empire builders. The lesson for us is to have a robust, well-trained professional army and a detached and disengaged foreign policy that is entirely apathetic to the soap opera in the South. In the meantime, let's concentrate on the Eritrean Development Foundation and feed and shelter our displaced population.

Saleh

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Member
Posts: 2312
Joined: 11 Jan 2020, 21:22

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) » 20 Sep 2020, 14:49

The evil agame Awash/QB loves to see his own Tigray people suffer, while he's making money trafficking the Tegaru victims to Yemen.
Please wait, video is loading...
Please wait, video is loading...
Please wait, video is loading...


Guess where in Tigray the evil agame hyena Awash/QB/Justice Seeker.. is from? :P :P




Last edited by ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) on 20 Sep 2020, 16:14, edited 1 time in total.

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 16:00



By Beyan Negash

...Interestingly, Mesfin Hagos appears to have captured the imagination of these factions, most of whom appear to want him to be the leader of their cause. The Mesfin Hagos phenomenon and the potential pivot it could garner requires a separate article, which will be the third installment. Back to the competing voices for now...
Read more:
http://awate.com/can-mesfin-hagos-lead- ... e-destiny/

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 16:09

Meanwhile, 19 years since the verdict, Badme and the border remains undemarcated. So much for sovereignty. BTW, did weyane conduct elections there also? 😳

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 16:29

Why Isaias Afwerki Invalidated the 1997 Constitution

Saleh Younis May 26, 2014Al-Nahda 278

On May 24, marking the 23rd anniversary of Eritrea’s independence, President Isaias Afwerki had this to say near the conclusion of his address:

“Within the framework of our tasks of nation building, the political infrastructure assumes a vital role as a vehicle to advance our overall objectives. We have gleaned important lessons and experiences from the hostile external schemes aimed at derailing our nation-building endeavours and processes. I would thus like to announce on this occasion that a constitution drafting process will be launched in order to chart out the political road map for the future governmental structure.”

There are four questions related to this:

(I) We already have a constitution that was ratified in 1997; why is there a need to announce the initiation of a process to draft a new one in 2014?
(II) How is the future constitution going to be different from the 1997 constitution?
(III) For the last 14 years, we had been told that all talks of constitution are an indulgence as long as Ethiopia occupies sovereign Eritrean territory. What has changed?
(IV) What now?

I. The Justification for Killing the 1997 Constitution

It’s Christmas 2012 and two individuals who go by the obvious pen names of “Asaminew Ewnetun” and “Aradom Fedai Haqi” pen a “review” of Dr. Bereket Habte Selasse’s books and generously distribute them to all his colleagues. We need not go into the details of their review as awate.com wrote a review of their review and published it on February 2, 2013 (See: http://awate.com/reviewing-the-reviewer ... -selassie/) What matters here is the clues they gave us that Isaias Afwerki had passed a death sentence on the 1997 Constitution. This makes sense only if you accept (as I do) that “Asaminew Ewnetun” and “Aradom Fedai Haqi” are senior members of the Isaias Afwerki regime and, if they are not, they are its messengers.

Here’s the clue they had given us:

“However, while other members of the Executive Committee maintained the highest level of moral and professional integrity that was expected of them, the Chairman had, unbeknownst to them, fatally compromised their autonomy and the legitimacy of the Commission and may have irreparably damaged the future of the constitution.”

Stripped of all its hyperbole, the argument of AE and AFH goes something like this: the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea (CCE) was made up of (1) Dr. Bereket Habteselassie (Chairman), (2) Mr. Azien Yassin, Vice Chairman; (3) Mr. Zemehret Yohannes; Secretary; and the following members: (4) Dr. Amare Tekle, (5) Mr. Idris Gelawdios, (6) Dr. Seyoum Haregot, (7) Ms. Amna Naib, (8) Ms. Zahra Jaber, (9) Mr. Paulos “Ba’Atai” Tesfagiorgis and (10) Mr. Musa Naib. Since 2001, none of the living members of the CCE had anything to say about the absence of constitutional governance in Eritrea because the CCE was duty-bound to be above politics and be autonomous. None except for Dr. Bereket Habteselassie who not only wrote highly-critical articles of Isaias Afwerki but also fraternized with those who want the 1997 constitution amended and revised or annulled. Therefore, he has “fatally compromised [the CCE’s] autonomy and the legitimacy of the Commission and may have irreparably damaged the future of the constitution.”

With his one-sentence announcement, Isaias Afwerki is saying, “you can remove the ‘may’ and conclude that the 1997 constitution is irreparably damaged and I have to start all over again.”

Of course, this is an absurd argument. In Article 25.5, the 1997 Constitution calls, on all citizens (Dr. Bereket and the entire CCE included) “to respect and defend the Constitution” and, in fact, it is all the other living members of the CCE, including all its commissioners, that have done nothing to show their respect for and defense of the Constitution since it was ignored. All except Dr. Bereket Habteselassie and Paulos Tesfagiorgis. So, Isaias Afwerki and the Isaiasists are turning the argument on its head.

The 1997 Constitution had become the cause-celebre of dissidents and the PFDJ had no answer as to why it is the only African country without a constitution. Now it can say that it is “in the process” of drafting one and the process may follow the tortoise-pace: a year, three years, five years and the answer will be that they are writing the constitution from the ground-up and ensuring “participation.”  But why? What has changed?

Well, let’s ask Asamnew and Aradom again. They allow for the possibility that Isaias Afwerki has changed, but they don’t think the change is abrupt but evolutionary:

“It is inconceivable that the personality of a leader, especially a young revolutionary leader, will remain unchanged for decades in spite of inexorable changes, problems and ordeals that are integral components of any revolutionary struggle. His training in revolutionary theory must have molded practice, but experience too must have molded theory. To this are added the vagaries and vicissitudes of struggle as well as relations between, and within, parties and groups. This will have had impacts not only on the development of skills but also on his character.”

II. How the Future Constitution Will Be Different from the 1997 Constitution

Here’s the argument: Isaias had to change because his perception of the world had changed.  The world is not as fair or just as he had believed and he is pleading “lewahnet” (naiveté): We did this (1997 constitution) in good faith and now it is being used against us by our enemies.  So what is likely to happen? How will the future constitution be different from the 1997 constitution?

A. Exclusivity

I am, obviously, speculating here but I would imagine that the process will be more exclusive than it was for the 1997 Constitution whose process was begun in 1995. The 1997 Constitution had Executive Committee members that included former executives of the Eritrean Liberation Front (Azien Yassin and Idris Gelawdios); it had a member that worked for the United Nations (Seyoum Haregot) and it had members that were on the periphery of its doctrines (Bereket Habteselassie and Paulos Tesfagiorgis.) That, obviously, is not going to be repeated because we have learned of “hostile external schemes aimed at derailing our nation-building endeavours and processes.”  The new CCE will be made up of people who check mark all the boxes: how loyal were they to Isaias Afwerki, particularly since 2001? Had they shown any streak of independence? Is their worldview shaped by the prevailing view within the regime that the US is a force for evil? Are they collectivists? Do they think that civil liberties are a luxury until food security is assured and a middle class emerges?  You know: Dr. Ghidewon I, II, III…

Another contrast between the 1997 and future constitution.  Back when the 1997 constitution was being drafted, attending a meeting of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea (CCE) was open: there were no requirements. Only those who, on principle, boycotted it couldn’t attend. Now, my guess is that the boycott will come from the Isaiasists: it will be a closed affair: and only those citizens “in good standing” (2% paying, and no black-list appearing) will be invited.  As Stalin once said in democracies what matters is not who votes but who counts the votes. Similarly, in the constitutional drafting process, if you can control the input, you control the output.

B. Nakfa Values

Back then, in 1995-1997, the PFDJ was interested in maintaining appearances—it wanted respectability in the West and it was praised lavishly for producing a near-perfect document. Now, it has no interest in placating the West and probably considers any praise by the West for any policy a kiss-of-death. My guess is that the articles dealing with civil liberties will be watered down and the balance of power between the citizen and the government will tilt heavily towards the government.  Not just the government, but the president.  It is not a coincidence that Isaias Afwerki described the future constitutional-drafting process as one that will “chart out the political road map for the future governmental structure.” There is no mention of the citizen or his/her rights.  Constitutional drafting is government re-organization.

C. Banning Ex-Post Facto Laws

I am not a lawyer but, I think, with the ratification of a new constitution all acts that were crimes based on the 1997 ratified constitution become ex-post factolaws. As Yemane Gebreab, the political director of PFDJ, once remarked, the 1997 constitution is in full-effect except for a few articles. The problem for him (more precisely, for Isaias Afwerki) is that those few articles deal with fundamental rights of citizens. If a new constitution is written such that all the rights of citizens are subject to many conditions (that only the government decides arbitrarily), then it is no longer a crime to arrest people without charges, to detain them for more than 48 hours, to deny them life and liberty, and all the other nuisances it enumerates in Articles 14 through Articles 17.  And you can’t hold the government liable for doing that between 1997 and the day the future constitution is ratified because that would be ex-post facto.  So, the future constitution is a “get-out-of-jail” card for the regime. In essence, they are saying: you in the opposition gave us no exit strategy and now we are writing our own.

III. Ethiopia Still Occupying Sovereign Eritrean Territory. What Has Changed?

All demands for the implementation of the 1997 ratified constitution were dismissed with the explanation that we are in a no-war, no-peace environment and it is unrealistic to demand constitutionalism. This was always a bogus argument and it will remain a bogus argument but it appears to persuade the “national security” constituency of Eritrea who are not an insignificant number.  But the same argument holds now, that did in 2001 (the sovereign land is still occupied), so what has changed? Nothing. This means that the Eritrean regime may revert back to the same argument to address questions of those who ask why there is no progress in drafting the new constitution.  From an Isaiasist standpoint: having no constitution and no conversation about constitution is better than talking about a constitution; talking about the process of constitution is better than drafting it; drafting it is better than having it; and if you must have it, having one that empowers the government is better than one that empowers the citizen.   We’ve had 17 years of “it’s not the right time to discuss the constitution”; this will be followed by ____ years of talking about it; followed by ____ years of drafting it; followed by ____ years of Isaias Afwerki’s first term in office; followed by ____ years of Isaias Afwerki’s 2nd term….

IV. What Now?

The same debates we have had will continue, with one twist:

• Those who believe that the 1997 constitution was illegitimate because it was exclusionary and reflected the PFDJ value system will continue to dismiss the 1997 and all future constitution designed by one party as unworkable and unsustainable;
• Those who believe that the 1997 constitution was imperfect but a good start and is the most practical way to separate Isaias Afwerki from the EPLF/PFDJ will continue to push for its implementation with the knowledge that the future constitution can only be worse (for reasons stated above);
• Those who believe that the 1997 constitution was “fatally compromised and irreparably damaged” finally have been given the license to say it now and they will wait for the future constitution to arrive on Isaias Afwerki’s timetable.

All of these are issues that are being debated at Awate’s Forum and they will (should) continue to be. They should be fleshed out—from the standpoint of morality and expedience. I think it is fair to say this: the opposition had believed that if you are on the right side of history, the right things will happen and it was fairly weak on the specifics (who? How? When?). The Isaias Afwerki regime had believed that you can out-wait, and out-last your opposition (“resolutely rebuff…”) because they will eventually get tired and give up, only to see the ranks of the opposition (pardon me, the “so-called opposition”) swelling to which it invariably answered “what opposition?” even as it was forced to have its meetings in secret and spent most of its time in a bunker mentality about its enemies.

The only thing that has changed is that the Isaiasists who were supportive of the 1997 constitution and were too cowed to call for it because it is not the right time now have been licensed (by the Tortoise Himself) that it is ok to say it was fatally flawed and compromised and we are going to write a pristine constitution.

http://awate.com/why-isaias-afwerki-inv ... stitution/

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 16:53

SALEH YOUNIS
 VIDEO: In Eritrea, The Leader Is Always Wrong

 23 JULY 2020

My people.  Know yourself and know your enemy, and don’t be too squeamish to call your adversary an enemy.

Eritrea, with its loyalty days.  Independence Day is giving way to Martyr’s Day, the sequence appearing to foreshadow Eritrea’s fate: a country independent enough to sacrifice but not sufficiently sovereign to be free: i.e., popular sovereignty, highest expression of sovereignty. Eritrea is one of the few countries in Africa (Burkino Faso, Guyana, Togo & Zimbabwe) which remembers its martyrs AFTER it remembers its independence days, but none with days so close to each other.  So it moves from fireworks to candles, all organized by its single legal party. To celebrate, then remember the price paid for the celebration. Both are real, commemorating the fruition of the quest for self-determination, and the highest price paid for it. But because it is in the very nature and self-interest of the band of misfits ruling over the country, it had to sully both days: uncoupling independence from freedom and pairing martyrdom with dictatorship.  There is only one way to restore their true meaning, a subject we will explore here...


https://asmarino.com/articles/151-video ... ways-wrong

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 17:47

Do I belive in a country with a Constitution & a democracy, where political positions are earned by the ballot & are time limited?

YES!

Will we Eritreans reach there, without a civil war & bloodshed?

DEFINITELY!

Do I want justice to be transparent & that we must be told the whole story & with documentary evidence, what all those arrested for political reasons are accused of?

ABSOLUTELY!

When- is the obvious next question & my answer to that is- never before the total demise of the weyane (considering their arrest is related to them) & the return of our occupied lands.

Why?

Because the weyane & their lapdogs will use that as an opportunity for creating chaos & discord in society, & as relief from the predicament they finds themselves into. Stuck into a corner, they see Eritrea as a way out.

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 18:17

:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :oops: :oops: :evil: :evil:
The boogieman is always your agame excuse to suffocate, muzzle, and smother the Eritrean people to death. What good is it after the people have been emaciated, indoctrinated, exiled and culturally extinct? Moron, as they say in America "...the baby with the bathwater".

Ugum idiot will always be ugum idiot
because it's like putting "lipstick on a pig"
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 17:47
Do I belive in a country with a Constitution & a democracy, where political positions are earned by the ballot & are time limited?

YES!

Will we Eritreans reach there, without a civil war & bloodshed?

DEFINITELY!

Do I want justice to be transparent & that we must be told the whole story & with documentary evidence, what all those arrested for political reasons are accused of?

ABSOLUTELY!

When- is the obvious next question & my answer to that is- never before the total demise of the weyane (considering their arrest is related to them) & the return of our occupied lands.

Why?

Because the weyane & their lapdogs will use that as an opportunity for creating chaos & discord in society, & as relief from the predicament they finds themselves into. Stuck into a corner, they see Eritrea as a way out.

Fiyameta
Senior Member
Posts: 12335
Joined: 02 Aug 2018, 22:59

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Fiyameta » 20 Sep 2020, 18:19

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 14:49
The evil agame Awash/QB loves to see his own Tigray people suffer, while he's making money trafficking the Tegaru victims to Yemen.
Please wait, video is loading...
Please wait, video is loading...
Please wait, video is loading...


Guess where in Tigray the evil agame hyena Awash/QB/Justice Seeker.. is from? :P :P





Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 18:33

The question is rather why it itches you so terribly everytime I wish the demise of some CERTIFIED ugum idiots, who're hated & wanted by everyone in the neighbourhood & now lodged in some hotel in tgray killil?

The same kith & kin! :lol:

Otherwise, you would've zero problems with their demise AND openness in Eritrea. For a normal person (especially of the Eritrean variety) both options would've been good & dandy but naah- not for you!

The weyane must survive at any cost, ምሽ? :lol:

Awash wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:17
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :oops: :oops: :evil: :evil:
The boogieman is always your agame excuse to suffocate, muzzle, and smother the Eritrean people to death. What good is it after the people have been emaciated, indoctrinated, exiled and culturally extinct? Moron, as they say in America "...the baby with the bathwater".

Ugum idiot will always be ugum idiot
because it's like putting "lipstick on a pig"
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 17:47
Do I belive in a country with a Constitution & a democracy, where political positions are earned by the ballot & are time limited?

YES!

Will we Eritreans reach there, without a civil war & bloodshed?

DEFINITELY!

Do I want justice to be transparent & that we must be told the whole story & with documentary evidence, what all those arrested for political reasons are accused of?

ABSOLUTELY!

When- is the obvious next question & my answer to that is- never before the total demise of the weyane (considering their arrest is related to them) & the return of our occupied lands.

Why?

Because the weyane & their lapdogs will use that as an opportunity for creating chaos & discord in society, & as relief from the predicament they finds themselves into. Stuck into a corner, they see Eritrea as a way out.

Awash
Senior Member+
Posts: 30273
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 00:35

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Awash » 20 Sep 2020, 18:44

You stupid idiot, it's easy for you to wait for the agame junta to fulfill it's obligation to the Eritrean people while enjoying the freedoms and liberty in the West. You could care less, you self-centered baztard about those thousands languishing in undergroundcells and refugee camps due to the draconian and harsh treatment by the Agame savages. Idiot, you talk about weyane, melt, etc. etc. to create an excuse to swindle the Eritrean people of their hard gained right to be free from oppression.
Biszbiss Agame
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:33
The question is rather why it itches you so terribly, everytime I wish the demise of some CERTIFIED ugum idiots, hated & wanted by everyone in the neighbourhood lodged in some hotel in killil tgray?

The same kith & kin! :lol:

Otherwise, you would've zero problems with their demise AND openness in Eritrea. For a normal person (especially of the Eritrean variety) both options would've been good & dandy but naah- not for you!

The weyane must survive at any cost, ምሽ? :lol:

Awash wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:17
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :oops: :oops: :evil: :evil:
The boogieman is always your agame excuse to suffocate, muzzle, and smother the Eritrean people to death. What good is it after the people have been emaciated, indoctrinated, exiled and culturally extinct? Moron, as they say in America "...the baby with the bathwater".

Ugum idiot will always be ugum idiot
because it's like putting "lipstick on a pig"
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 17:47
Do I belive in a country with a Constitution & a democracy, where political positions are earned by the ballot & are time limited?

YES!

Will we Eritreans reach there, without a civil war & bloodshed?

DEFINITELY!

Do I want justice to be transparent & that we must be told the whole story & with documentary evidence, what all those arrested for political reasons are accused of?

ABSOLUTELY!

When- is the obvious next question & my answer to that is- never before the total demise of the weyane (considering their arrest is related to them) & the return of our occupied lands.

Why?

Because the weyane & their lapdogs will use that as an opportunity for creating chaos & discord in society, & as relief from the predicament they finds themselves into. Stuck into a corner, they see Eritrea as a way out.

Roha
Member
Posts: 2120
Joined: 17 Feb 2011, 00:38

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Roha » 20 Sep 2020, 18:59

"United" what kind of dictionary are you using.
The only united force in Eritrea is Isaias's faction.
I had never seen real Arabs united let alone their slaves.
Are you still learning from Sudan, Yemen, Syria ....
It is hard to teach Arab slaves any lesson.

Zmeselo
Senior Member+
Posts: 33606
Joined: 30 Jul 2010, 20:43

Re: Eritrean opposition parties move closer together

Post by Zmeselo » 20 Sep 2020, 19:06

Yeah, yeah....we've heard all that before and your acid tears of a crockodile, but now find it within yourself and repeat after me if it's in any way possible for you to do!

Say:

DEATH TO THE WEYANE!

Say it, if you're eritrean!


Awash wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:44
You stupid idiot, it's easy for you to wait for the agame junta to fulfill it's obligation to the Eritrean people while enjoying the freedoms and liberty in the West. You could care less, you self-centered baztard about those thousands languishing in undergroundcells and refugee camps due to the draconian and harsh treatment by the Agame savages. Idiot, you talk about weyane, melt, etc. etc. to create an excuse to swindle the Eritrean people of their hard gained right to be free from oppression.
Biszbiss Agame
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:33
The question is rather why it itches you so terribly, everytime I wish the demise of some CERTIFIED ugum idiots, hated & wanted by everyone in the neighbourhood lodged in some hotel in killil tgray?

The same kith & kin! :lol:

Otherwise, you would've zero problems with their demise AND openness in Eritrea. For a normal person (especially of the Eritrean variety) both options would've been good & dandy but naah- not for you!

The weyane must survive at any cost, ምሽ? :lol:

Awash wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 18:17
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :oops: :oops: :evil: :evil:
The boogieman is always your agame excuse to suffocate, muzzle, and smother the Eritrean people to death. What good is it after the people have been emaciated, indoctrinated, exiled and culturally extinct? Moron, as they say in America "...the baby with the bathwater".

Ugum idiot will always be ugum idiot
because it's like putting "lipstick on a pig"
Zmeselo wrote:
20 Sep 2020, 17:47
Do I belive in a country with a Constitution & a democracy, where political positions are earned by the ballot & are time limited?

YES!

Will we Eritreans reach there, without a civil war & bloodshed?

DEFINITELY!

Do I want justice to be transparent & that we must be told the whole story & with documentary evidence, what all those arrested for political reasons are accused of?

ABSOLUTELY!

When- is the obvious next question & my answer to that is- never before the total demise of the weyane (considering their arrest is related to them) & the return of our occupied lands.

Why?

Because the weyane & their lapdogs will use that as an opportunity for creating chaos & discord in society, & as relief from the predicament they finds themselves into. Stuck into a corner, they see Eritrea as a way out.

Post Reply