Assab not Badme is the burning issue of our future struggle

By Gobezay Wedi-Tigray, M.A., April30, 2002

Allow me to mention first, my admiration to the pen name called GebreAmlak & Dr. Solomon Inqui, during the war of 1998 - 2000. I used to read their articles with joy and satisfaction. Since the Algiers Agreement GebreAmlak never wrote any article anywhere in the Internet.

 

Since the split of TPLF,  Dr. Solomon stoop low. He angered many Ethiopians in Diaspora during and after the split of TPLF. With his article "The Best Teacher is the Best Student", he tried to teach us how committed he has been in the country comparing to the Diaspora Ethiopians. Get serious, would you? We have only witnessed, what greed and power can do to respected people like you, once upon a time.

 

On April 22, 02 in IRIN web site, on the title of Tigray officials need clarification, he pops up again with his beautiful smile and baby face in gray hair calling the independent Boundary Commission to clarify, once and for all, whether the controversial village of Badme lies in Ethiopian territory or not. Here he is. With all due respect, please ask your own boss, to why Tserona & Fort Cadona was awarded by your own boss as undisputed Eritrean territories & about the coast line in the East Sector of our country. Are you chickening to the big Guerrilla that you made from the little man, during the Cadre meeting in Mekelle by yourself?

 

Of course, we care for our land. Ethiopians will ask the lost territories, when we have the real Ethiopian government at heart with the interest of Ethiopia, be it Tserona, Tesena, Debra Bezain, Kunama land, Tekombia, Sheshabit, Shelalo, Afar land et cetera with the people in them. Why is that, then, the Doctor is asking only about the small village called Badme, when all the above territories are under Eritrean occupation on the permission of his treasonous boss Mr. Abebe, Meles or Legessa. There is always two stories and reasons behind everything. One is the truth and another - the lies to mislead the people.

 

After the Boundary Commissions decision, the liar Foreign Minister, Seyoum Mesfin, made shamelessly a heroic theatrics on ETV to show the Ethiopian people that Ethiopia won, 100%, of all the disputed territories. Now, we know of all the fuss & farce, Ethiopia won 25% and Eritrea won 75% of all the claims. Where is the Ethiopian victory, or are you happy for Eritrea? The people of Ethiopia already knew that the Meles government is a collective compulsive liar of liars. The people of Addis Ababa gave a living testimony to their lies, the very next day, by unspoken words & by not showing up on the stage of the Meskal Addebabay ignoring the call for the celebration of the Verdict. It tells a lot to whom who wants to listen and learn. But, it is not in the habit of TPLF to listen & learn from people. Shame on you.

 

It is only in today’s Ethiopia when both countries (Ethiopia & Eritrea) won a case in court and both are happy about the outcome of the ruling. Ha Ha, I am laughing, while my heart is bleeding by the traitorous & treasonous regime of the Meles government for selling out my country. On the contrary though, Eritreans are laughing a good laugh, and praising Meles for his commitment to the Integrity of Eritrea. Here is the version of their happiness from the Pencil of Awate.com under a title; We Have The Comb; Let’s Grow The Hair.  
(6) Meles Fuels The Fire: There is a loud conspiratorial group of Ethiopians who believe that Meles Zenawi is an Eritrean agent. Mr. Meles Zenawi (and his lawyers) have given this group an ammunition (as if they needed more) to make their claim that he has Eritrea’s and not Ethiopia’s interest at heart: If one reads 4.69 and 4.70, of the report one finds this bombshell: <<…The words used by Ethiopia were that "Fort Cadorna, Monoxeito, Guna Guna and Tserona" were mostly "undisputed… Eritrean places."…..the Commission finds that, on the basis of the evidence before it, Tserona and Fort Cadorno are not. As to Tserona, the Commission cannot fail to give effect to Ethiopia’s statement, made formally in a written pleading submitted to the Commission. It is an admission of which the Commission must take full account. It is necessary, therefore, to adjust the Treaty line, so as to ensure that it is placed in Eritrean territory. >> Natna aynhbn; zeynatna entehabkumna w’n ayntSel’en, roughly in Amharic translation mine, "yegna ansetem, yegna yalhona betesetunm anetelam." My comment to the Pencil is; you got a lot of our land, grow teff not hair, and have fork not comb; and you will be okay singing Bizaban Meles not Meshela (Mashila), but Taff (Teff) Yeitahafas (Yitafas).

 

In response to the pencil Wedi Eritrea writes under the title of "How about Integrity" on April 23 as follows: Until I read the above paragraphs of the Awate team, I always thought that both governments are liars with no Integrity. Now, The Pencil is telling me that in fact Meles Zenawi government has shown some Integrity by giving a written statement admitting that Tserona is undisputed Eritrean territory, and it has been awarded to Eritrea because of his Integrity (Wow!!!). For the record, I would like to say: Thank you Mr. Meles Zenawi for showing some Integrity and advising the Boundary Commission to award us Tserona, which you rightly stated that it is undisputed Eritrean land. The Ethiopian opposition is quite justified if it criticizes the Meles government for something as substantial as the above. We hope, however, that it does not store up this grievance, in their collection of grievances, as a pretext for future enmity and bloodshed with Eritrea."

 

Yes, Meles has been insulted as Chenawi or Shetata, by Eritreans during the war when he was out of the control of his power (remember the days of rumors, when Meles was presumed under house arrest). Eritreans in those days were as Bees who lost their Queen Bee, the same as Ethiopians feeling these days. But now, Meles has been thanked as a hero for showing Integrity to Eritrea. What these writers are hiding to mention intentionally is that, when Meles is showing Integrity to Eritrea, he is committing  the opposite to Ethiopia, which means TREASON. I am sure, you heard it all. We knew it all along from the start of the split of TPLF. We knew it all along, the split of TPLF was about the SOVERIGNTY of Ethiopia. I admit, we got our price for the silly and stupid mistakes the dissents did. I don’t have no respect for the so called dissents.

 

Shabians can call us names the same as Meles: Maximalists, Extremists, Chauvinists, Expansionists, Undemocratic, Assab Manic et cetera. Nevertheless, Shabia can’t get away with cheating from within Ethiopia for ever. Anything and everything has its own price. We paid the price for Menelik’s fault, didn’t we??? We are paying the price for Weyane leaders mistakes, didn’t we???  I assure you, you will pay the price for Shabias greed, dishonesty, illegality, unfaithfulness and mistakes, when the time bomb explodes.

 

We are legally, traditionally, historically legitimate owners of the port of Assab and our boundary is the Red sea. We have asked about Assab yesterday, we are asking now & we are going to demand on its return to the rightful of its owners - the Ethiopian people. While Meles and Bereket are telling lies and nonsense to the Ethiopian people, here are some facts about the Eastern Sector, how Meles ceded our Afar land and Assab. If Meles had the Interest of Ethiopia at heart, he would have gone to the International Court of Justice in Hague, which is better than the Border Commission, which does not have no power to make decisions ex aequo et bono. Please refer to the wonderful articles written by Mr. Tseggai Mebrahtu’s, to observe the differences about Border Commission, Arbitration & International Law of Justice; as it has been posted in BEN web site. Mr. Tseggai Mebrahtu has clearly incited us on the legal basis as follows & I hope he will continue writing: The main aim now is to cede Ethiopian territories under the pretext of border demarcation. In fact it is not the Border Commission which is to determine if there is a territorial cession or not. It is the EPRDF government which has already accepted the territorial cession when it signed the Algiers Agreement. The fact that it preferred to "submit the case" to an arbitration tribunal (don't confuse it with a court) is not innocent. ….  In fact it is the Ethiopian government which has decided the cession of Ethiopian territories by agreeing to submit the case to an arbitration commission. Because, the commission's work is limited to implementing the provisions of the Algiers Agreement. Click1 and Click2

 

For now, I would like you to concentrate with the definition of coast line & examine how the Meles regime accepted our territorial cession to Eritrea.
6.9 The Parties agree that the origin of the "sixty kilometers from the coast" formula was a recommendation by Emperor Menelik in 1897 to Major Nerazzini, the Italian negotiator. Eritrea adduced material to sustain its contention that from 1897 until the conclusion of the 1908 Treaty, the "60 kilometres-from-the-coast" formula served as a modus vivendi. Ethiopia did not contest the existence of the modus vivendi prior to 1908. Ask yourself why not?
6.13 Eritrea has contended that the 1908 Treaty "effected a delimitation" and that "all that remains to be done is to apply the Article I delimitation formula to a map of the area." Ethiopia contested this assertion. Say, thank you.
6.14 The Commission considers that Eritrea’s contention is not well-founded. …. Moreover, the boundary which was purportedly "delimited" in 1908 was not a natural boundary, such as an identifiable river or watershed, but was only a formula, the application of which required a series of subsidiary decisions on other critical matters, e.g., the meaning to be attributed to the word "coast" in Article I, and the point at which the boundary was to commence. To me, it was not a natural boundary means the whole boundary is open for negotiation, if we had had the right government who cares for the interest of Ethiopia at heart. We simply don’t.
6.18 Eritrea has contended that the boundary has already been delimited by the arcs of circles method, as evidenced by many maps produced since 1908, …. the arcs of circles– does not produce a result that is wholly congruent with many of the maps that it entered into evidence. Say Amen to the later statement.

 

(c) The meaning of the "coast"
6.19 The first question that arises in the application of Article I of the Treaty is the definition of the coast. Ethiopia abandoned its conception of the coast as including islands and submitted in its concluding argument that "the coastline" should be understood as "adhering continuously to the continent itself, and not any coastlines of islands as such." This was also the position presented by Eritrea. As the Parties are in agreement on this point, the Commission will take as the coastline the line adhering to the continent itself, and not any coastlines of islands. Yehig Yaleh Bal Yagerie Lij. What kind of a government abandons its own conception of the coast as including islands, when the government of Ethiopia clearly knows that the country will gain an enormous land. It is only in today’s Ethiopia, the government of Meles, who is abandoning the coast to start from the islands, thereby rewarding Eritrea with unspecified and unknown land to Eritrea. Here is the man who is telling us day in & day out with his deeds, asking about Assab is tantamount to the destruction of Ethiopia, while he himself is destroying it by the cover up of Border Commission. If you have any guts, Dr. Solomon, I call upon you to ask your boss in Addis about this. Otherwise, I urge you to stop hoodwinking the Ethiopian people in general, the Tigrian people in particular. Please STOP.

 

6.20 The respective methods which Eritrea and Ethiopia proposed for implementation of Article I of the 1908 Treaty are striking in that in many sectors of the proposed boundary they produce congruent or nearly congruent results. As will be recalled, Article I provides, in relevant part, that "the boundary proceeds . . . parallel to and at a distance of 60 km from the coast." Don’t we know it, they are both Shabians and can only achieve the same goal.
6.24 The Commission will not address the effectivités adduced by the Parties with respect to activities prior to the conclusion of the 1908 Treaty, as the terms of the Treaty make it clear that the Parties intended that the effect of such activities should not be taken into account. *The Commission shall not have the power to make decisions ex aequo et bono.* Yes, we know, Meles and Isayas did it knowingly not to give a chance to the Law of Justice. We never expected anything from the man, who believes his mother is Eritrean, and his father is something. Did we?

 

Therefore, the worst of our worry is not about Badme & its environs, or Tserona & its environs, Zalambasa -Irob & its environs; but it is about the Afar people, the Afar land & Assab, which is deep in the heart of hearts. The people in power, like Meles & Bereket, have told us repeatedly: "Assab belongs to Eritea; Assab is a done and dead deal in 1983 when Eritrea became independent; let Assab be a drinking hole; Ethiopia can be prosperous country with out Assab; there is a hidden motive behind Assab by Opposition Parties; asking Assab is war mongering; we didn’t go to war for Assab; we don’t exchange peace & development for Assab; to Ask about Assab is to deny Eritrean independence; we will never question about Assab; Assab is not the burning issue for Ethiopia et cetera." Libalwat yalu wajegra teblo yela. In his recent interview, Meles purposely mixes the question of Assab with independent Eritrea, with Nakfa and Massawa; with democracy and development, finally, there is a hidden warning the same as Isayas in Shabia.org, about the destruction of Ethiopia, if we continue questioning about Assab. Bereket is also mixing the Ethiopian port of Assab with ports of Sudan, Mombassa, and Djibouti to confuse the people of Ethiopia, Click. We heard it all & the Ethiopian people have eaten the hope of Meles’s & Bereket’s bread from the skies for 11years. I wonder, how low Meles thinks the Ethiopians intelligence is? If Assab is not the burning issue of Ethiopia, what is??? No country in the world has jumped within these 4 years to 4 ports as Ethiopia did. You can jump and run from port to port, but you can’t hide the fact & the need for Assab. The question of Assab is endless & unstoppable. Needless to stress, your talk is cheap. It is the work of art of Thugs to hoodwink the public, the work of deception, the work of evil, and the work of Shabia, period. Since the birth of TPLF, you have cheated us for 27 years of our struggle. If asking about our port of Assab is denying the Independence of Eritrea, so be it, nobody cares for the so called Independence anyway, which was orchestrated not by the people of Ethiopia, but by Meles himself. Isn’t it??

 

Even if it is too late for public consumption, Tamirat Layne has already spelt it out in Reporter. Tamirat gave a living testimony, how Democratic Centralism (DC) works; and made him to live in agony and fear for so long without speaking out, imprisoned by DC in his own self  in his cell for asking about Assab and other Ethiopian issues. Anybody could learn, how Democratic Centralism spills terror to the hearts of human beings from Tamirat and the TPLF dissents, meaning they still don’t speak what they know. Now, Tamirat claims he is free of DC and narrow nationalism. I wish Meles would free himself from DC and narrow Eritrean nationalism. I feel sorry for TPLF/EPRDF blindfolded followers who are following these naive and foolish organization, terrorized by DC, with greed on their bellies, while their country is heading to catastrophe. Ethiopians didn’t need Tamirat or dissents to catch up with Shabia. They knew what was/is going on. After all, the black market was wide spread public secret. The Tigrians in Zalambasa were the one who blocked the black market and the flood of goods by Shabia to Eritrea. The war of 1998 was halted first by Tigrian people & Militias. It is the people of Ethiopia who have changed the system from time immemorial and who are going to change the system as they did with Fascist DERG. On the contrary, the central government in Addis let the Ethiopian people down now and again. To my knowledge, the central government of Addis was too late, purposely, in responding to anything against Shabia. We are part of the public, we know. We opposed the independence of Eritrea. We knew ahead of time, what Meles wants to achieve by kicking out the dissents. We knew, he was a sell out. We knew what the outcome of the Hague Verdict will be, before it was announced. We denounced it, NULL and VOID, before the Verdict in Hague. Didn’t We??? Yes, we did.

 

Now, the long feared night mere is beginning. The future Frontier Dispute is not Badme, but it is Assab and its environs. These days, what to do next is the question asked by Ethiopians. The Eritreans, who got unconditional support from Meles & Bereket by the defunct colonial treaties of 1900, 1902 & 1908, know it well that Ethiopians will never sleep in peace until justice prevailed & till Assab is in the hands of Ethiopians.

 

The struggle in peaceful means about Afar people, Afar land with Assab have began with the Frontiers of ARDUF, EDP, AAPA, CAFPDE & ONC. I would like to congratulate EDP, which is standing tall everyday on the dual sharp knife pushing the question of Assab. It is the right question in the right time. Asking about Assab is a night mere, which weakens Meles’s knees and his power. It puts the Meles regime in a dilemma & political crisis. It exposes him more naked by the day for who he is - a hidden wolf. He can’t go on cheating. By asking Assab and its environs, the dreams of Meles and Isayas to use Assab as a sucking leech in the economy of Ethiopia to create Eritrean-Singapore is going to be shattered. That is the reason, to why, the Eritrean Agent Meles Zenawi is prohibiting EDP and the Ethiopian people from voicing their concern on Assab and border issue on April 28, 2002 based on Ethiopian constitutional rights. If Meles doesn’t allow peaceful demonstration, then What??? The right direction to pursue the struggle by all means necessary, by peaceful means or otherwise, must therefore be, the Afar people, the Afar land and Assab as our port. Remember, Meles and his disciples want us to concentrate our efforts on Badme. Nita Bhialla reported on April 27 on BBC that The Ethiopian Government has closed its borders to all UN peace keepers deployed near Badme. What a joke. Ethiopians should reason out behind the seen & forget about Badme for now. We shouldn’t get trapped where Meles, Berekat, Seyoum, Sebhat, Dr. Solomon, Nesanet et cetera want us to be. Lets focus on Our God given border being  Red sea and our port being Assab. Believe me, other things will fall in place after the resolution of Assab and its environs.

 

I believe, the time of writing and reasoning with this regime is long gone. It wasn’t there in the first place any way. This is the time of action to all responsible Ethiopians. The tasks upon us is most difficult & precious. We have two Shabias of the same coin who work for Eritrea; one in Ethiopia being Meles and the other in Eritrea being Isayas. Our first task is to root out the enemy from within Ethiopia, i.e. the Eritrean Agents. Nobody is going to stop us from marching to Assab by being hand in glove with the Afar people to hold Shabia’s hand in both countries.

 

I hereby say GOODBYE to all of you with sadness, anger and frustration about the whole revolution, about what happened to the Tigrian revolution - Weyane saying Wey Ana (in Tigrigna) or Wayow Enie (in Amharic). Weyane/EPRDF has been an instrument of Shabia within Ethiopia, it must go for ever to the anal of history. Remember & never forget: The Tigrian people has given their precious daughters and sons at all times against all kinds of enemies from within or from outside, thus, I don’t believe for a second, this was the result what the Tigrian people had fought and hoped for, for 27 years. At the same token, never in the history of Ethiopia, Tigrians have been used as they did by Shabia at this moment. We shall fight against the evil Shabia, till justice is done on our land. We should stand united till the enemy - Shabia rooted out. I call upon OLF and other separatist groups, who have been & are going to be used by Shabia, to cooperate and unite their struggle with their fellow Ethiopians for the Unity of Ethiopia. If there is anything that this revolution have thought us is learning from the mistakes of TPLF and standing tall with PRIDE and UNITY being Ethiopians. Don’t be an instrument of Shabia. The Meles-Isayas trick of separatism is done. The time of separatist movement is over, the struggle for UNITED Ethiopia just began.

 

Down With Shabia !!!
Down with TPLF/EPRDF!!!
Unity to all Ethiopians !!!
LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA !!!