By Alem Asfaw
Greetings from Ethiopia.
What very few have predicted has happened. The Americans have completed the liberation of 'Eritrea' in order to control the Red Sea strategic point. Assab is now in their firm grip. So much for the small minds in the likes of Meles who arrogantly and unashamedly stated that Assab will be a 'drinking well for the camels' of Afarland. Thanks to Meles’ arrogance and other anti-Ethiopia reasons to which he is privy, Assab has now for the time being become a safe zone for the destructive anti-Ethiopia elements.
Whether it is a blessing or a curse time will tell. What is evident is that Assab has become a strategically important American Military base. The question now is why did the Americans take the long arduous route of controlling Assab through the surrogate Isayas instead of dealing with Ethiopia?
There are many ideas floating around to answer this question. Time does not permit to list all and do a good job of explaining to the satisfaction of the inquisitive reader. But is it because America believes that a strong Ethiopia will be a force to reckon with having its own agenda of how the African horn should look like? Or because America believes that Ethiopia is friendly with anti-American forces compared to Isayas's creation? Or because the Americans believe that the world re-known resiliency of the Ethiopians, their sense of freedom, their insistence on freedom from coercion of any foreign power as exhibited during the Italian invasion does not create a conducive situation for Americans to extract everything they want from Ethiopia? Again time will reveal the reason for the unprincipled stand the successive US administrations took against Ethiopia.
As late as the late 1980’s the Americans
officially declared their support for one indivisible nation Ethiopia. In the
1930's and 40's the Americans talked of Ethiopia having her own sea access if
the proposed Federation was to fail. But in 1991 they brokered an agreement
between TPLF and EPLF to deny Ethiopia its coastal outlet. The US administration
knew that Ethiopia was not represented in this negotiation that was signed by
the two anti-Ethiopia forces. Nonetheless, the United States made a decision
that has altered the face of the nation for decades to come. The American people
must be informed of their government’s role in destabilizing Africa’s oldest
nation.
The Ethiopians do not have an interest that is
contrary to the United States. The United States, however, has failed to
understand the nature of Ethiopians. It was not Isayas, a self-depreciating
individual with undiminished love for his colonial masters that allowed the
United States to have a military base in Ethiopia. During the rein of Emperor
Haileselassie, the United States enjoyed the full support and friendship of the
Ethiopians. It is the Americans that abandoned the old Kagnew Station (Military
base in Asmara). No one forced them out. Instead it was a result of a
shortsighted US interest that resulted in the closure of the Military base. The
United States has no problem shifting its interests as it deems are necessary.
As was the case in the 1991 EPRDF/EPLF infamous agreement brokered by the United
States, the Carter administration abandoned Ethiopia in the early 1980’s when
it was openly invaded by Somalia. The US administration sided with the unstable
Somalia. That made the brutal Derg more brutal, and Ethiopia under the Derg
became dependent on Russia to defend itself. In the last two decades the United
States has not played any positive role to help Ethiopia at all. In fact, it has
played a major role in the international conspiracy that has now denied Ethiopia
its sea access. With the cooperation and assistance of the internal mole, Meles
Zenawi Ethiopia has now been declared landlocked.
Eritrea has now become a country. By handing over Assab to the Americans it has bought an assurance for its existence. It remains to be seen how the Americans will act when a popularly elected democratic government of Ethiopia replaces Meles and demands the return of assab to Ethiopia.
Temporarily, Meles and Isayas have crossed the hurdles. Isayas will reign in peace. Meles’ fate is doubtful. The ever increasing opposition within the country is creating an uncomfortable situation for his rule. It is doubtful that he will use more brute and overt force to suppress the opposition than he is doing now. If the present resistance continues Meles maybe forced to look for a safe exit from power.
Looking at the big picture and down the road, it is inevitable for people of the region to realize that they have the same fate. When the days of the dictators are over normalization in the real sense will happen. It will of course take time to correct the wrongs done by the cursed generation that has brought so much death and disaster to the people of Ethiopia. This aberration of history that has created so much animosity between people of the same origin, history and language will die away when the likes of Meles and Isayas are denied any role in the coming generations of the horn.
A last word to my American friends: The short-sighted foreign policy that the US Administration is following is not beneficial to the long-term interest of the people of the United States. The US government should make an effort to align its interest with the interest of smaller nations such Ethiopia. It should not base its decisions based on scanty information and hasty consultations conducted by junior officers who neither have the capacity nor the interest to think in terms of long term strategic interests of the United States. As Ethiopia is going to be a witness, their advice and ‘expertise’ would endanger the long term interest of Ethiopia and the United States. It is my hope that US policy makers examine the situation Ethiopia is in now, and come out with an acceptable solution that would satisfy the aspirations of sixty four million Ethiopians and continue to build the historical friendship of our two nations. Isayas who have through intrigues and innuendoes managed to curve the cost of Ethiopia and call it Eritrea will in no way be an ally of the American people.
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