The Puppet and the Puppet Master

G. E. Gorfu

Having served as a conduit for arms into Somalia and deployed his men with the International Islamists and ICU, Issayas of Eritrea had thought Ethiopia was doomed to defeat and chaos. He might even have thought of a back door attack from Eritrea.

Once the courageous Ethiopian army destroyed all those mish-mash ICU fighters and captured Mogadishu, it was clear things had not gone as Issayas had planned. Even though Islamist leadership had announced, Issays Afewerki and Hosni Mubarak acknowledged, and directly pointed at Issayas as their arms delivery man, he and his cohorts denied vehemently any involvement. They even accused Ethiopia of making fake Eritrean passports for the dead Somali fighters. Well, some fighters were captured alive, and we now learn there even is an Eritrean prisoner with the rank of Colonel, so the truth will be out soon. Issayas already with an egg on his face can expect more disgrace.

What we need to know here however, is that though the plans of Issayas went haywire and his hopes of defeating Ethiopia were dashed, the plans of the puppet master, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, are intact and going as expected, and in line with the long held policy of Egypt to “keep Ethiopia in a continuous misery and mess.” As long as Egypt keeps Ethiopian hands tied with these kinds of wars and skirmishes, preventing it from any serious progress and development, its plans are accomplished in full. As long as Ethiopia deploys its human capital and financial resources into these wars every five to ten years, and does not focus on the development of the Abay River, Egypt’s plans are executed in full. That is its whole strategy. This plan was articulated over a hundred years ago by Munsinger and adopted by Khedive Ismail, the then ruler of Egypt. (1)

What then is Issays Afewerki doing in Sharm-Asheik with Hosni Mubarak only a few days after the defeat of Islamist forces in Somalia? What else could he be doing except giving a full report to his boss of what orders were given, what his men did, and what took place. More importantly, however, Issayas is there to receive additional instructions from the puppet master on what to do next to keep Ethiopia in a continuous mess.

That is why Ethiopia needs to move its intelligence up a notch and become proactive to prepare in advance for the scheming hands of Egypt. Even though Ethiopia has never done Egypt any harm, with Abay River in our land, Egyptians will never leave Ethiopia alone to develop its land and water. That is the threat they see. And they live in fear.

1) Werner Munzinger, Khedive Ismail’s mercenary, articulated his master’s policy towards Ethiopia as follows: “Ethiopia with a disciplined administration and army, and a friend of the European Powers, is a danger for Egypt. Egypt must either take over Ethiopia and Islamize it, or retain it in anarchy and misery.” From: http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2005/02/18-02-05/What.htm