A fresh round of war?

Message from Eritrea
March 24, 2005

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I have come to learn that a fresh round of war is overshadowing the
poor
peoples of both countries. The leaders of both impoverished countries
are
heard and noticed swearing and brandishing their swords at each other.

However, our dear leader’s fingers (DIA) seem to be more around the
trigger
ready to “drive back” the Ethiopians from the contested land, which
seems to
have opened its “festivity” for the fourth time in the likely war.

Our dear President’s insatiable drive for war is sending many
youngsters to
the trenches. As a result, Eritreans from all walks life have given up
on
their future life, because what lay in store for them are death,
destruction, poverty and so on in the seemingly unending war for
regional
power. My country is already stuck in the quagmire of poverty and
underdevelopment resulting from the irresponsible and impulsive acts of
our
leader. The upcoming effort coming out of our brainy leader is to
plunge us
more into a pith dark hell from which it will be too difficult, if not
impossible, to emerge and stand on our feet.

Dear readers, the unquenchable nature of our dear DIA is enigma to me:
a
puzzle I wasted too much time on to get the answer but to no avail.
Part of
me tries to convince me that this man is leading us to development
witnessing to some development projects, and the other part of me
questions
with bewilderment the pernicious and intractable trail dear president
is
following.

What is the sinister scheme on the back of the big brother’s
“smart” mind to send thousands of innocent Eritreans like me to the
slaughter house?

Are we borne to suffer under paranoid and devil-like
leaders like dear DIA? Who is backing these two leaders kill their own
people by exacerbating the situation in the war-battered region?

When
will
DIA and his clone in Ethiopia be ready to listen to people’s suffering,
anguish and affliction which have fallen on their deaf ears?

A Puzzle!

Haile Tewelde

Asmara, Eritrea

Ethiopia, Eritrea risk starting a new war: UN envoy

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Ethiopia and Eritrea run the risk of starting a new war over a long-running border dispute, with tensions being fueled by irresponsible arms sales to both impoverished African nations, a senior United Nations official said on Thursday.

“Time is running out. Both countries are acquiring additional arms, increasing the number of forces at their borders,” said former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, the special U.N. envoy for Ethiopia and Eritrea.

“I still believe however that war can averted,” he told Parliament’s foreign affairs committee in Ottawa.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war from 1998 to 2000 in which more than 70,000 people died.

The conflict ended with a peace deal that set up a commission to determine where the border should lie. Ethiopia, which objects to some of the commission’s conclusions, recently moved troops into the buffer zone along the border.

Axworthy noted the two sides had adopted “a more military tone to the dialogue” and called on the international community to clamp down on arms sales to the two nations.

“There are a lot of countries who should know better who are making good profit off the arms sales and I think some effort through the (U.N. Security) Council to put some limitations on that would be well worth looking at,” he said.