In fact my writing is an appeal to none other than those brave daughters and sons of Ethiopia in particular and to all Ethiopians in general, for I am cognizant of the fact that the former have contributed to the struggle of the Ethiopian people in putting resistance to the latest attempt at the dismemberment of our country through Meles Zenawi’s Hague scheme. All I am trying to say, lest my English failed me is, we are not still out of the woods as far as our sovereignty is concerned. We should remain vigilant, as the Prime Minister is like a stealth and swift predator, waiting for the opportune time to attack again.

There are instances where the Prime Minister seems to back down whenever he encounters stiff resistance from the public, but as his records show these have been rather strategic moves – guerilla tactics if you will – rather than a change of heart. He has been consistent at perusing and achieving his Eritrean agenda, at least for the last 14 Years, and the court system is no exception. The courts might have shown resistance to his manipulation here and there but did not stop him from imprisoning and silencing those he considered a threat to his Eritrean agenda. The examples Mr. Legesse gave: Siye Abraha, Abate Kisho and Bitew Belay are still in prison, regardless, the regime miserably failed to substantiate its accusations.

The Prime Minster set up the courts by handpicking the players in the entire justice system, and has consistently used them to prosecute people specially opposed to his Eritrean views more than anything else. He has set up the entire constitution and legal system, as well as the other institutions like the commission he created to fight “corruption” primarily to serve his agenda of dismembering Ethiopia. Most of the country’s elite either served Meles as foot soldiers or wasted precious time in the paralysis of analyzing Meles’ system of destruction, or more fittingly, as Meles is quoted as saying: ” Wushochu Yichohalu, Gimelu Gin Yiguazal,” its literal translation being, “as the dogs bark, the camel keeps going.” To draw an analogy, when a house is set on fire, owners don’t have the luxury of standing by the side, and try to study how the fire started. They rather have to act swiftly so as to put out the fire, and salvage their residence. Likewise in our case, our challenge has been trying to identify our national priority.

No country has experienced Ethiopia’s fate, where its leader sets up legal and institutional mechanisms with the mission to rob its wealth, render it landlocked and dismember it. For me this is indeed “a joke of the century”. I called the courts “kangaroo courts” because they were designed to persecute patriotic Ethiopians more than any thing else, and I am not referring to individuals inside the court, rather the way the system is set up.

What disturbs me the most is the way we think. It is my profound belief that, more than any disposition, our belief system has rendered us hapless victims to the schemes of the three evils in the region, namely: Isayas, the chief architect of “100 years of home work”, Meles the ardent disciple who has surpassed his mentor in perfecting it and Sebhat, the al Capone (Mafioso) behind the scene. In the whole drama only these three know not only what they are doing, but also what we are doing. The rest of us are either passive performers or observers, because we could not see outside the box. Here’s my point:

– After 21 years of backstabbing and bettrayal, by Meles, humiliations and harassments (which no one cared to count) at the hands of Isayas, and, a full-blown invasion by Shaebia, finally, the dissidents were to realize that Meles’ agenda was inimical to the interest of the Ethiopian people. And still many Ethiopians kept singing “Tigray Lemmach”, and we missed the opportunity to get rid of Meles, or at least clip away some of his wings. He was left controlling the military, the security, EPRDF and TPLF in addition to his premiership and the other controlling mechanisms left at his disposal. So much power vested in one man, bringing disastrous consequences. Many failed to realize that an allegedly Tigray-centered Siye was less likely to oppose the efforts to re-claim Assab or give away territories, than Eritrea-centered Meles. I was stunned to see many of my fellow Ethiopians keep busy arguing about the history of the dissidents in the 2001 TPLF split, because for me that was secondary.

– When former Prime Minster Tamrat Laynee was arrested on corruption charges (lucky he was, otherwise something worse could have happened in the absence of a marketable story), the whole country got absorbed with Tamrat Layne’s personal saga, and few questioned the true motive. Whether Tamrat Layne did what he was accused of is immaterial. Why? Because, the trouble was, he was caught fishing in the troubled waters called Eritrea. Otherwise he would still be the Prime Minster’s key ally no matter what.

– When Professor Asrat Woldeyes met the same fate, we were at it again, focusing on what he said and might have said or did not say to “incite violence”. We should have known better how the good and courageous professor had single-handedly confronted Meles from day one on the Eritrean issue.

– As far as Meles was concerned, no one posed a serious threat to his Eritrean scheme as the journalists did. Little did we know that behind many a journalist who was harassed imprisoned, and exiled, lay a track record of tampering with the “Eritrea Taboo”. And do not we have none other than Bereket Simon as the chief prosecutor of journalists?

– Within TPLF, Meles and Co. used revoluution and anti feudalism to destroy our cultural heritage in Tigray, replacing it with Shaebian nihilism. Like wise in ANDM, people like Dawit Yohannes, thought it was revolutionary and “cool” to kill “Amhara chauvinism”, except Meles has a better reading: a lethal weapon to kill Ethiopian nationalism. The OPDO was not to be outdone, as it went creating a Bantustan enclave in the name of safeguarding “Oromo interest”, mind you in this age where even giants and old antagonists China and India work for economic harmonization.

Add all this, and the outcome is, on top of what ever we have already lost? Primarily fear. The Oromo fears Amhara revival, The Amhara, Oromo potential dominance, and to at least some Tigriyans, the fear of Amhara revenge, should Meles lose power…. For a change, at least, let us be candid and admit the habit of hiding our wound. No one is going to save us from our misery. Some would say God would. My answer is God is not responsible for our behavior. We are. He will be just watching us until we learn our lesson. That’s what I believe.

Conclusion

If we put the last 14 years history of our country in perspective, we will see a very high percentage of energy, time and recourses of the country wasted in the Eritrea sickness of the Prime Minister. The first seven years in power, Meles fed Eritrea until it overgrew its size. The next two and a half years were spent trying to dislodge it from our territory, with one hand tide as Meles sabotaged our collective effort. The war ended after great scarifies by the Ethiopian people, only to be replaced by no war no peace, hanging at the mercy of Isayas and Meles again. Meles and Isayas might not be working together, the same old fashion, but both are still working for then same objective.

When it comes to Eritrea, Meles uses his raw emotions to act, and uses his intellect for cover-ups and damage control. His vulnerability and weakness lies in the former, and that we miserably failed to exploit. Most of us are puzzled why he wants to hurt Ethiopia in order to benefit Eritrea, at the risk of some times putting himself and his power in jeopardy (as he almost succeeded in 2001). But, emotions are blind, with no logic or reasoning (and that’s why I alluded to drag addiction in my previous article), as the concept of Eritrea is a dip scar in the psyche of Meles Zenawi. It is part of a sickness, which is tearing away at the fabric of societies across the region, the analysis of which is beyond the scope of this article. But, the bottom line is he is doing us much harm, and we should stop it. We will have ample time to do the analysis, in other terms, the paralysis.

Long Live Ethiopia!