Almost 10 years of steadfast service to Eritrea, Meles Zenawi finds himself today being officially referred to as a “masked Eritrean agent.” Cognizant of the volatile situation that may end up his tenure, he is deeply engaged in a highly systematic way of driving the Ethiopian people into a political coma, into inactivity, while living up to the words he promised the Eritrean people, as witnessed by the documents the Boundary Commission bluntly wrote about as: “the maps Ethiopia submitted to the Commission were showing even Badme on being inside Eritrea.” For this reason, the Commission said, it had no obligation referring to Eritrean evidences because what Ethiopia submitted was adequate to reward Eritrea with the territorial prizes.

This naked crime has now unfolded itself in front of the eyes of the Ethiopian people, igniting national anger and resentment, which could be summed up by the words of distinguished Ethiopian scholar in international law and jurisdiction, Dr. Tseggai Mebrahtu, who asserted: “Any agreement entered into with Eritrea by the Eritrean prime minister (Meles Zenawi) is null and void, because the TPLF/EPRDF ruling group has lost its legitimacy to act and speak on behalf of the affairs of the Ethiopian state.”

Other prominent Ethiopians as well are expressing their disappointment in their own ways. Commenting on this national tragedy orchestrated by none other than the masked Eritrean leadership in Ethiopia, Dr. Hailu Araya of the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) told the Amharic newspaper Addis Zena this week: “The Border Scandal, which ensued after Ethiopia’s military victory was aborted, is not only a national defeat but also a national humiliation. The Ethiopian people have the constitutional power to work for the removal of the regime in power.”

New Government Tactics

Ethiopia has now entered a new chapter. With documents in her hands that verify the so-called Ethiopian government is a masked Eritrean group of individuals, Ethiopia can confidently rest assured the battle is between her and the masked Eritrean leadership of Meles Zenawi. It is now crystal clear that the reason why Ethiopia lost the war against foreign invaders from Eritrea in the 1998-2000 War was because Ethiopia did not engage the internal enemies first. In other words, Ethiopia went to war to battle an enemy while leaving an enemy inside her house. Fully aware of the dangers of working clandestinely for Eritrea, the masked Eritrean leadership in control of state power in Ethiopia is at the moment working around the clock to cripple any uprising which may come after the simmering unrest in the country explodes any time.

Ethiomedia.com, for instance, has received a number of articles and statements written by paid operatives of the Meles Zenawi group. Some of the tactics Ethiopians should be aware of are as follows:

a) Shifting the Blame: The government is trying to shift blame to the Boundary Commission. Articles holding the Boundary Commission, which was in the first place formed upon the goodwill of Meles Zenawi and his former mentor, Isaias Afewerki, responsible for the national humiliation of Ethiopia is uncalled for because what the Commission did was passing its verdict on the basis of documents submitted on behalf of Ethiopia. These documents show, without any shadow of doubt, the long-time stand of the Eritrean prime minister in Ethiopia to reward Eritrea with whatever it has asked from Ethiopia.

b) Circulating news of Division: The government, or better say the Meles Zenawi Eritrean regime, is circulating baseless stories that there is a division within the TPLF/EPRDF ruling group. Such type of “news” of division within the Eritrean circle in Addis is a customary practice of the Meles regime whose survival is based on driving the public into a political coma, into inactivity, which makes the public wait until those opposing elements within the ruling regime come out and do the job for them. First of all, there is no such thing as TPLF/EPRDF. This is a misnomer to hoodwink the Ethiopian people and foreigners that there is a collective “Ethiopian” leadership and not a rule by one man – Meles Zenawi. A recent news story circulating that there is a division between Meles Zenawi and his foreign minister, Seyoum Mesfin, is absurd as is the “division” between Meles and his Tigrai-based Eritrean paid operatives like Tsegai Berhe, or Abadi Zemo, who the latter know very well that their life is inextricably linked to the life of Meles, and his demise means their demise. Therefore, the Ethiopian people should be aware of the political dramas being staged in front of their own eyes, and reject any call for condemnation of the Boundary Commission, particularly when such calls come from none other than those who signed away Ethiopian territories to their cherished homeland, Eritrea.

c) Snatch the Cause of the Struggle: The masked Eritrean elements are racing against time to snatch the cause of the people for a government change, turn the national anger and thereof, into an excuse to crack down on opposing elements of the society which could be labeled as “war mongers.” Beware of statements being given by quasi-government officials like Dr. Kinfe Abraham, who dryly said: “Though the Boundary Commission has mishandled the border issue, Badme is not worth fighting for.” (Reporter: April 8, 2003). The issue here is not Badme. Badme is only a rallying point to correct the wrongs and crimes committed against Ethiopia during the 12-year-old reign of disguised Eritrean elements in Ethiopia.

d) Foreign Media and Website tactics: The Meles Zenawi regime also expends substantial amount of Ethiopian public fund on financing foreign news outlets and websites to step up news products designed to dampen the national mood for change. These media outlets would show an unusual interest and publish reports how Ethiopia would benefit from peace with Eritrea, even if that means to putting the Border Issue behind herself. A case in point is IRIN’s continued coverage around border towns like Adigrat, and how Adigrat business died down after war with Eritrea. Other stories would come covering Zalambesa, Irob, Bure, and all of Ethiopia, subtly underscoring Ethiopia as a poor country which cannot afford to go to war over areas lost to Eritrea. In the meantime, expect government propaganda sites like Walta flooding us with “development” news of spending millions of dollors here, and there. These harmless-looking news reports are very damaging to the overall national interests of Ethiopia, as Ethiopians are not saying they should go to war with Eritrea but all disputes could be resolved peacefully once the Ethiopian people have exercised their right to put an Ethiopian government in power. Seemingly neutral websites are also playing their game. For instance, some websites are used to posting polls to gauge the interests of Ethiopians with access to the Internet. One poll could be posted asking visitors whether the Boundary Commission is right or wrong. Such questions are asked to divert attention from the main question – like whether Ethiopia is under masked Eritrean leadership or not – which should be addressed nationwide and not on the very limited service of a pollster, whose results are hard to prove as facts.

e) The Role of Eritrean propagandists: Eritrea has quietly enjoyed
an unprecedented luxury of putting one of her children in power in a country it
fought as a colonial power. Eritreans know that without Meles, Eritrea would have remained as a
frozen
cubicle as Puntland, northern Somalia. Eritrea boasted for years a yearly economic growth of
over 8%, an amazing feat of economic performance
if the agricultural produces like Coffee, oilseeds, cotton, as well as hides and skins Eritrea used as her revenue-generating commodities were not plundered from Ethiopia. Eritreans boast of owning two Red Sea ports because not that the Afar Red Sea littoral is Eritrean by any stretch of imagination but Eritrea has installed an Eritrean lawyer in Ethiopia, a lawyer who even lashes out at foreign diplomats who dare say that Assab belongs to Ethiopia. The list goes on. Therefore, Eritreans would be forced to live defending Meles Zenawi come what may. But Eritrens should defend Meles in such a way that they don’t raise the curtain and expose the Eritrean premier.

For this reason, they frequently refer to Meles as a “Woyane leader” whose objective is to build “Greater Tigrai!” Eritreans know Meles is more Eritrean than themselves, but to deceive non-Tigrinya speaking Ethiopians, they use the term “Woyane” leader so that the innocent would envision Meles as a Tigrian interested only for Tigrai. For that matter, no Tigrian has taken Meles as a Woyane, because a true Woyane is a true Ethiopian, and not a masked Eritrean mercenary who works day and night to destroy Ethiopia. Therefore, any Eritrean reference of Meles as a Woyane must be discarded as an exercise in futility on the part of Eritreans.

Positive developments

Since the Boundary Commission made its stand clear, the Meles Zenawi regime has lost an increasing number of people who have been defending it. Now the leaders in Addis would not dare say they can fool the people one more time. The clearest evidence in this regard is the measures taken by the editors of Aiga website, who have been defending the government for quite some time, but now have caught the regime red-handed after even the town they put as a banner on their website – Badme – ended up as a sovereign Eritrean territory.

The brave stand taken by Aiga also justifies the fact that no amount of deceit would keep Ethiopians divided. The regime losing its long time ardent supporters means the regime’s last line of defense is collapsing fast, in military parlance, per se.

Opposition Parties: Now or Never!

The Meles group today stands as an alien regime not only rejected by the Ethiopian people but also one that may face treasonable charges, including of war crimes. Though opposition party members are in the rubber-stamp parliament, any MP who sees Meles today would quietly ask himself : “How come this disguised Eritrean agent managed to rule for over 12 years while destroying Ethiopia at the same time?”

But the country deserves more than quiet condemnation.
In the face of an enemy that has vowed to keep a fragmenting Ethiopia under the feet of Eritrea, Ethiopian opposition party leaders know any excuse or failure to confront the enemy would bring them condemnation from the people in whose name they have adopted their party programs.

To help rescue Ethiopia from an impending disaster the border demarcation exercise may lead to, genuine Ethiopian opposition parties are expected to prevail over their minor differences, adopt a short-term, joint emergency political program to mobilize a nationwide action that will not settle down before the embedded enemy is dislodged.