Col. Abebe disappeared about five months ago after Eritrean security men took him out of Nyala Hotel in Asmara.
A diabetic who survives on a daily insulin injection, Col. Abebe Geresu may have died in captivity, like scores of other Eritrean political prisoners, including journalists and senior government officials opposed to the government of President Isaias Afewerki, the sources said.
Col. Abebe has been a strong opponent of the politics of secessionism in Ethiopia. He rather launched Tinsae Ethiopia, whose literal meaning means ‘Ethiopian Resurrection.’ Such move
may have angered the Eritrean government, which has long been known as the Godfather of all those who seek the disintegration of Ethiopia, an observer said.
Ethiopian rebel leaders who wrongly believe Asmara will help them in the fight against Meles Zenawi perish under various pretexts, while the more prominent ones are subject to house arrests or disappearances.
Col. Tadesse Muluneh, for instance, was a respected leader of the now-defunct Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) until he was purged by Eritrean authorities. It has been months since he disappeared. Family calls and pleas for his release have been ignored. He was a staunch proponent that all rebel groups should fall under one umbrella organization and fight against the Meles regime. “Such conviction may have cost him dearly as it contravenes the policy of the Eritrean regime,” sources say.
Likewise, Gen. Kemal Gelchu, leader of the pro-unity Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), squanders his time in Asmara, denied of exit visa by Eritrean authorities who fear the army general may galvanize Ethiopian Diaspora support against them.
For such reasons, observers dismiss as “diversionary tactics” this week’s Ethiopian attacks on rebel bases in Eritrea. The two [Isaias and Meles] are bound by a common interest of defending their powers as well as the sovereignty of Eritrea – for whose independence they jointly fought against what they called “colonialist Ethiopia.” The sophisticated drama that starts out from the Horn of Africa and extends to the corridors of the UN offices in New York City is carefully plotted mainly to keep the Ethiopian people in a state of confusion and inactivity.
When Ethiopian forces advanced to the Eritran capital from all directions and nearly toppled the Isaias regime at the end of the 1998-2000 war, it was Meles Zenawi who rescued Asmara by unilaterally declaring the war has ended. In the eyes of many Eritreans, he is quietly admired as a “smart Eritrean” in an Ethiopian garb.
