The fallacy of “The Enemy of my Enemy”

By Petros Tesfagiorgis 03/26/10

On the basis of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” the Ethiopian opposition based in Eritrea have formed an alliance with a Government (PFDJ) that is committing gross human rights violations against it own people. In a situation where they lack international solidarity and credibility- the unholy alliance can only be tactical and temporary weapon nevertheless it is a weapon that is becoming a liability. They own no moral high ground essential to advocate for democracy. Above all they are impediment to peace between the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia and it is a time bomb if they ever get to power because they don’t believe on the sovereignty of Eritrea.

In his Ethio media article dated 19 February Tibebu Samuel Ferenge wrote, “The irony is that those who are infatuated with Mr. Issaias claim that they are opposing the regime in Ethiopia because of the Ethiopian regime’s dictatorial rule. If that is the case, how could we have any respect for them when they roll out the red carpet to one of the worst and the cruelest dictator in the world ….It is equally appalling that those who claim to advocate for human rights and democracy have failed to criticize this dictator for his Iron-Fist rule in Eritrea. I’m appalled that these individuals failed to recognize the suffering of the Eritrean people and the danger that this man has posed to the interest of Ethiopia and Ethiopians.”

Tibebu has put to shame the Eritreans who demonstrated against the decision of the United Nations Security Council but terribly failed to react when it comes to the suffering and pain inflicted by PFDJ on their families, relatives and on themselves.

According to UNICEF one in 3 children in Eritrea is suffering from malnutrition. UNICEF is asking US dollar 24.8 million to save the life of these children. On this issue alone the Eritreans in Diaspora who support the regime are best placed to come out and plead for aid to feed the children. UNHCR reported that in 2009 alone 63,000 Eritrean mostly young fled to the Sudan. About 1800 are entering Sudan every month.

In Ethiopia there are about 40,000 refugees in 4 camps such as Shimelba and Mai Aini and up to 1000 a month are crossing each month. In Jerusalem Post, Ben Hartman under the titled: Eritreans by far the largest refugee group in Israel: quoted Sharon Harel, assistant protection office for the UNHCR in Tel Aviv who said, there were around 8,500 Eritrean refugees in the country as opposed to some 5,000 or 6000 from Sudan. Furthermore Eritrean refugees found themselves in various prisons in Libya and Malta. They are also subjected to shoot to kill when they cross Egypt to Israel etc.

But for the Diaspora who supports PFDJ these are mere numbers, disposable as such. They are not aware, or they are not concerned that the social fabric of the Eritrean family is being destroyed.

I am humbled that Tibebu has shared the pain and suffering of the Eritrean people and I believe that Eritreans have to reciprocate. This is the kind of mind set essential to peace building between the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Such peace building exercise has been an agenda of peace and justice loving Eritreans since the outbreak of the Ethio-Eritrean war in 1998. And I assure him that he will have many Eritrean partners in that arduous journey.

In February 2001 Citizens for Peace in Eritrea (CPE) an organisation based in Asmara for the purpose of studying and disseminating information about the Ethio-Eritrean conflict and its human consequences, had organized peace building conference in Asmara and Keren to be followed with meetings with civil societies from Ethiopia. However the banning of freedom of expression on 18-11-2001 made it impossible to contact Ethiopian civil societies.

But peace initiatives did persist. There is a recent one that took place on December 2009 in London under the title of “People’s movement for Peace in Eritrea and the Horn of Africa”. I quote Asmarino.com dated 11-03-2010, “The London Conference’s aim was, for the major part, to reflect on the pertinence of peace, which has been absent for decades, in our region and to outline ways forward that would contribute towards improving the lives of our people on the basis of attaining and maintaining peace and stability in our region. “

The people of Eritrea are conscious of their own history; they have a long tradition of struggle and cooperation with Ethiopians to end poverty and repression. For Eritreans the question of peace and cooperation is not tactical it is strategic. But to make it everlasting it must be based on shared values of justice, peace and democracy.

But I beg to differ in Tibebu’s characterisation of EPRDF and the Government of Ethiopia led by PM Meles Zenawi. His arguments were confrontational that failed to understand the problems of ethnicity is deeply rooted in the fabric of the Ethiopian society which was exasperated by the oppressive feudal system. He wrote, “History shows us that it is Mr. Issaias and his cronies who created the TPLF and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) for the sole purpose of creating havoc in Ethiopia and with diabolical interest of disintegrating Ethiopia.” Tibebu is re-writing history to render the national liberation movements as rebels without a cause and not representing the aspiration of oppressed nationalities for freedom and justice.One has to go back to history in order to put the liberation fronts including TPLF in their correct historical and contemporary contexts.

Looking into history:

It is by invading the South largely inhabited by the Oromo people that the Shoan Amhara Emperor Menelik II (1889-1913) built a strong feudal Empire. The Oromos which comprise the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia (40%) talk of millions of their people being killed and their culture and tradition undermined. The other nationalities such as the Sidamas and Tigreans were also marginalized and were subjected to oppression. Thus the Ethiopian Feudal Empire was built on the total power of the Amhara ruling class over the other nationalities.

All these oppression gave rise to various national and multi-national movements. EPRP, MEISON, OLF, EPLF, ELF, Sidama Liberation Front (SLF), TPLF, ONLF, TLF. On their part, in the late 60^th, the Haile Sellasie First progressive Ethiopian University Students were extremely concerned of the poverty and lack of development that prevailed in Ethiopia. They rose up to the challenge and inspired by the teachings of Marx and Lenin provided the socialist ideology as a guide and a way out of poverty and oppression. Most of the movements, to a certain extent, made use of this ideology and helped them to build trusts and cooperate among themselves.

“The OLF debate” on Ethiomedia.com between Jawal and Professor Messay puts some light on these issues. Jawal wrote “As people who suffered a century of cultural, political and economic discrimination, dehumanization and repression, the vast majority of the Oromo people accepted and overwhelmingly supported the question of self-determination as a means of overcoming the oppressive system by successive regimes.”This shows that OLF is home grown and so all the other movements including TPLF and there was no ulterior motive other than that. However not every insurgent with a just cause is able to defeat its enemy and assume power. History is full of such examples. E.g. Angola, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Ethiopia.

Among various armed struggles in Ethiopia there were some like Sidama Liberation Movement (SLF), TLF, EPRP and EDU that are completely wiped out by the Ethiopian Military Government / or during inter liberation front wars. After the demise of the Government of Colonel Mengistu, OLF shared power with EPRDF but pulled out after short period of time. However, OLF and ONLF still persist in struggle. Lack of successes or progress has nothing to do with the justness of the causes. More often it has to do with the way they conduct their struggle, efficiency, commitment and other factors. This is exemplified by the OLF debate in which Jawar said, “Reacting to one of my recent articles that assessed the last two decades of the OLF, Professor Messay Kebede argued that I avoided addressing the principal cause of OLF’s failure. In his view, the major obstacle to OLF’s success has been its ideology, namely its insistence upon self-determination. I disagree with him. As long as an insurgency’s ideology and minimum program is accepted by its core support base, much of the success that follows depends on strategy and commitment of the leadership. ….” He continues, “TPLF’s rapid military success, which was largely due to the committed leadership, organizational discipline, and their shrewd strategic and political manoeuvrings, helped the front to maintain the level of support it needed to achieve its goal of capturing state power.”

Centralization versus decentralization:

Why then many Ethiopian scholars and political activists take the history of armed struggles and the progressive students’ history out of their historical contexts and label them as narrow nationalist, Ethnicists and an obstacle to the unity of Ethiopia.

Professor Messay in his thesis titled “The Ethnicization of Ethiopian Politics: Origins and Significance” wrote, “This use of ethnicity presupposes, on the other hand, a clear understanding of its nature, namely, that it is less about the rights of peoples than about elites vying for the control of state power.” This statement which implies a misguided ethnicized politics denigrates the just cause of the national liberation movements and undermines the activities of the Ethiopian progressive university students who championed the causes of the oppressed.

Walleligne Mekonen wrote an article in defence of the right of oppressed nationalities to self-determination in the “Journal of the University Student’ Union in 1968”. This was wrongly understood as a move to dismantle the unity of Ethiopia not as right of the oppressed people to self-determination in order to end their misery.

But as events unfold the fear for disunity is proved wrong the only difference is that this time the policy of decentralisation is taking root. For the people this is a real life situation. It may be one of the reasons which made the OLF weak and unsustainable. Why do the people need violence if they can get empowered through peaceful means? Some leaders of OLF have already opted to abandon the armed struggle and chose rapprochements with the Ethiopian Government. And people like Haile Shawl and Doctor Yacob Hailemariam have opted for constructive engagement rather than hostility.

Perception of History:

In history the ruling elite do not have the same perception of its history as the victimized group. For the Amharas the history of Ethiopia is the story of greatness and glory. For the Oromos and other oppressed nationalists it is the story of repression and subjugation.

The battle lines are drawn around these mutually exclusive perceptions, those who benefited from the centrally controlled feudal rule and those who experience repression and marginalization.

The opposition in Asmara and their supporters in Diaspora, scholars or not, are looking back with nostalgia of the days when Ethiopia was ruled from the centre and as those who benefited they love to hate any decentralization.

In criticising the scholars Jewal said, “This reminds me that the core leaders of the {Mela Amhara Movement} like Professor Asrat Wodeyes and Hailu Shawel were never suspected and criticized by “Centrist” scholars, including professor Messay, even though they openly espoused slogans about defending the Amhara settlers in the South, East and West of the country.”The history of conquest which is done in the era of feudalism can not be a cause of disunity. In the times of feudalism it was the main preoccupation of Emperors to make fame by invading other territories and people. However, an understanding of history and acknowledgment of historical wrongs are essential to reconciliation. The “centrist” scholars and the opposition in Asmara should acknowledge the historical injustices against the oppressed nationalities and move on to build Ethiopia socially and economically on the basis of equality and justice. They have to make efforts at all times to promote the ethos of diversity rather than to oppose it. Unfortunately the perception of grandeur has led those who benefited from the feudal system to distorting the history of all the liberation movements in Ethiopia but worse made them blind to see the transformation taking place in Ethiopia today.

After all, the essence of democracy is in decentralization. But what is profoundly important is that a federal Government has been formed in Ethiopia in which the oppressed nationalities would be empowered to participate in policies that affects their day to day life and their future. And most importantly they would have the choice to live within the Ethiopian present context as equal citizens or to opt out if their rights are not protected. This is the beginning of the end of all ethnic wars. The objectives of the Haile Sellasie progressive university students who have paid heavily have thus been immortalized by Article 39 of the Ethiopian Constitution. The martyrs of the Red Terror, the majority of whom were intellectuals and students, have been vindicated.

In this Walleligne Mekonen proved to be one of the moral heroes-during the student movement. His insights into human freedom dignity and his search for justice for the oppressed nationalities (Ethnic groups) were priceless.

The Asmara Alliance between the Ethiopian opposition and PFDJ is no good for Eritrea and no good for Ethiopia either.

There is a terrible history of demonizing the TPLF on TV-ERI day in and day out since the break-out of the destructive and senseless war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is possible that Tibebu could be influenced by such sustained demonization of TPLF in particular PM Meles Zenawi. Persistent disinformation is a proved weapon to confuse the gullible.

The motive behind the alliance is not about the wellbeing of the Ethiopian and Eritrean people but about getting rid of TPLF/ EPRDF. This is not a struggle about democracy that would serve the masses of the Ethiopian people it is a struggle of the elite who believe that power belongs to them and can get it only by getting rid of EPRDF, the present government of Ethiopia. Advocating the “centrist ideology” is just a camouflage to demand power.

Problems inherent in all armed struggles:

More often than not it is a historical fact that all leaders who came to power by waging armed struggle reject free and open politics as a form of governance. They believe that they are all knowing revolutionary vanguard. They don’t trust others except themselves. This is because all guerrilla movements have derived their authority and their belief of the right to power not from any democratic campaign of their people but through historic mission and commitment of overthrowing colonial or repressive regimes. Therefore, liberation fronts although represents the aspiration of the people for freedom, more often than not end up monopolizing state power to the exclusion of others particularly non combatants political parties. E.g. there were 2 fronts fighting against the Portuguese: One led by Agostino Netto who eventually came to power and one led by Savimbi a movement who brought destruction to Angola after independence. Savimbi was supported by South Africa and was responsible for lying thousands of mines that maimed and killed thousands of civilians.

Zimbabwe: There were two fronts one led by Mugabe and the other by Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe did not want to share power after independence with the other front led by Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe has committed lots of atrocities against the Matabeleland in order to weaken the power base of Nkome. All these led to extreme repression of the entire people of Zimbabwe and the country is indulged in poverty never seen before in that country’s history.

EPLF liberated Eritrea in 1991. Then EPLF refused the ELF to participate in the reconstruction of Eritrea in the shape of a political party and with monopoly of power the EPLF ended up suppressing the people in order to control the economy and the society.

TPLF/EPRDF has broken this pattern.

From the day TPLF/EPRDF won power in Ethiopia, it invited all liberation and opposition movements to form an inclusive government in Ethiopia in July 1991. This is unprecedented history of a regime that came to power through the barrel of the gun. When the TPLF won the war against the Dergue’s army they were like any other nationalist liberation movement who drew their legitimacy from the mission of getting rid of the feudal system and the repressive rule of the Military. When they came to power it is inevitable that they will have formidable enemies particularly all those who directly experience defeat in the battle and those who benefited from the rule of the Military and those who lost their privileges during Emperor Haile Sellasie First. In such situation the challenge is how to reconcile with those people.

The way forward in democratising society:

Democracy is not a simple idea. To my understanding the Europeans have done more than other people, including us Africans, to define and elaborate it and have produced most of the institutions which make it possible to realize them.

The most relevant question is “Is EPRDF building democratic institutions to realize that”. I quote from my article titled “which way Africa”. An Amhara, a close friend of mine and a school mate in H.S. 1 University said to me “I don’t support EPRDF but there are things which I can’t deny a real development packages is taking place in Ethiopia not found anywhere else in Africa. I have travelled extensively in Africa and there is no comparison.” He said, “Ethiopia will never be the same it has been transformed beyond recognition. Ethiopia will be an emerging economy in no time.”

By any standard the economic and social progress in Ethiopia has been extraordinary. The Ethiopian farmers are put at the centre of development. They are provided with fertilizers, bank facilities and support services so they themselves change their lives. This is the best development policy. The government is building amazing network of roads hydroelectric power to connect and modernize the whole country. It has created a conducive investment climate that saw the growth of the middle class who are the main engine of growth. Modern farms are also encouraged, flower farming is being flourished. The coffee export is being overtaken by export of flowers. The building of human resources have become a priority without it no development would take place. Schools and Universities are widely spread.The parliamentary debates of Ethiopia are televised. It means that the population are following the debate; this is a learning process in the journey to democracy. Those who do not have TV there is the radio. Thus the people are becoming conscious force in the solution of the theoretical and practical problems besetting rural Ethiopia for generations. I do not believe that there is a mature democracy in Ethiopia as yet but Ethiopia is on the right truck in the democratic process.