Ambassador Bolton Mission: Can it be any good?
__________________________________
Zeru Hagos
(Aigaforum, 01/10/06)
Shaibia has been doing all it can to derail our peace. This is not secret to the US
and its allies. What Ethiopia has been and is asking the international community
is to help bring the dictator to the table so that the solution to the Algiers
impasse is a win-win solution. This is the least the international community
can do. If the wishes of the Ethiopian people alone were the guiding principles
for the Ethiopian government this problem would have been resolved long time ago.
Ethiopians know what the solution is! However Ethiopia’s leadership has
chosen to not only listen to its subjects but the international community also.
The leadership thinks it is time for Ethiopia to play its role
in the international arena. It is such policy that is dragging
the Ethio-Eritrea issue.
I am not sure what the motives behind the US initiative to send a mission to Ethiopia
and Eritrea as outlined by Ambassador Bolton is but it does not look it has good
intention. If it is to search ways to make peace in the region, the US should
have endorsed the five point plan forwarded by the Ethiopian Government.
The UN along with many other countries has endorsed this plan. This plan
was designed to close the gab between the thinking of the Ethiopian people
and those of the foreign friends in regard to the impasse. The US is considered a
friend and as a friend it should have endorsed the plan. For most Ethiopians the
Ethiopian government was too accommodating when it came with this new plan
and their reservation was evident all along. One can imagine what they
could be thinking if the US is to come and arm twists the government to accept the Algiers agreement regardless of the new five point plan!
The Isaias regime may find this mission as a new opportunity to say I told you so and will use such
opportunity to extend its grip in Asmara. Shaibia has been telling its subjects
America is the world. When Isaias Afeworki meets the General and the Under
Secretary of State heading the US mission in Asmara, which I am going out
on a limb to say he will do so, he will have the chance to say I told you so!.
It is very sad to see the US at this late stage play to the hands of Isaias
Afeworki. Isaias Afeworki has ignored and ridiculed every mission that came
from the UN. The US at the very least should have stood firm with the UN
and help enforce resolutions passed as recent as a month ago. The Algiers
agreement is not even a UN resolution for God sake! I am sure the Isaias
regime will see the US mission as an acknowledgment of his convoluted belief
that the US is the world. Though I had like to wish all the success
for this mission, I think the mission will not help the region at all.
All the US is doing is inflate Isaias Afeworki's ego. The dictator ego will be inflated when he stands next to the General
and we all know what happens when Isaias Aafeworki ego gets out of bound.
The Ethiopian government must resist all kind of machination by the US
and stick at least to the five point plan. Unless shaibia sits down for
a talk to bring lasting peace any piece meal demarcation will not bring peace.
The Ethiopia government must understand it is in a dire situation because
of its own making for sure, but, also because of kinijit politics.
The country can not sustain peace if the Algeries agreement is implemented as it is. I do not know what will hold tomorrow but I sure would like Ethiopians to remain strong and head high at all times. Implementing the Algiers agreement due to a heavy arm twisting of the US will hurt our sprit collectively and no one can be sure when our heads will be high again. The day after the Algiers agreement is implemented is the day we all will have to reclaim our dead brothers and sisters remains in Badme and environs. The day after will be a day for sorrow. God forbid!
home |
