After beating the drums of war incessantly, for almost two years, in its delusional quest for acquiring “sovereign access to the Sea through negotiations if possible and military force, if necessary”, the Potemkin Party’s latest gimmick is to “play victim”; portray Eritrea as a “regional destabilizer”; and, pursue its war agenda under the mantle and ruse of “self-defense”.
Indeed, the Potemkin Party is these days changing tack to flaunt its transparent and residual ploy precisely because its deplorable and illicit scheme of overtly unleashing a war of aggression for “sovereign access to the sea” has been roundly, even if discretely, rejected by the international community in no uncertain terms.
This is the real backdrop of General Bacha Debele’s article – there are credible reports that this was actually written by others higher up in PP’s power echelon – under the title “The Red Sea: The Imperative of Pragmatic Cooperation between Ethiopia and Eritrea”. The article was duly disseminated by the mouthpieces of PP’s National Security and Foreign Affairs establishments.
Let us now revert to the main arguments peddled in the article:
- Alternating between supplication, moralization, and character assassination, Bacha’s nostalgic rhetoric merely regurgitates the Ethiopian regime’s long-defunct and baseless claim of “once being a coastal nation”. His narrative is steeped in inflammatory language, name-calling, exaggeration, and misrepresentation—all aimed at manipulating public opinion against Eritrea and casting it as a “destabilizer” and “subservient” actor in the region.
- In this vein, Bacha unabashedly alleges: “The history of Eritrea’s separation from Ethiopia warrants sober and continuous reflection, particularly in light of evolving regional realities”. He goes on to say: “the manner and context of the secession, shaped by internal conflict and external pressures, remain a matter of unresolved legal and moral scrutiny”. The General peevishly parrots the ludicrous and shameful diatribes of the Prime Minister’s address to the House of People’s Representatives on October 28 last month on the “absence of any legal documentation” on Eritrea’s independence.
To desecrate and question the legitimacy of Eritrea’s independence is an inexcusable act of political blasphemy. By all standards, Eritrea should have been independent in the 1940s, in accordance with international law and the prevalent norms and political trajectories of decolonization that unfolded all over the African continent in that period. The tragic historical anomaly in the case of Eritrea occurred because the US decided, in the context of the emerging contours of the Cold War, to sacrifice Eritrea’s national rights on the altar of its overarching geopolitical interests. Ethiopia’s subordinate role in this historical folly was that of a pliable pawn and local surrogate in the implementation of the illicit scheme.
This historical folly has exacted the sacrifice of over 60,000 freedom fighters, much physical distraction and an irreparable damage of development costs and missed opportunities. In the event, Ethiopia had no, and could not have, any legal or moral basis to question or endorse Eritrea’s independence in 1991 as insinuated these days by PP’s leaders. For General Bacha – who was a Prisoner of War during the last decade of the liberation struggle and eventually released, together with over 130,000 Ethiopian POWs, in 1991- to parrot the misplaced diatribes of his Prime Minister only accentuates his despicable moral standard.
- General Bacha repeats the fallacious mythology peddled by segments of the Ethiopian political elite to justify their covetous ambitions on Eritrea. In this vein, he repeats the obsolete refrain: “for Ethiopia, historically a coastal nation unjustly deprived of its maritime access in 1993, the Red Sea represents not a nostalgic pursuit but an existential imperative”.
For reasons of space, we will not delve into the ancient and medieval history of the Horn and Northern Africa regions. The simple fact is there is no historical and political continuum or geographical congruence between the various civilizations – Land of Punt; Adulite Civilization (which flourished mainly in the Eritrean coastal lands) that predates but which later continued concurrently with, and mostly in juxtaposition to, the Axumite Empire; as well as the disparate Fiefdoms with varying epicenters and geographic outreach that emerged in the landmass in these disconnected regions. Indeed, Ethiopia’s political presence in the Eritrean coastal lands are essentially confined to the bogus Federation and Annexation periods spanning from 1952 until 1991. Invoking fabricated mythology to rationalize encroachment on, and invasion of, a sovereign neighbouring country accordingly constitutes a grave and unequivocal violation of international law, the UN Charter and the AU Constitutive Act.
- General Bacha gratuitously insults Eritrea’s development policy and its considerable achievements. These were realized against the backdrop of relentless hostility and pronounced agenda of “regime change” by successive Ethiopian regimes for almost three decades which were invariably bolstered by illicit sanctions by the latter’s patrons. Indeed, few countries could have summoned the resilience, national cohesion, and internal strength to withstand the remitting hostilities and stand on their two feet. Eritrea has not only achieved remarkable progress in key pillars of public services – education, health etc. – but its prospects are promising in view of its rich natural endowments, industrious people, and educated and skilled human capital.
Furthermore, PP’s regime is not in any position to lecture and proselytize about “economic growth or good governance” to Eritrea. In spite of over 84 billion US dollars of international development assistance in the last twenty-five years; periodic IMF financial bailouts; and cyclical rounds of intensive care (food safety net etc.), Ethiopia’s economy is still overstressed and burdened by debilitating poverty. The latest WB figures indicate that, among other calamities, 21.4 million Ethiopians are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance; while 68.7% are multidimensionally poor. Ethiopia is also seething under spiraling internal conflicts that mostly emanate from misguided governance structures that polarize society along entrenched and centripetal ethnic cleavages.
And in any case, economic hardships are not yardsticks, and cannot be invoked to invade or violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a neighboring or other nation.
- The General also alludes to Eritrea’s interference in Ethiopia’s internal affairs as well as its “habitual role as a proxy instrument for Ethiopia’s adversaries” to justify a war of aggression against Eritrea.
This reckless agenda that the Potemkin Party has been mulling, for almost two years now, is in fact the gist and central purpose of the whole article.
The presumptuous allegations are widely at variance with the facts on the ground. Eritrea’s political independence and its firm conviction on ownership of its own development policies and programmes are well-known to merit elaboration. In contrast, Ethiopia’s modern history is marked by chronic dependency on foreign powers; by its avowed policy choice of acting as proxy and anchor especially in all its repetitive attempts to dominate Eritrea. In addition to soliciting US support in its initial agendas against Eritrea in the 1940s, successive Ethiopian regimes were dependent on US and Israeli military and technical succor to confront Eritrea’s liberation struggle during the first decade and on massive USSR support in the subsequent decades until the country’s final liberation of 991. Furthermore, the current regime is heavily dependent on the UAE and other external forces for all its adventurist military schemes in the region. Ethiopia’s sponsorship and dogged support for various armed opposition movements, even if inconsequential, for almost three decades now in pursuit of its publicly pronounced agendas of “regime change” is also a matter of record.
In conclusion, the international community is fully aware of which party continues to threaten peace and stability in the region. Eritrea has never entertained expansionist and irredentist agendas against Ethiopia or any another neighboring country. Eritrea knows full well the human losses and economic devastations that war invariably inculcates. Its agenda is fully focused on promotion of peace, stability and cooperation within its greater neighborhood on the basis of mutual respect and adherence to fundamental pillars of international law on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and peoples.
