The Ethiopian Narrative
It goes something like this. Since time immemorial, Eritrea has always been part of Ethiopia. The names (“Eritrea”, “Ethiopia”) may be different but the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia have always been intertwined. Eritrea, the Land of the Sea (Midri Bahri) may have had a viceroy, but the king was always in Ethiopia proper: in Gondar, in Tigray, in Showa. Eritrea may have had the port, Adulis, but the center was in Ethiopia: Axum. Except for brief times when foreign powers either had limited powers over limited lands (Turks, Egyptians) or all of it (Italy), Eritrea was always a part of Ethiopia. Eritreans and Ethiopians shed their blood together in all wars against aggression: Gurae, Dogali, Gundet, Adwa. Eritreans were part of the Ethiopian patriots fighting fascist Italy, and it was Eritreans like Zerai Deres–fighting for a symbol as iconic as Ethiopia’s Lion of Judah–who symbolized it.
Eritreans begged to be returned to Ethiopia in 1940s, despite all the fake Four Powers reports written by enemies of Ethiopia (like Pakistan) and, in 1962, they succeeded in having the federation collapse and join the motherland as the 14th province.
For 30 years, some misguided (mostly Arabists and Jihadist) Eritreans, prompted by Ethiopia’s historic enemies, Egypt and the Arab states, waged a war against their fellow Ethiopians. Due to the cruelty of the Derg, mainstream Eritreans joined this misguided campaign, just as other Ethiopians joined other campaigns to overthrow the Derg.
In 1993, Eritreans participated in a fake referendum, one which didn’t allow Ethiopians to have a say on whether they wanted Eritreans to secede. This was co-engineered by the treacherous Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) whose long term plan was to ensure that the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) under the leadership of Isaias Afewerki, who has always been committed to One Ethiopia, was nowhere around to challenge the TPLF. When the TPLF feared that the vision of Isaias Afewerki would prevail in Ethiopia, it engineered a war against Eritrea. But Isaias Afwerki, a true son of Ethiopia, sacrificed everything to ensure that the TPLF would be defeated and succeeded. And now, Eritrea has reunited with its mother, Ethiopia.
The Now Silent Eritrea Narrative
Since 1949, when Ibrahim Sultan was delegated by Eritrea’s Muslim League to be its spokesperson, there has always been an Eritrean counter-narrative. For 60 years, Eritreans under the leadership of the Muslim League, the Independence Bloc, the Eritrean Liberation Front, and for the longest period, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, and its intellectuals from all of Eritrea, North-South, East-West, always had a compelling counter-narrative.
But no more. Like Ibrahim Sultan, who died on our Day of Revolution (September 1) in exile (Egypt) and was buried outside his home (Sudan), our counter-narrative is now silent. Perhaps it is shell-shocked to discover the revolution harbored a sleeper cell headed by Isaias Afwerki for so long:
So now, the Ethiopian narrative is baaaaack. With a vengeance. And this time, there is no unified Eritrean counter-narrative. The Eritrean opposition and the Eritrean government just switched roles: in the bad old days when TPLF was in charge of Ethiopia, the government of Eritrea and its supporters spoke loud and often about Eritrean sovereignty. And the opposition said, “well, Eritrea is a sovereign nation recognized by the UN and its independence is irreversible so stop using that as an excuse.” So, Ethiopia could bomb Eritrea at will, it could threaten to invade it, it would refuse to abide by international treaties and rulings, the Eritrean opposition said: “Eritrea is sovereign nation recognized by the UN.”
Now, in the bad new days, with official and unofficial voices of Ethiopia toying with Eritrean sovereignty and pushing their stale narrative, it is the Eritrean government and its supporters that downplay it with “Eritrea is a sovereign nation recognized by the UN.” They are now the ones who have criminalized talk about demarcation or transparency. They are the ones watching silently as official and unofficial voices of Ethiopia re-activate the great Ethiopian narrative and consider challenging it as anti-peace.
How is Ethiopia doing it? Let’s count the ways:
1.International Support for Ethiopia Is Not Due To Its Claims as Christian Island But Due to Excellent Diplomacy of Ethiopian Leaders:
As narrated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed:
2. And oh, Eritrea was not annexed but “returned” to Ethiopia (begin at the 4:30 mark in the video above). If you were “returned”, you were part of.
3. Ambivalence about whether Eritrean ports of Massawa and Asab belong to Eritrea or equally to Ethiopia:
Teodros Tsegaye from the awesome Reyot Media asked the Prime Minister three questions one of which was: That Ethiopia has to have access to the Sea is based on legal, historical and natural right. I understand that the leaders who preceded you have ruined this argument, he continued. “But, the Ethiopia you speak of, Greater Ethiopia, has always had access to the sea…do you believe that Ethiopia has a right to access the Sea based on law, history and natural right?”
PM Abiy Ahmed ducked the question: this is a strategic question and I hope to have the opportunity to discuss it with you in person, he said:
There are many, many, many reasons to despise the TPLF and its chief ideologue, Meles Zenawi but, on this particular issue, there is no doubt his answer would have been: “if you are talking about Massawa and Assab, no, Ethiopia has neither legal, nor historical, nor natural rights.”
4. I wasn’t one of the people who freaked out but, given the above, I understood my people when they freaked out when Ambivalent Abiy Ahmed started talking about “our ports” (ወደባችን)
5. Meanwhile, #Ethiopian media has begun the process of rehabilitating officials of the Mengistu’s Derg, who are the most reliable exponents of the Ethiopian Narrative. (The TPLF are conflicted and the Royalists are dead):
5.1 Here, the “Greater Tigray” and “Greater Ethiopia” dudes form a united front to lay claim to the Red Sea (and they are not talking about Djibouti or Sudan but the other Red Sea power)
5.2 Why Greater Ethiopia dudes love Isaias Afwerki and hate Meles Zenawi:
Meles Zenawi: Ethiopia is a patched up country made up of people forced to be part of the country. Freedom means they should have the right to leave it. (the Eritrean narrative)
Isaias Afwerki: We have always stood for Ethiopian unity. Once we are an independent country, we will continue to recognize the eternal commonality between Eritrea and Ethiopia: (the Ethiopian narrative)
5.3 Nobody loves Isaias Afwerki more than Amhara Ethiopians. Their elite, One Ethiopia guys who push Amhara=Ethiopia=Amhara. (really, guys: nobody. Not Eritreans, not Sudanese.) He fits the strongman hero they have a fetish for: Teodros. And the elite Amhara Ethiopians have a peculiar idea about the Ethiopian map:
Conclusion: The very idea of Eritrea, a nation that, by all logic, has no right to exist, is under intense assault. This assault is coming from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, from rehabilitated Derg narrators and from the refusenik Ethiopian populace as well as the utter indifference and neglect of Eritrea’s opinion leaders.
Of all the people in Eritrea, the ones who should be screaming holy hell about this are the Eritrean combatants and veterans who spent decades giving life and limb in support of the Eritrean narrative. But, for reasons that perplex, nobody is saying anything. And while the Eritrean Minister of Information is sharing frivolous news about entertainment and singers, the Ethiopian media is providing news about Massawa and Assab. Whatever spell the Eritrean people are under, it is long past due for them to wake the fuck up. The lonesome tree is facing hurricanes–from the sleeper cell of Isaias and PFDJ and from the Greater Ethiopia voice of Abiy Ahmed and Greater Tigray voice of Dr. Debretzion (who took turns to push his version of “we are one people, one language, one religion” expansionism) and its calmness doesn’t change the fact that it has been abandoned by all its spokespersons who are waiting for a…I don’t know, a fucking sign from God.
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