We know what hotels they stay!

By Wedi Axum

For all intent and purpose, the highly touted Presidential Seminar in the USA was nothing short of dismal failure. The Eritrean President started his one hour plus speech by stating he had nothing new to tell them and then proceeded to babble for the mentioned period of time. Before I analyze the speech and question and answer period, I would like to express my observation of the man himself.

Based on the speech the President of Eritrea gave in Washington DC, I have concluded that this man has become the consummate American politician. President Issaias has mastered the art of evading the relevant issues by diverting the question and responding in (what he believes is) a witty one line punch , which makes his audience laugh and forget the core issue of the question asked.

Now, let us get the reason I write this article. I am sure most people read the Washington Post on-line "Question and Answer session. (Q&A)". I assume by refusing to answer most of the tough questions, the post was forced to post only the soft questions with an exception of one or two issue related questions. At any rate, both the Post Q&A session and the question and answers in the seminar where no doubt screened and monitored for substance and content. How unsophisticated it was for the Ambassador Of Eritrea to announce that questions asked in the Washington Post Q&A session would not be entertained in the Q&A session at the seminar. If that does not reek of censorship, I do not know what does. Not one question was raised at the seminar that challenged the policy of the government of Eritrea. We all know that there are Eritreans who support the government of Eritrea, but even those who support the government have certain bones of contention. We also know that there are those Eritreans who whole heartily oppose the present government in Eritrea and who e-mailed question in both Q&A sessions. However, they where not even given the consideration of raising issues that they felt merited attention. The questions that where asked from the participants of the seminar where such issues as, "what are we going to do about pregnancy and marriage for those in the front line?", "Why should we care about the stability of Ethiopia when Ethiopians themselves do not care?" "What assurance do we have that the Ethiopians in Eritrea are not going to cause us harm?" etc. These questions can not be what Eritreans really want to know. Eritrea contrary to what a lot of Ethiopians think is made up of a diverse group of people and opinions. What was demonstrated at the Seminar was not fully representative of the whole Eritrean Spectrum. The seminar was held in a controlled environment and was carefully orchestrated to portray a calm, cool, and collective President with 100% support from his people. It was a classic evade the real issues focus on non-sense and get through the seminar with out any blunders. However, a major BLUNDER was committed. The blunder will be discussed below amongst other issues.

One issue the President of Eritrea focused a bulk of his time was on was "THE MISSING MAP". The President tried with all his energy and might to convince the Eritrean people that the reason the "Chifra Woyanes" refused to sign the peace plan is because they did not have a map to counter Eritreas map. This logic goes counter to any sensible reasoning. Think for one minute and analyze that argument. The President painstakingly attempted to establish that "Chifra Woyane" was afraid of peace because they would be unable to produce a map that would establish any of the contested areas as being Ethiopian. If that where the case and Eritrea truly had a map that established these areas being Eritrean territory; then why invade Badme. If Badme was really the issue and if Eritrea had maps to prove that the contested territory, the Eritrean then why invade the subsequent territories. If that was the case, before invading Badme regardless of what tension and conflict there may have been, why did Eritrea not present its case to the Hague? You see the equation does not add up. Eritrea invades Badme, then argues that Ethiopia does not want peace because it does not have a map! If Eritrea had evidence that all the territories where hers, then why invade Badme and spill the blood of innocent Ethiopian and Eritreans when it could have simply sued Ethiopia in International Court with the evidence it claims would establish the territories as Eritrean. I am sorry to say but the argument presented by the President was basically flawed.

The President also spent an extraordinary amount of time elaborating on Ethiopia's lack of military might. The President also attempted to portray that no Ethiopians believed in the War except the "Chifra Woyanes". I must say that the statement was interesting for the following reasons. No less than three journalists have written about the Press Gangs in Asmara rounding up Eritreans of all ages to fight the war. The last time I checked, Press Gangs where used only for rounding up those elements who where evading fighting for country. In Eritrea according to the foreign press, the youth and elderly are being Press Ganged into joining the army. This does not bade well for the notion that Eritreans believe in this war. However, not one publication has written that The Ethiopian Government is forcing the youth to go fight this war. That is why the Ethiopian Forces marched into Badme and changed the laws for nature once and for all. Even by the Presidents own admission, in Algiers, the Ethiopian forces where deep in Eritrean Territory. Hence, one of the conditions of the TA's is that Ethiopia withdraw from territories it occupied after February 1999. Furthermore, the Eritrean government through a Foreign Minister publication accused Ethiopia of Bull Dozing and Burning Villages deep within Eritrean territory. Please tell us Mr. President how all this is possible with an army "that does not support the Ethiopian Government in the unjust war against Eritrea." How is Badme, the biggest piece of territory in the conflict under the control of the Ethiopian government? Where it not for the commitment of the Ethiopian people and soldiers Badme would still be under Eritrean control. Yes, the Eritrean President was correct when he pointed out that numbers do not always tell the story. More than numbers, the fighters must believe the war is a just endeavor. The most deadly combination is a huge population which belives it has been wronged.

In my opinion the president of Eritrea unwittingly admitted that the Eritrean Air Force had been neutralized. Again, this is my opinion, but why would the Eritrean President portray the Ethiopian Air Defense System as being controlled by foreign mercenary. It seems to me that the Eritrean President is planting the seeds necessary in order to justify why the expensive MIG 29's where rendered ineffective. Why else would The Eritrean President bother to bring up this issue while under the same breath attempt to convince the listeners that Ethiopia's Military is nothing short of a joke with fancy toys. The reality however is with or without fancy toys, Ethiopia today controlled more territory in this conflict than Eritrea does. The lands Eritrea controls are generally small border towns that put together do not equal Badme and the other territories controlled by Ethiopia. In fact the Eritrean government has buried thousands of land mines as evidenced in past battles. In fact the Eritrean Intelligentsia argues that Ethiopian Government is barbaric for sending its troops through land mines to attack Eritrean positions. Whether this is true or not, they admit that contrary to International Laws outlawing the usage of land mines, Eritrea plants these land mines. How else was the term "Agame Popper" termed by a creative Eritrean. However, why would anyone plant landmines in a war. The President of Eritrea in an interview in April 21, 1984 near She'eb in Sahel, Stuart Holland a British MP answers that question well (for the book "Never Kneel Down") stated the following when asked about the Derg military situation; the then Vice General Secretary stated the following "now they (Derg) are mining practically all their defense lines. This has never been done by the Ethiopian armed forces before. It is a sign of their fear that the situation is going against them." This is what the President of Eritrea concluded as to why land mines wher planted. I will let the reader be the judge. Given these facts, why is Eritrean President so stubbornly resisting the inevitable?

Lastly, let us address the MAJOR BLUNDER. While the Eritrean President was trying to unconvincingly appear confident and in control, he made a statement that I pray to God does not come back to haunt him. In fact, it has become the talk of the town. I have heard quite a few people talk about the blunder. In an attempt to increase the morale of the people, the Eritrean President in reference to mercenary pilots and other personnel, stated "We know what hotels they stay at". This statement implies that Eritrean in Ethiopia are spying for Eritrea ( I do not believe this for one minute ). It is obvious that this was another attempt to increase the morale of his supporters with the Super Eritrean Intelligence System. However, this stupid statement does nothing but expose the Eritreans in Ethiopia. The last time The Eritrean President made a similar comment, the Ethiopian government took decisive action by expelling many Eritreans. What does the President of Eritrea think a comment like that will trigger. Does he not think before he speaks. Why would he place at risk the remaining Eritreans in Ethiopia. Why would Eritreans in Washington DC clap when he makes such a ridiculous and dangerous statement. I am wondering out loud if he makes such comments in order to provoke the Ethiopian government to expel many more Eritreans. Does he want more political cards to use as propaganda. If so, why would he do it at the cost of his own people? At any rate, I as an Ethiopian plead with my government not to take any actions against Eritreans in Ethiopia. This statement was made by a desperate man hoping to increase his dwindling support. I have even seen some comments in disscusion forums calling the Ethiopian government to expel more Eritreans. I say to the contrary. Let us not punish innocent Eritreans because of the blunder of a desperate President. The majority of Eritreans in Ethiopia have nothing to do with the actions of the Eritrean leadership.

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