THE AUCTIONING OF ETHIOPIA, AND MELESE ZENAWI LOVES IT
By: M. Azene
If there are still some doubters that Melese Zenawi and his clique are agents of Eritrea, dedicated to the destruction of Ethiopia, the document released by the border commission should put that question to rest for good. As someone correctly put it, Melese Zenawi has earned the unqualified distinction of being "more Eritrean than Eritrean".
Page ii of the document is very revealing. Out of the ten COUNCEL, CONSULTANTS & ADVOCATES representing Eritrea one is an Eritrean. By contrast, on the Ethiopian side, out of a total of eleven there is not a single Ethiopian. We know that there is no shortage of eminently qualified Ethiopian legal experts to represent their country. What we are witnessing is Melese Zenawi and his clique's absolute contempt for any and everything Ethiopian. It is also his way of ensuring the conspiracy of auctioning of Ethiopia is carried out in complete secrecy.
On page 50 paragraph 4.69 and 4.70 the document further reveals in no uncertain terms where Meles Zenawi's interest lies. The paragraphs read as follows:
The qualification as to the northern section relates to Tserona. In its reply, Ethiopia stated that a number of specific places mentioned by Eritrea as the location of incidents on which Eritrea was relying were irrelevant, since they were in any event mostly in Eritrea. The words used by Ethiopia were that "Fort Cadorna, Monoxeito, Guna Guna and Tserona' were " mostly…undisputed Eritrean ." While Monoxeito and Guna Guna are on the Eritrean side of the Treaty line as determined by the Commission, the Commission finds that, on the basis of the evidence before it, Tserona and Fort Cadorna are not.In case the die hard Melese supports missed the point or find it hard to believe, the gist of the preceding text is that Melese Zenawi's government pleaded to cede Ethiopian territory to Eritrea and the Commission complied.As to Tserona, the Commision cannot fail to give effect to Ethiopia's statement, made formally in a written pleading submitted to the Commission. It is necessary, therefore, to adjust the Treaty line so as to ensure that it is placed in Eritrean territory.
Page 54 paragraph 4.85 is a clear indictment of Melese Zenawi's Government incompetence or lack of interest to honestly represent and argue on Ethiopia's behalf. The paragraph referring to IROB reads as follows:
Even so the Commission is unable to draw from this the conclusion that it should vary the 1900 Treaty line so as to include the whole of the Endeli projection within Ethiopia. The Commission has noted that, in general, the impact of Ethiopian administrative activity has been weaker, and the impact of Eritrean activity stronger, the northern and western fringes of the Endeli projection, and that therefore Ethiopia has not established its effective sovereignty to the required degree over those areas. The Treaty line should therefore be varied so as to place only the more southerly and easterly part of the Endeli projection in Ethiopia.Any way one looks at the ruling (the Assab issue aside), Ethiopia comes out the clear looser. Examinations of the maps released by the Commission prove that. However, barely a couple of hours after the ruling, the so called council of ministers of Melese's regime came up with a statement declaring total vindication and victory. The only purpose of that statement is, of course, to hood wink and, as usual deceive and confuse, the uninformed and gullible Ethiopians and cover up their sinister plan to destroy Ethiopia. Absence of a similar propaganda on the Eritrean side is also very telling. First the Eritrean side has gotten what it set out to get and more (refer to the maps). Second, Eritrea is avoiding or delaying public comments as a pay back to Meles's favor. This will give Melese more time to defuse the anger and frustration of the Ethiopian people through the state owned propaganda machine. Issaias has nothing to loose now. He is surely and quietly savoring the ill gotten gains.After the loss of eighty to one hundred thousand lives and four billion dollars in the war effort, the question now is: what is there for Ethiopia? NOTHING.
Ethiopians of all walks of life have strongly condemned this unprecedented and tragic treasonous act perpetrated by a rogue and illegitimate government serving the interest of Ethiopia's enemies for quite sometime. The question is what is we need to do to save what is left of our country? The answer is simple. Send Melese to his mother land - Eritrea, before further damage is done. And that requires our united effort. Let us rise.
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]