Friday, March 27, 2009

Revisiting Ethio-Eritrean issues

Revisiting Ethio-Eritrean issues
On March 15, 2009—San Jose has hosted a discussion forum on the Ethio-Eritrean issues. The honorable invited guests on this topic were Professor Tesfatsion Medhanie from the University of Bremen, Germany and Professor Daniel Kendie from the University of Henderson in Arkansas, United States. Both scholars have written books on the Ethio-Eritrean issue. The meeting has driven lots of participants and it was a successful event. The Amharic version of what the first speaker, Professor Tesfatsion, presented to the audience will soon be posted on the Internet in its entirety. In brief, his presentation focused on confederation as the framework for the closest relations possible between the two countries. He dwelt at length on the difference between confederation and federation. But even for this confederal union to be realized, there are some prerequisites. They include political changes in both Eritrea and Ethiopia; this means, among other things, that there have to be governments of national unity in both countries. Besides, there are also psychological barriers on the part of Eritreans as well as Ethiopians that have to be addressed. The elites of both countries have a big role to play in this regard. Professor Tesfatsion emphasized that if the peoples of both countries are satisfied with the process of the confederation, they can in the future voluntarily decide in favor of a closer relationship including federation. Following that, Professor Daniel Kendie’s presentation focused on the role played by Egypt and other Arab-nations for the secession of Eritrea. He favors not only reinstating the Federal system to Eritrea but also to implement it in other Ethiopia’s sub-regions. In addition, he argued that a confederation allows two countries to sit side by side and is too weak to deal with major issues. Therefore, he stressed that a strong central government is a requirement. His vision of the federal structure also calls for the inclusion of Djibouti, Somalia, and perhaps Sudan. The discussion was really very interesting and a milestone that brought both Ethiopians and Eritreans under one roof for discussions. On the other hand, both lecturers admitted that this vision may be supported by neither the current Eritrean nor Ethiopian governments. A democratic government is a prerequisite for its possible implementation. Therefore, one has to think beyond the era of the present regimes. Professor Daniel also told participants that a meeting between Eritrean and Ethiopian intellectuals will be held in the coming days. It includes 15 participants on each side of the isle and he promised to inform us about its outcome. And finally, on the strength of Professor Danel’s recommendations, 3-people on each side were selected to facilitate at least social interactions between the two communities here in San Jose. It’s actually is the first of its kind since the 1998 major conflict between the two countries or even after the separations for that matter. In sponsoring this discussion forum, we—the event organizes—strongly believe that we’ve brought this crucial issue to the forefront. At the same time, we also know that it’s highly controversial. But taking a step towards peace and reconciliation as well as developing vision is a historical obligation. Let other people take it from here. Forum organizers in San Jose, California

Email sent to VOA Tigringa producer regarding the SJ town hall meeting on the Ethio-Eritria issue This email was suppose to be delivered to VOA Tigringa program. Unfortunately, for reason unknown my emails to them failed so many times in many instances. After I experienced such bouncing emails from VOA using the right address; I used to send my commentaries through the producer’s personal email address. Now, even that seemed to failed. I tried every option to send my commentaries regarding their guests Ato Yako from Eritrean community and Ato Awash from Ethiopian community (though he is ardent supporter of Meles Zenawi) invited to explaining the Ethiopian and Eritrean public discussion forum on the new Ethio-Eritrean issue. As I said it above due to unknown reason my mail kept refused from the VOA webmaster. What ever the reason, till we find out if there is any insider job or not, I will now post my comment in the hope VOA Tigringa producers will see it and air it to their audience via VOA. I ma also surprised how Tigringa VOA producer managed to get TPLF supporter/government supporter as guest to explain about the event in San Jose. It is fishy to say the least! Here is the Tigringa version of my commentary.ሰላም ቪኦኤ ክፍሊ ትግርኛነዋሕ ርኢቶ ስለዝኾነት ሕዝባዊ አድላይነታ ገምጊምኩም ንዉሕ ዝበለ ጊዜ ሂብኩም ቦታ ከም’ትህቡዋ ተስፋ እገብር።ኣብ ዝሓለፈ መደብኩም ብዛዕባ ህዘቢ ኤርትራን ኢትዮጵያን ክንየዉ ዝጥምት ሰላማዊ ፍታሕ ዘምጽእ መንገዲ ንምፍታሽ አብ ሳንሆዘ ካሊፎርኒያ ብፈረንጂ አቋጻጽራ ማርች 15/2009 ኤርትራዉያንን ኢትዮጵያዉያንን ዘሳተፈ ብኢትዮጵያዊን ኤርትራዊን ዶ/ር ተስፋጽየን መድሃንየን ፣ዶ/ር ዳኒኤል ክንዴን ዝተጸወዐ ህዝባዊ ዋዕላ ከመይ ከምዝተኻየደ ንከብራህሩሁልኩም ክልተ አጋይሽ ካብ ኤርትራ “አቶ ያዕቆብ” ካብ ኢትዮጵያ ድማ “አቶ አዋሽ” ዓዲምኩም ነይርኩም።አቶ አዋሽ ማሓዛይን ዘመደይን እንተኾነ’ዉን ነቲ ናይ ክልቲኡ ህዝቢታት ጸገም ተጠያቓይ ዝኾነ “መንግስቲ ወያነ” ደጋፋይ ከም ሙዃኑ መጠን ካብኡ ዝሰማዕኩዎ አዎንታዊ አዛራርባ ግና ፍሉይ ኮይኑ ስለዝረኸብኩዎ ከመስግኖ እፈቱ። ግናኸ ፤ ነቶም ብቅንዕኛ ተሲኦም ነዚ አኼባ እዚ ሱሙር ንክኸዉን ዝጻዓሩ ኢትዮጵያዉን “ሞንጎኛ” አይነበሩን ብምባል ክኸሶም ምፍታኑ ቅንዕኛ ዝጎዶሎን “መንግሰታዊ ድጋፉ” ንምድጓሕ ዝገበሮ ስለዝመስል ክእርማ ይሓቶ። እቶም አዳለዉቲ ካብ ሳዓብቲ ወያኔ ኮነ ካብ ካልኦት ባእታታት ብማዕረ ሓሳባቶም ክህቡ ገይሮም እዮም። ንአባላት ወየንቲ ሓሳባቶም ንክህቡ ምግባሮም ዘመስግኖም እምበር ብወገንተኝነት ከኽስሶም ኣይግባእን።ምሳኣ ግና ከምኡ ዝአመሰሉ ብጾቱን ካልኦትን ንሓዋሩ ነቲ ናይ ክልቲኤን ህዝቢታት ጸገም ዘጋድዱ ባእታት/መንግስቲ ወያኔ ምድጋፎም ድማ ደዉ ከምዘብሉዎ ተስፋ እገብር። ሕዚ ናብ ሓዉ ያዕቆብ እንትንአቱ ድማ ፣- ያዕቆብ ካብ ቀደሙ ቁኑዕ ሙዃኑ ብቐረባ ስለዝፈልጦን ካብቶም ኢትዮጵያዉን ወኪልና ዝተመረጽና ሓደ አነን ካብቶም ኤርትራ ወኪሎም ዝተመርጹ ሓደ ያዕቆብ ስለዝኾንና ንሓዋሩ ሓበራዊ ምርድዳእን ሓለፍነትን ከምዝጽበየና እፈልጥ።በዚ’ዉን ከመስግኖ እፈቱ። እንተኾነ ግና ካብ አዛራርባኡ ዘይጠዓመትኒ ረዛን ቃላት ብምጥቃሙ ፣ሓደ ነገር ክብል እደሊ። ደ/ር ዳኒኤል ክንዴ ንፍተሕ ኤርትራ ኮነ ንኻልኦት ሐጋራት ኮነፈደረሽን ዘይኮነስ ብፌደረሽን እንተተማሓደራ እየን እቲ ዝድለ ሰላምን ምዕብልናን ክመጽ ዝኽእል እምበር፣- “ኮንፌደራል ምምሕዳር”- አመና (ብጣዕሚ) ዱኹም ስለዝኾነ “ንቀጠፍቲን - ንጸሊም ዕዳጋን ከምኡዉን ዉግእ ንከይ ደግስ’ዉን ዝካላኸለሉ *ታኮ* ስለዘይብሉ” -ንቶም ዝተጠቕሱ “በሪ ዝኸፍት” ስለዝኾነ “ሰላምን ምዕብልናን” ከምጽእ አይኽእልን ኢሉ ዳንኤል ንዝሃቦ መርገጽ *-ያዕቆብ “ሓላፍነት ዝጎዶሎ” እንትብል ብረዚን ቃል ምህያሱ አግባብነት ዘይብሉ ሙዃኑ ንሰማዕቲ ክገልጽ እፈቱ። ነክልቲኡ ህዝቢ ብፌደረሽን ምህዋስ’ኮ ህዝቢ ዘዳሚ ምምሕዳር ማለት አይኮነን። ደ/ር ተስፋጽየን እዉን እኮ “ምስቲ ዘሎ ቁሱል ሕልና” ጊዚኡ አይመስለንን ግና ክልቲኦም ህዘቢታት “ዱሉዋት” ኢና ኢሎም “ይሕሸና” “ምድምማይ በዚሑ” ኢሎም እንተዳኣ “ፈዴረሽን መሪጾም” እንኳይዶ ፌደረሽን “ሓደ” እንተኾኑ ዉን *አሰና* ዝቕበሎ ነገር እዩ! ዝብል እዩ ተስፋጽየን ዝተሳማማዓሉ። ፌደረሽን እኮ ናይ ቅድምሕጂ ናይ ተስፋጽየን ደዉታ እዩ ነይሩ። ግና ደዉቱኡ ናብ “ኮን ፌደራሽን” ዝቐየረሉ ምኽንያት በቶም ዝገልጽኩዎም “ህዝባዊ ሕሊና ዘይድሉዊነት” ዝተበገሰ እዩ። ዳኒኤል ዝበሎ ዘሎ ግና፣ ኮንፌደራል ምምሕዳር ከም ፌደራል ምምሕዳር ጠዋት/ጥንኩር ስለዘይኮነ ንቐጠፍቲን ንጸሊም ዕዳጋን፣ ንካሊእ ወራር ዉግእ” ዘቃልዕ ሙዃኑ ብምግላጽ ምሳለታት ሂቡ እዩ። ንአብነት ብኮንፌደራል እንተዳኣ ተኣሳሲረን ኤርትራ መሊሳ “ሸቀጥ ቡን” ብጉሁድን ብጸሊም ዕዳጋን እንዳገፈፈት መበል “ራብዓይ” መፍረይቲ ቡን ኮይና ኣብ ዓለም ንክትምዝገብ ንጸሊም ዕዳጋ መንገዲ ምኽፋት እዩ። እንትብል ገሊጹዎ እዩ። እዚ ድማ “ሓለፍነት ዝስመዖ” እምበር “ሓላፍነት ዝጎዶሎ” አባሃህላ አይኮነን። ናይ ዳኒኤል አባሃህላ ኮን-ፌደራል ምምሕዳር “ፖለቲካዊን ምምሕዳራዊን ምትእስሳር” ክህሉ አለዎ እዩ። ናይ ሓባር ባንክ፣ ሃበራዊ ወታሃደር (common defense)፣ ካብ ክልቲኤን ሃገራት ዝተመዘዙ መንግሰታዊ ስራሓቲ ዘካይዱ ሽማግለታት/ኮሚቲ፤(ፍደራል አሰምብሊ) ፣ ናይ ሓባር ማሪታይን ንገዲ ወዘተ… እዚ ምስ ዘይህሉ ግና “ንዉግእን ንጸሊም ዕዳጋን” መሊሱ መንገዲ ዝኸፍት እዩ፣ ዝብል እዩ ናይ ዳኒኤል ናይ “ፈደረሽን” ደዉታ።ኩሉ ንክትግበር ግና 1- መራሕቲ ብዝፈጠሩዎ ንሕንሕ ዝተለከመ ሕዝቢ አብ ሞንጉኡ ዝተርአየ ጽልኢ አወጊዱ ሕዉነትን ምዝርራብን ክጅምር ምግባር፤ 2- 2- ክልቲኦም መንግስቲ ወያነን መንግስቲ ሻዕቢያን አብ ስልጣን ክሳብ ዘለዉ ጊዜ ሰላም ክህሉ ከምዘይክእል ፈሊጥና ንክልቲኦም ዝኾነ ይኹን ሞራላዊን ንዋታዊን ደገፍ ዘይምሃብ፣ 3- 3- ናይ ወጻእ ባእታታት ኢድ ኣእታዊነት ከቢድ ጽልዋ ስለዘለዎ - ነቲ ባይታ ከየታዓናቕፉዎ ብርቱዕ ጠመተ ምግባር። እዚኦም ክምርመሩ ዝግባኦም ነጥቢታት እዮም፡ ኢሎም ክልቲኦም ሙሁራት ዝተሳማሙዑሎም ነጥብታት እዮም። ጌታቸዉ ረዳ ሳንሆዘ ካሊፎርኒያ ኤዲተር “ኢትዮጵያን ሰማይ”/-/