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By Ahmed Mohamed Egal
I have just read Sophia Tesfamariam’s diatribe of character
assassination and vilification against Professor Peter Pham on American
Chronicle entitled "ETHIOPIA-Meles Zenawi's latest ´Intellectual for
Hire´ Exposes Himself" and dated 23 October 2009. Ms Tesfamariam’s rant
does not merit discussion here and Professor Pham’s credentials,
objectivity and work are well known to those with an interest in the
Horn of Africa, hence he needs no defense against this type of
intemperate, personal attack. However, the piece did make me reflect
upon the history of Somali-Eritrean relations and the current status of
this relationship.
Historically, the Somali people have had warm, neighborly relations with
the people of Eritrea residing as they do in the same locale. During the
1960s this relationship became one of close political allies as both
peoples were victims of the collusion between the European colonialists
and the Haile Selassie regime in Ethiopia to deny them their national
aspirations for self determination. Indeed, when the Somali Republic was
formed in July 1960 by the union of the ex-British Somaliland
Protectorate and the Italian-administered UN Trust Territory of Somalia
to the south, support for the aspirations of the Eritrean people for
self-determination and statehood became an integral cornerstone of the
new Republic’s foreign policy. To this end, the Eritrean liberation
movements were supported politically and materially, and political
offices for them were established in Mogadishu before any other African
country. In fact, such was Somalia’s backing of the Eritrean quest for
statehood that Eritrean refugees were routinely issued Somali passports
to enable them to travel internationally, and many Eritrean refugees
were awarded government scholarships alongside Somali students.
Thus, the Somali people were the first supporters of Eritrean
independence and the Somali Republic was the first country to provide
the Eritrean liberation movement with financial, material and moral
support, in its cause for freedom. In one of those ironies that defy a
deterministic and mechanical view of history, the Republic of Somalia
began to collapse in 1991 just as Eritrea began to achieve its
nationhood. Since the achievement of independence in 1993, Eritrea has
shown its appreciation for Somalia’s long and unstinting support of
their struggle for self determination, by providing refuge and support
for those members of Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime that chose (or
were compelled) to request same, e.g. Ahmed Suleiman Abdullah
("Dhafleh"). It is indeed ironic, and rather bizarre, that the
architects of Somalia’s collapse and erstwhile oppressors of the Somali
people are now the beneficiaries of the support and largess these people
extended to the Eritrean liberation movements. While it might be
understandable for the Afewerki regime to provide a safe haven for the
members of the Siyad Barre dictatorship that assisted them in their
liberation struggle, what is beyond the pale is their support for the
murderers of Al-Shabaab and for the megalomaniacal dreams of Hassan
Dahir Aweys.
Of course, it is self evident that Afewerki’s decision to support these
terrorists was made as part of his strategy to confront Ethiopia at
every possible turn pursuant to the unresolved conflict over Badme.
Clearly, he is pursuing the time-honored tenet of realpolitik which
holds that ´my enemy’s enemy is my friend´, and he saw an opportunity to
bloody Ethiopia’s nose when it invaded Somalia in 2007. However, it is
also true that ´if you lay down with dogs, you will get fleas´, and the
maniacs that Afewerki has chosen to lie with are not only reviled in
Somalia and Somaliland, but throughout the region and further afield.
Further, Ethiopia’s ill advised invasion of Somalia has failed
ignominiously and Ethiopia withdrew its troops over a year ago, yet
Afewerki continues to arm and bankroll the jihadists, even as they
behead, dismember, oppress and blow up their own brethren in a doomed,
nihilistic quest to reverse the course of human progress and
development. Perhaps Afewerki should ponder that these ´friends´ of his
perceive him as an infidel and that he would suffer death should he ever
find himself in their version of the Caliphate. What is undeniable,
however, is that the families, relatives and countrymen and women of the
many thousands of victims of his ´friends´ in Somaliland, Somalia and
Puntland will neither forget nor forgive the Afewerki regime for arming
and succoring these murderers.
In modern parlance, it is considered smart humor to quip "no good deed
goes unpunished", but nothing could be a more apropos summation of the
long and sustained support the Somali people extended to their Eritrean
brothers and sisters and the evil with which the Afewerki regime has
repaid them. In fairness to them, it must be said that this regime is an
equal opportunity evil-dispenser; after all it has managed to find a
reason to fight a war against every single one of its neighbors. Thus,
perhaps the people of Somalia should not feel too bad about the
fraternity extended to them by the Afewerki regime; they share this gift
of evil with the Sudanese, the Ethiopians, the Djiboutians and the
Yemenis, not to mention, of course, the Eritreans themselves. Since
independence the Afewerki regime has done nothing to promote economic
development and social progress for its citizens, but has instead chosen
to squander the meager resources of this poor country in endless
conflict and war. After emerging from the agony of the longest armed
struggle for freedom and independence on the entire continent of Africa,
the Eritrean people had every right to look forward to developing their
country and leaving a better future for their children. Instead, they
are the beneficiaries of the Afewerki regime’s policy of permanent war.
Where Trotsky promoted the concept of ´permanent revolution´ as the
embodiment of true Marxism-Leninism, Afewerki and his cohorts have
implemented an actual policy of permanent war.
We can only hope that divine providence deliver the Eritrean people from
this stunted cabal that can only trade in the currency of war, death and
destruction instead of peace, fraternity and construction. As for the
rest of the region, they must isolate and shun this regime of rogues.
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