With all the bold actions taken to reform the democratic and political process, galvanizing the populace to unity and reconciliation, and subscribing open dialogue within EPRDF as well as ushering a peace initiative in the region, there is a strong possibility that PM Abiy might be the new MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE in the horn of Africa.
There is no question that a drastic political reform to ensure political freedoms, human rights, equal political representations, equal distribution of wealth, and good governance in all regions, among many, were long overdue in EPRDF’s Ethiopia. However, these can best be achieved through systemic approach using existing and newly established government and civic institutions in accordance with the country’s constitutional and legal framework. There is no need to undermine the federal democtatic constitution gained in blood and huge sacrosanct sacrifices. After all, in a very short time, EPRDF has managed to transform our fragile and poor country into one of the best economic miracles, getting the nation a recognition from internationally renowned economists as “THE NEW CHINA”.
PM Abiy’s unconditional acceptance of the Algiers border ruling, and his quick decision to demarcate the border, unlike his predecessors, based on the defunct colonial treaties that have already been declared null and void by successive UN resolutions and subsequent treaties with Italy, long time ago, will overshadow his political legacy, like his onetime political mentor, former PM Meles.
The fact is a lasting and sustainable peace and normalization between Ethiopians and Eritreans can ONLY be guaranteed if democratically elected and functional institutions are in place in both countries. At the very least, the peace negotiation should include the very poor people who reside in the immediate vicinity of both sides of the border.
PM Abiy is scheduled to arrive in Asmara shortly and he is expected to declare his unilateral decision and executive order to withdraw the Ethiopian army out of our undisputed and inherently historical border towns immediately. PM Abiy, as usual, will also share his great satisfaction with the brutal regime in Asmara and thank Esayas, at a personal level, for his utter generosity to Ethiopia to use the port of Assab for free, without any formal negotiation and concrete agreement at hand.
At the press release, it is expected that both leaders may read through the scripts handed to them by their foreign handlers, about unity and regional peace. However, the primary goal of this bogus and sudden drum of peace championed by both Manchurian candidates, is in fact nothing about peace but to pave the way and prepare the political ground for Americans and their puppets in UAE and KSA to establish military bases in Assab and Massawa, in support of their proxy wars against the Chinese, Turkey and Iran. The World knows that the Trump administration is in loggerhead with the Chinese while the puppets of the Gulf countries (UAE and KSA) who are supporting the murderous Esayas regime, are masquerading against the democratically elected governments of Iran and Turkey, as they did in Yemen. We will be waiting to see if PM Abiy requests for the immediate release of the hundreds of innocent Ethiopians who have been languishing in Eritrean dungeons for decades and bring them back home to their anxious families.
Esayas’s longtime associate, Dawd Ibsa, is given a political clemency to return to Oromia region along with his gun totting army (the Shene group) that was allowed to roam through the town of Nekemt last week, undeterred, driving the fears of direct confrontations with the government militias in Somali and Amhara regions, high.
Dawd Ibsas’s show of force in Nekemte last week was preceded by a demonstration in Bahirdar, supposedly called to support Abiy’s call for “reconciliation, national unity and regional peace”, with extravagant display of the old flag (first introduced by King Yohanes), empty bravado and contempt to the federal constitution of the nation and its governing principles in regards to the federal flag. This is definitely a mushrooming recipe for disaster and God forbids, could teeter the country into a costly civil war, unseen in the history of modern Ethiopia, if left unchecked.
EPRDF as well as the so called “sister organizations” should call a national conference and deal with this clear and present danger ASAP, before it is too late.
Solomon Kidane