03 Sep, 2016 - A survey by Professor Alemseged Abbay* shows Eritreans don't harbor enmity towards the Amhara people.
Alemseged also gives us a glimpse into the psychological profile of the TPLF and what 40 years of TPLF "leadership" has done to the psyche of the constituency they represent--Tigrayans. Like a hidden camera, Alemseged "catches" the leaders of the TPLF and the people of Tigray in moments of unguarded candor that does much to illuminate their motives and ambitions in his 250 pages book.
Asked to name who they consider their "historical enemies", 82% of his sample of Tigrayans answered.... . Amhara (Shoa). (p. 154).
Asked if they would trust an Amhara doctor, 64% of Tigrayans said they would not. (p. 155).
There's no doubt that the survey results are more or less accurate, for it's a well known fact that while the Eritrean government (Shaebia) had gone to great lengths to make a distinction between the Derg army and the Ethiopian people, the TPLF cadres didn't make such a distinction, but rather they portrayed the Derg army as an Amhara army, leading the Tigray people to believe that they were fighting against the Amhara people.
Asked what do you consider your "Adi abo"--your "fatherland"? This question was posed to Tegaru and Eritreans. 64. 3% of the Tigrayans sample, which included Sebhat Nega named Tigray (not Ethiopia) as their Fatherland.
To 71. 4% of the Eritrean sample, "Fatherland" meant Eritrea and those who did not mention Eritrea did NOT say Hamasien or Seraye, etc.
To Eritreans, notes the author, "fatherland" does not mean the land of the forefathers; it means the land that their children sacrificed their lives for: Eritrea.
Acceptance of intermarriage--marriage outside your own caste, ethnicity and/or religion, when the Tegaru were asked what is their preference, 46% said they would prefer "intermarriages with the Kebessa [highland Eritreans] to the Amhara, or their fellow Tigrayans. (p. 161).
Asked the same question, 64% of Eritreans refer all intermarriages to take place among Eritreans alone, regardless of ethnicity and religion. Intermarriages with Tegaru became a last choice. (p. 162).
Professor Alemseged took a variation of questionnaire by asking TPLF leaders of a hypothetical soccer match up between an "Eritrean" and a "Shoa" soccer team. "Almost all evaded the question", writes Alemseged. Of those that responded, only 14. 3% would support a Shoan team. One of the few who answered was General Mohammed Yonus ("Samora"), who said, "...In the past, I used to support the Eritrean team. Now, I am changed. " (p. 166).
Source: Jilted or Re/Imagining Identity (Red Sea Press, 250 pages)by Prof. Alemseged Abbay
*Alemseged Abbay is an Ethiopian professor.