From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Aug 19 2009 - 02:17:04 EDT
Eritreans host Horn of Africa panel discussion in California
August 18th, 2009
By Elias Kifle
I was invited to participate in a Horn of Africa panel discussion on
Saturday, August 15, which was hosted by the Community of Eritreans in
the San Francisco Bay Area. The discussion was held at Oakland Tech High
School in Oakland, California, in conjunction with the Eritrean Festival
Western USA - 2009. The guest speakers included Prof. Ahmed Samatar of
Somalia, Dr. Awet Weldemichael of Eritrea, and myself.
I was asked to be the first speaker of the event. My 10-minute
presentation evolved around the need to get rid of the Woyanne tribal
junta in Ethiopia for peace to prevail in the Horn of Africa region:
As long as Woyanne, the cause and instigator of all of the conflicts in
the region, remains in power, there can be no stability in the region.
Woyanne's extremely greedy nature doesn't allow a win-win situation in
any thing it does. It is all-or-nothing, zero-sum game.
For the first time ever, representatives of Ethiopian organizations are
attending Eritrean events in the Diaspora. Eritreans are doing likewise.
Such interaction and dialogue between Eritreans and Ethiopians could
help build a potent alliance for peace and prosperity in the region.
Because of the growing alliance with Eritrea, Ethiopian forces are now
on the offensive for the first time.
I proposed the creation of a Horn of Africa Alliance that will be
capable ending the chaos in the region:
The emerging Ethiopia-Eritrea alliance need to grow and involve the
people of Somali and Djibouti. Such a Horn of Africa alliance can play a
key role in removing the Woyanne cancer from the region and help bring
about peace and stability. It seems that the process of establishing
such an alliance has already started from the bottom up.
There is only one independent government in the Horn of Africa that has
the vision and leadership quality to help bring such an idea to
fruition. I explained as follows:
For this process to be fruitful, it needs a strong backing from the
Government of Eritrea. Currently, it is the only government in the
region that has the vision and the desire to create economic and
political integration among the peoples of the Horn of Africa. As we all
know, the junta that is ruling Ethiopia is working to implement its 1976
Greater Tigray Republic Manifesto after dismembering Ethiopia into
several small satellite states that are to be ruled from Mekele by the
Woyanne masters through puppets. Most of the steps for Woyanne to
implement its Greater Tigray manifesto have already been taken. The only
reason Woyanne has stopped short of fully implementing its plan so far
is because of the Eritrean government's opposition to such a plan. The
government in Djibouti is a fake government. It's leaders are puppets
for Woyanne and France. In Somalia, there is no functioning government.
It is therefore necessary for the Government of Eritrea to provide
leadership in bringing together the people of the Horn of Africa to work
for their mutual benefit, instead of working against each other.
I also talked about what I think should follow the removal of Woyanne:
After removing the Woyanne junta, the next step needs to be to establish
a commonwealth of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibout and Somalia and integrate
their economies - with their citizens having full rights to live, work
and conduct businesses in any place they choose. The economic
integration needs to also include common currency backed up by gold,
common tax policy, and common working language (English). If we are able
to put these ideas to work, our countries and region will be on the path
of peace and prosperity.
My observation is that the mostly Eritrean audience was receptive of the
ideas I presented.
The following speaker was Dr Awet. His presentation touched many areas,
and he forcefully defended Eritrea's government against the accusation
by the U.S. Department of State and the Woyanne junta that Eritrea is
arming Al Qaeda-linked groups in Somalia.
The last speaker was Prof. Samatar, who focused on the need to build
civil societies in order for peace and stability to prevail in the
region. He blamed the chaos in Somalia on the death of civic culture.
During the question and answer session, I was asked how Eritreans can
trust future Ethiopian governments. I explained that Ethiopians express
the same concern. The solution is for the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea
to develop the kind of relation that cannot easily be broken apart by
politicians. I gave the relation between people of Canada and the U.S.
as an example. It is unimaginable for Canada and the U.S. to go to war.
Ethiopia and Eritrea can join in some kind of arrangement, be it
confederation or commonwealth, which will further guarantee that the two
people will never go to war.
Before the discussion concluded, I implored Eritreans and Somalis to
distinguish between Ethiopia and Woyanne. I explained that the Woyanne
junta does not represent Ethiopia. It is the Woyanne tribal junta that
invaded Somalia and slaughtered its people. It is the Woyanne junta that
is in a state of war with Eritrea. The people of Ethiopia have no
problem with Somalia and Eritrea. They just want to live in peace and
freedom. The audience seemed to agree.
(The writer, who is the editor-in-chief of Ethiopian Review, can be
reached at eliaskifle@gmail.com)
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/10605
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