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The Strained US-Eritrea Relations and the Way Forward

Written by Rishan Beyene

Saturday, 01 November 2008

People, who are subjected to unfair and inhumane injustices, often have a choice to either be better or bitter. History shows us that choosing the latter causes victims of injustices to be perpetrators of similar crimes against innocent subjects.

Indeed, their victims are most often non-related to their predicament and the sufferings they had gone through. The disturbing crimes against humanity the terrorist Woyane regime in Addis have been unleashing against the Somalis and the Ogadenis are a case in point. But what happens to people who choose to forgive those who wronged them? This brief article intends to answer this question using Eritrea as a case point for that, in turn, would shed light on the strained US-Eritrea relations.

By federating colonial Eritrea with neighbouring Ethiopia, the 1950s US Administration denied the Eritrean people their inalienable right to exist as a sovereign nation just like the other colonial peoples of the time, thus making the US directly responsible for what followed next: Ethiopia 's annexation of Eritrea and the long and costly armed struggle that followed. For Eritreans, federation, and later annexation meant loss of national dignity, and brought with it untold sufferings of Biblical proportions. Deliberately denied justice, the Eritrean people were forced to wage armed struggle for three decades that had resulted in heavy loss, human and material, as well as in long lost opportunity.

In 1991, thanks to the wise and tenacious EPLF leadership, the Eritrean people eventually righted the wrongs committed against them when they successfully asserted their dignity as a sovereign nation. The forward looking Government and people of Eritrea chose to forgive those who had wronged them, and sought to work instead for mutual benefit based on mutual respect. However, Eritrea 's gesture of goodwill was eventually met with yet another US betrayal that manifested itself in another proxy war in Ethiopia, which, in turn has resulted in heavy loss of lives and other atrocities, as well as in illegal occupation to date of Eritrea 's sovereign territories by Ethiopian forces.

It is noteworthy that the Eritreans' choice to forgive those who had wronged them has further solidified the character traits the Eritreans nurtured and developed during the three decades long armed struggle. Character traits, such as courage, love of truth and justice, and fierce determination with strong sense of purpose, traits the 'wrongdoers' whom the Eritreans had forgiven deliberately misconstrue as arrogance. Ironically, it is these character traits that have enabled the Eritrean people to stand firm by foiling successive US conspiracies to this day.

For Eritreans, to stand up to injustices and to stand up for what they believe is right and NOT tiptoe a line they consider wrong, biased, unjust and immoral, is a matter of principle, that has been shaped by the successive unfair and inhumane injustices they continue to be subjected to to this day on the one hand, and by their choice to forgive and be 'morally' better than those perpetrators of injustices on the other. Eritrea's positive and constructive regional role in the form of the peace deal the Eritrean Government helped broker between the Sudanese Government and the East Sudan, as well as Eritrea's principled stance on the illegal and immoral invasion of Somalia, are a case in point. And this noble Eritrean principle and its potentially enduring influence in the Horn region and beyond lie at the core of the strained US-Eritrea relations.

For Eritreans, the second round of US betrayal and how it manifested itself are a clear reflection of the morally bankrupt nature of US administrative institutions. A fact that has also become evident to the rest of the world by the illegal and aggressive military adventures of the US Administration in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. And this demands radical change at institutional level if the severely damaged US image and credibility are to improve, and for the inhumane crimes that are being committed by the US and its servants around the world to come to an end.

As for self-respecting Government and people of Eritrea, they shall NEVER compromise the principle the Eritrean martyrs died for, for doing so would amount to making a mockery of the heavy sacrifice thus far paid for the dignity of the nation. And understanding the aforementioned dynamics on the part of the US and its 'allies' would go a long way in normalising not only US-Eritrea relations but also other similarly strained relations.

Besides, we have now seen enough evidence from around the world that pursuing one's interests by committing crimes against humanity, by degrading the dignity of other nations and /or by endangering their national security, would be met with stiff resistance, for those nations have their dignity to uphold and national security to defend as well. In light of this, the viable, sustainable and acceptable way of pursuing one's interests that is fit for the 21st century and beyond is one that would take the dignity and security of other nations into account.

In the meantime, those nations that are concerned about the disturbing way humanity is being degraded, and the rule of law being trampled on, would have to realise that it is upto each one of them to make the now long overdue change happen. And that demands a collective action, with short-term and long-term objectives. For instance, the short-term objectives could include preventing another Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, while working towards a new and robust UN that would serve its members with fairness by upholding the rule of law, could be the long-term agenda. As of now, there are basically NO such regional or international organisations to speak of as they have all been successfully metamorphosed by the warmongers into servants of their interests.

Fishlet N'Ametsti Hailtat!!!
Awet N'Wtsuaat!!!
Awet N'Hafash!!!

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