"[I]t isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."

These words are particularly true when we apply them to the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict. Ethiopian leaders might say whatever they want about peace, but as long as they remain non-believers in peace there cannot be any progress towards peace. For TPLF, accursed Ethiopia's leaders, peace is something you sign on a peace of paper, and not in your heart. And like a scrap of paper that has outlived its usefulness, peace is also something you throw away--in a waste-basket.

The minority government in Ethiopia cannot be expected to work for peace because it never believed in one. Peace is a disposable item. It has a shelf life of a bathroom tissue paper. The recent Ethiopian behavior in Algiers is a case in point, when in reality they came to burry peace. But they have to say they are for peace because it opens the purse strings in Washington. The things they have done to wreck the possibility of peace are endless:

• If they were for peace they wouldn't have initiated the harassment and expulsion of Eritreans from the disputed villages as early as 1992.
• If they wanted peace they wouldn't have entered Adi Murug by force in 1997.
• If they desired to settle the border issue peacefully they wouldn't have opted for a unilateral map of Ethiopia on November of 1997 changing a hundred-year old delimitation of the border.
• If they were people who were interested in peace they wouldn't have tried to push on to Assab through Bure by force January 1998.
• If they were people who worked for peace they wouldn't have shot at people who came to talk peace on May 6, 1998.
• If they were for peace they wouldn't have declared war on Eritrea May 13, 1998 when the government of Eritrea was pleading for restraint, reason and talks.
• If they believed in peace they wouldn't have perpetrated the atrocities that they committed against innocent Ethiopians of Eritrean origin, throwing students into concentration camps, deporting babies and the elderly, and stealing property of Ethiopians of Eritrean origin.
• If they believed in peace they wouldn't have made it a habit to bomb civilian targets including those in Asmara, Adi Qeyih, Assab, Adi Quala, Laalay Dieda, Shambiqo, Hirgigo ....
• If they had a thirst for peace, they wouldn't have rejected the Technical Arrangements and opted for war. They would have listened to the world that was pleading for peace.
• If they had a hunger for peace they would have stopped the war when Eritrea, following a plea by the OAU, pulled out of the disputed territories.   If they were after peace they wouldn't have systematically destroyed all Eritrean towns and hamlets they occupied. Towns such as Barentu, Teseney, Alighider, Um Hajer, Tekombiya, Mai Dima, Kisad Iqa, Senafe, ...
• If they were serious on making peace they would have complied with the June 18, 2000 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. To this end
• They wouldn't have denied air corridor and land route access to the UNMEE peacekeeping mission.
• They wouldn't be planting fresh landmines when in fact the June 18 Agreement required the Parties' commitment and cooperation in the removal and disposal of landmines planted in the past thirty months.
• They wouldn't be continuing to violate human rights of the Eritrean population they are occupying. They would have stopped their harassment of poor farmers. They would have brought to an end their massive arrests of Eritreans in the occupied territories. They would have halted their systematic and widespread raping of Eritrean women, and they would have refrained from their wanton destruction of public and private property.
• And finally if they were working for peace they wouldn't have walked out of the recent peace talks in Algiers.

The Tigrean minority that is in power in Ethiopia has never believed in having peace within Ethiopia or in making peace with Ethiopia's neighbors. It never did, it doesn't and it wouldn't. Ethiopia's commitment to peace is and has always been a lip service. It is a fact that had remained throughout Abyssinian rulers' history. Ethiopia's unending curse is that its leaders have no heart for peace or of peace.

As for a lip-deep commitment to peace, the TPLF leaders are masters of the game. Here is what Prime Meles Zenawi had told the US Press during his September 2000 visit to Washington:

"For us agreements concluded are made to be respected, not to be violated. In any case, what our people wish to be identified with, fully and with no ambiguity, is peace making, not war making. As much as our people refuse to see aggression rewarded at their expense, they have, on the other hand, never been wanting in demonstrating full commitment to peace and legality."

These kinds of statements are typical of Meles & Co. But the masters of deception that they are, they were saying these to get the favor and attention of donor nations. They were not saying the statements out of a genuine desire for peace. Those Westerners who have talked with Meles would tell you that throughout the conflict he was talking to them with tears in his eyes. Some of them of course know that he was acting, for that matter from a well-rehearsed script. But the majority of them wouldn't. We know he was shedding crocodile tears, but the world doesn't. We have to let the world know.

However, before we let the world know we have to remind some of our own people to understand that the Cessation of Hostilities did not bring peace, nor is it likely to. To pretend that June 18 was the first day of peace is to believe foolishly in the good will of the TPLF.

This being the case some of our people are even talking about organizing a conference in Asmara on reconciling with Ethiopia. Mind you this is coming at a time when our women are being gang-raped in Senafe and other areas, and at a time when our young ones are being shot and getting maimed. How dare they? Are we missing something or there is some NGO money to spend? Are those who are organizing such a conference willing to let the presenters be elderly Eritreans from the countryside? People who know well about the past. Yes, these people have no degrees and cannot claim the titles of "Professionals" and "Academicians", but they are intellectuals in their own ways. They know the facts, facts that come from first hand experience not from books. Are they the ones to dominate the "peace conference" or are the people of Eritrea going to be lectured by "peace-experts" who would prescribe expired Western medication to African problems? How dare also some "self-baptized" intellectuals meet behind close doors in a European capital and point fingers at our leaders and defense forces in a language borrowed from Walta? How dare they?

Few of our people have been fooled by Meles and his cronies. They have forgotten that the great great-grandchildren of Alula have the same lust for Eritrea as their ancestors did. We will only forget at our peril if we forget that the current Ethiopian leaders are not for real. They are only good at paying lip service for peace. They are good at masquerading as advocates for peace. Ethiopian leaders are foxes(**) in sheep's skin. What's sad, the tragedy of it all, and the most disturbing fact is that some of our best and brightest can't even tell a fox from a sheep. What a travesty! Had they been raised in the countryside, perhaps, they would have known the difference between a fox and a sheep.

Ethiopia's leaders are talking about peace because they need money. It is as simple as that: money ($$$$). But when it comes to working for real peace, they rather be found dead. If they are talking about peace now it is only until they get ready for another offensive or until they get aid money from the West which they would use for another offensive.

Again true to their nature Ethiopian leaders are now rushing to pass the blame of the failure of the recent proximity talks on "Eritrean intransigence." Of course Eritrea and the facilitators know fully well who is the responsible for the failure. But as both (the facilitators and Eritrea) hadn't spoken on time, the TPLF gang had tried to milk the opportunity the silence of the other two has created. Seizing opportunity to tell lies is a hallmark of the TPLF.

Ghidewon Abay Asmerom

(Note: Those who are purists in the English language might not like the fact that I have substituted wolf by fox. Sorry. I have used fox in purpose. A fox in highland Eritrea is not only a symbol of deception but that of lies as well. A person who loves to lie left and right like the TPLF leaders is referred to as "Hashul" in Tigrigna. Hashul means fox. Thus a fox fits the TPLF leaders better than a wolf would.)

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