ሩህ ሚዲያ – Ruh Media

As of recent days, there are news alerts that the Eritrean army is tightening its grip over the border with Ethiopia. What mission the Eritrean army endowed with those moves is not unclear. I would say Eritrea has no moral ground to intervene on Ethiopian affairs.

For that, let me remind the Ethiopian populace on something not to forget.

While preserving brotherly relations with Eritreans, Ethiopians should not forget what happened three decades ago, when the Eritrean nation declared independence from Ethiopia in a bullied ‘referendum’. Back then, Eritreans were opted with two: either living under slavery or Liberty (ባርነት ወይም ሃርነት).

For President Isayas Afewerki and his party – the then Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) – preserving union with Ethiopia was like living under slavery, urging Eritreans to vote for secession under the guise of ‘liberty’. The Eritreans massively voted for ‘independence from Ethiopia’, and that marked the creation of the State of Eritrea.

The case on the ground, however, was that Eritreans can be regarded as ‘first citizens’ as they were living under the Ethiopian nationality. Eritreans were key economic actors in Ethiopia, and their dominance in this regard was the major source of political leverage though the Eritrean political elites unable to use it for the progress of their people. It is a recent memory to all of us on the rank and status of Eritreans in the Ethiopian society. Truly speaking, let alone living under slavery, the Eritreans were among the most influential sections of Ethiopian society. However, the decayed politics of EPLF and TPLF left them to poor state of welfare they are living in today.

After close to three decades, time itself appeared a testimony on the pros and cons of secession from Ethiopia.

As a matter of fact, today, Eritrea is one of few countries in the world with the highest emigration per se in peace time. The Eritrean nation is almost a failed state, with authoritarian regime in control of every aspect of life of Eritreans, leaving the land of Eritrea a hell for its people. This time, I hope Eritreans have enough experience to evaluate the cost of secession from Ethiopia.

The past three decades were times of lesson to grip for Eritrean people how important Ethiopia was for them. What Eritrean fathers and mothers have to share to their siblings is only good memories of their time, when they used to enjoy decent life as they were living as Ethiopians. Their children though, fated with the migration, crossing dangerous borders and seas, taking themselves slaves, in search of fortunes far less than which their parents have had in their mother land (Ethiopia) even in dignity. It is unfortunate that all the sufferings of Eritrean youth today are the price of secession from Ethiopia.

Coming back to my point, as of recent days, there are rumors that Eritrea is deploying its army to Ethiopian border. The motive of such an act in the face where Ethiopia and Eritrea said to have reached a deal for peaceful resolution of their disputes is not unclear. As to my understanding, the move of Eritrean regime is a clear showcase of its growing interest to intervene on Ethiopia`s domestic political affairs.

But, those intentions of Eritrean government should not be allowed to materialize.

How foreign interventions complicate the politics and leave the people to unending suffering is clear from the case in Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. I hope every Ethiopian have enough lessons from the grief of innocent civilians in those countries, hence disallow any political move that changes the direction which opens the door for foreign interventions.

Today, when secessionist forces like TPLF are mushrooming, Ethiopians in general and the Tigrian people in particular have to take fair fetch from the experience of Eritrea. As any other Ethiopians, Tigrian people are victims of the ongoing political deadlock. And, whatever the ongoing politics can have detaching effect from living under one flag as Ethiopians, I hope Tigray people will not put their motherland (Ethiopia) in exchange of fulfilling the interest of self-serving political circle around.

In fact, the rift between the federal government in Addis Ababa and the TPLF-led Tigrian rule in Meklle is getting wider as days count. However, I still believe that there are lots of peaceful means to resolve the dispute, if both parties have the will to do so. That being the case, what matter most is people should not allow political forces to harm their long term interests.

In essence, politics is a weapon to serving the interest of the people. In this regard, the Tigraian people should be evaluative of the political causes of TPLF forces in line with their long term interests. Otherwise, they are average citizens who pay the price of naivety of their political circle, perhaps as experienced by Eritrean people.