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Somalia,
not our war |
Tuesday 28 November 2006
By Tadesse Tadele
Throughout its history, Ethiopia had
experienced repetitive external aggression
against its sovereignty and territorial
integrity. The Mahadists, the British,
Italy, Somalia and very recently Eritrea had
taken aggressive approaches and had invaded
our country. In almost all these cases the
Ethiopian people stood shoulder to shoulder
and fought back in a spirit of unity with
diversity. During such external aggressions,
that threatened our sovereignty our people
kept their differences aside and fought and
scored victories in all the battles. In the
above mentioned wars, Ethiopia was never
been the aggressor, but the victim; it never
invaded those countries but was invaded. Our
forefathers won each and every battle for
they had the moral, legal and political
upper hand.
However the current war declared against
Somalia by the PM Melles Zenawi lacks the
spirit of Ethiopianness which our
forefathers possessed. In this case, Melles
invaded Somalia, that is, his soldiers are
present in Somalia’s territory and not the
other way around. Melles did not present us
with any single evidence that shows that the
Islamic Court Union (ICU) has crossed into
our national border which we share with
Somalia. Instead, he is using lame excuses
to make the case that ICU is a threat to our
national security.
One of the excuses is that the ICU has
declared jihad against Ethiopia. Yes ICU did
declare jihad but only against the Ethiopian
soldiers who are present within Somalia
territory. Even if the ICU had declared
jihad against Ethiopian army present in
Bidao, the PM had no legal or moral ground
to send our soldiers to Somalia as long as
ICU did not attack us within our own
territory. In addition to wanting to
directly engage the ICU militarily, the PM
admits the presence of Ethiopian troops in
Somalia in order to prop up the unpopular
transitional government of Somalia. Again,
PM Melles has neither the moral nor legal
ground to be the caretaker for the fragile
transitional government that has failed to
stabilize the Somalia. It is true that
instability in Somalia does affect Ethiopia,
however, the Ethiopia PM is creating a very
unstable Somalia by trying to install and
safeguard a failed warlord led government
that has been rejected by it own parliament.
Therefore it was the illegal presence of
Ethiopian soldiers on Somali soil that led
the Islamists to declare jihad, and as far
as the Ethiopian people are concerned the
jihad was declared on Melles and his group
not our country!!
The PM of Ethiopia also accuses the ICU of
having links with terrorist organizations
such as Al-Qaeda, therefore, it poses a
threat to Ethiopia’s national security and
international peace. We can not say for sure
whether ICU has such link or not because
neither the US nor Melles Zenawi had
provided tangible evidence. Moreover we have
not seen a single terror act conducted by
ICU. Therefore I would say that these
accusations could be similar to that of
America which accused Saddam for having
Weapons of Mass Destruction. As we know
today, the truth is there was never been WMD
possessed by Saddam. The accusation was
based on false evidence to justify Bush’s
aggression and invasion of the sovereign
Iraq. Even if we assume that the ICU had
links to terror groups, Melles has no legal
ground to invade our eastern neighbor in
defiance of the international communities’
plea to restrain. As terrorism is becoming a
global challenge, the war on terrorism
should be fought with a wider participation
of the international community. The PM
should learn from the failure of the Bush
administration who declared a unilateral war
on Iraq defying the legitimate international
body, the UN. President Bush, who
disregarded the UN and other nations because
of the American hegemonic power, now faces
uncertainty and unpredictable crisis. The US
who went to Iraq to “finish the job” in less
than 6 month is still stuck in Iraq after 3
years, which is longer than the American
involvement in the WWII. At this time
America is in a position where they can
neither pull out nor stay in Iraq. If Melles
proceed with his current madness and send
our youth to Somalia without the mandate of
the Ethiopian people and the international
community, the horn of Africa will be
embroiled in a crisis much worse than the
one we are witnessing in Iraq now.
The third excuse Melles present is the role
Eritrea is playing in training and arming
the ICU. Mr Afaworki, the President of
Eritrea, just like his counterpart in
Ethiopia is making a terrible mistake by
involving in Somalia’s internal affairs.
This actually shows the basic similarity
these two leaders have. These are the two
leaders who collaborated in dismantling
Ethiopia, and later triggering a nonsensical
war between the two states that cost the
lives of more than 100,000 innocent youth
for nothing. Having said that, Melles does
not have to invade Somalia just because his
rival is involved. As long us Eritrea does
not re-invade our sovereign territory along
the ICU, Melles has no legitimate reason to
declare war on Somalia. For Melles who
actually stopped our soldiers from capturing
Asmara that could have deposed the current
regime in Eritrea, it is a shame to prepare
our youth to be re-slaughtered again for the
same stupid proxy war with Eritrea on Somali
soil.
The unjustified invasion of Somalia that the
Melles regime is undertaking is simply
Melles’ war, and not Ethiopia’s war. If this
war break up as it is declared by Melles,
the Ethiopian people do no benefit any
thing. It will have a devastating
consequence for Ethiopian people in general
and for our people who live in the East
bordering Somalia in particular, namely
Hararghe and Ogaden regions. It is important
to remember that these are the regions that
had suffered frequent drought especially
during this regime and recent flood disaster
from which they have still not recuperated
yet. It will be a crime against humanity for
this regime to make these people suffer from
this unjustified, illegal, immoral and
pointless war once again.
Therefore, Ethiopians from around the world
should voice against Melles’ war-mongering
stance and help stop this regime from
leading our country to disaster. We should
tell the world that this is not our war;
neither does it reflect the tradition in
which our country has engaged its neighbors
in the past. Our Somali neighbors should
also call up on the ICU not to cross into
our national boundary. The Somali people
deserve to be ruled by the group they
believe would bring peace and harmony to
their country. If they support ICU for such
reason, the Ethiopian people would not
object. However, the ICU must refrain from
crossing our border for any reason
whatsoever. The question of Ethiopian
Somali’s should be addressed within Ethiopia
through peaceful negotiation with groups
such us the Ogaden National Liberation Front
(ONLF). ICU has no legal ground to speak on
behalf of Ethiopian Somalis and nor does
Melles has the right to invade Somalia. Our
Eritrean brothers should also demand their
government not to use Somalia for a proxy
war with the Melles’ regime. The war PM
Melles is gearing up to start in Somali will
be a disaster for the people of Ethiopia,
Somalia, Eritrea and the region as a whole.
In order to prevent such a disaster
befalling the horn of Africa, the war hawks
in the region, particularly Melles Zenawi
should be stopped sooner than later
After all this is not Ethiopians war! This
war is the desire of Melles and his cohorts
who are accustomed to thriving by
terrorizing our people, this time in order
to divert attention from its domestic
political tensions. Stop them NOW and safe
thousands of lives!
*The writer is an Ethiopian college
teacher residing in Dire Dawa and can be
reached at
tadessetadele@yahoo.com |
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