Ethiopians are Sick and Tired, of Being Sick and Tired of Shaibya's Belligerence By Mulubrhan Tsehaye March 17, 2007 Ever since its inception, Shaibya has been nothing but a symbol of betrayal, attack, murder, displacement, anguish, war and now, a naked terrorism to the Ethiopian people. The actions of the current government of Ethiopia towards all these dubious actions has been interesting at best and troubling at the worst. All we have been observing from the ruling party of Ethiopia towards all this is denial, enabling, defending, appeasing etc. The leadership of EPRDF has made a habit of being adamant, defensive and in some instances avoiding the issue altogether or even downplaying the gravity of Shaibya’s aggression. The fact is however, Shaibya has proven to be a serious threat to the security of the Ethiopian public and the stability of the our region. Although it has been effective to a certain degree for certain period of time, the current containment policy of the Ethiopian government towards Shaibya cannot be a long term error-proof deterrent to the relentless attacks coming from the regime in Asmara. As the tyrant in Asmara faces humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat, he seems to come up with more frantic attempts of aggression and the end of his madness is no where in sight. The ruling party thus can no longer afford to ignore the long simmering concern and the widespread frustration of many Ethiopians towards these rather never-ending provocations. The notorious abortion of the stunning triumph of the gallant Ethiopian army over the invading force of Shaibya about eight yeas ago is still fresh in the memories of many Ethiopians. We all remember that as the Eritrean regime’s army was being chased and destroyed by the Ethiopian heroes deep inside Eritrea, many Ethiopians had anticipated a total inhalation of the sadistic regime of Eritrea who has become a clear threat to Ethiopia’s ultimate national security. To every Ethiopian’s astonishment however, the extraordinary military advance of the gallant Ethiopian army was suddenly declared halted by the leadership of EPRDF and the public was stunned to find out that the war was over, and Isayas’ regime was literally saved from the verge of a total collapse. To this day, the public is yet to reconcile with the decision makers as to what was the possible conceivable military or political analysis they based their decision on to abort the removal of a dangerous tyrant. To add insult to the injury, the Ethiopian government went ahead and signed perhaps one of the most unjustifiable and unconscionable accords in history with an absolute and incontestable verdict that resuscitated Shaibya back to existence. After nearly seven years of repeated attempts by numerous parties to settle the controversial border issue however, there seems no break through in sight and Shaibya continues to be more and more intransigent and defiant than it has ever been. Shaibya’s relentless attempts to destabilize Ethiopia are manifested in multidimensional terrorist crimes such as just to mention a few, the series terrorist acts of bomb attacks against hotels, market places and public transport specifically, aiming at harming innocent civilians; the foiled plot of bomb attacks at various locations in Addis Ababa during the 8th African Union Summit; the futile attempt to wage a proxy war of destabilizing Ethiopia through the Mogadishu thugs i.e. the training and organizing and the flow of weapons to the Islamic terrorists of Somalia known as the Islamic Courts, the surrogate insurgents like the AFD, OLF, ONLF before they were defeated with a lightening speed by the Ethiopian defense force in December 2006. And then of course, there is the recent forceful abduction of the five Europeans and eight Ethiopians who were taken to Eritrea while site seeing in a sovereign territory of Ethiopia. There is no question that this recent classic terrorist act of abduction was synchronized by the sadistic regime of Shaibya. Obviously, the objective of committing this kind of terrorist act inside a sovereign territory of Ethiopia was to destabilize the region and certainly, to paint Ethiopia’s picture in the international community as a destabilized and dangerous place with no sense of security and rule of law. Thus, unless immediate and appropriate action is taken to halt the behavioral addiction of Shaibya, the pattern of its destructive terrorist activities is further undermining the security of the Ethiopian people and the stability of the region as a whole. The Ethiopian public is sick and tired of being sick and tired about the constant provocations by the gangs of Asmara and the situation has reached at a plateau where Shaibya cannot and should no longer be tolerated to continue to engage in the terrorist activities directly or indirectly in the country. Although no one seems to possess a magic pill that can stop the madness of the sadistic regime of Shaibya without going into another round of a destructive war, many Ethiopians have been calling on the Ethiopian government for some time now, to abandon its policy of appeasing Shaibya and step up its efforts in taking some kind of punitive measure against the continuous assaults on the Ethiopian people. The ruling party of Ethiopia has long been preaching that its policy of containment of the aggression of Shaibya or a defensive position so to speak, has been effective but many say that the policy of containment can no longer thwart the sheer determination of Shaibya to destabilize Ethiopia. It is undeniable fact that for a nation like ours that suffers from deeply rooted and complicated problems resulting from poverty, the primary focus ought to be poverty reduction endeavors and all the national resources and manpower of the nation should be geared towards combating the major national enemy. The question then becomes, has Ethiopia reached at a point where Shaibya’s acts of belligerence can no longer be tolerated and those constant provocations have become a detrimental to the battle against poverty. Perhaps! But one ponders as to what are the other alternative levelheaded remedies available? Well, for starters, Ethiopians would like to hear their government declare unequivocally, that it will no longer tolerate any similar aggressions and it is prepared to take a swift and timely action against Shaibya should it chooses to harm the eight Ethiopian hostages and continues committing any kind of direct or proxy crimes against the people Ethiopia. At the same time, the Ethiopian government has to start an aggressive diplomatic campaign against the Afeworki’s regime by exposing its all and every terrorist crimes committed in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has to get the international community including the UN, EU, AU etc to condemn the sadistic regime in Asmara for perpetrating these terrorist provocations that potentially jeopardize the stability of the entire region. The thugs of Asmara have to be told unambiguously that they will be held responsible for all their crimes and most importantly, the world community ought to recognize the brutal regime of Eritrea for what it is and perhaps affix it to the list of the world’s violent terrorists. At the same time, the government of Ethiopia has to step up its defense capabilities in the event it is faced with the unthinkable, after all, it is dealing with a hallucinating and unpredictable lunatic who has no competence of envisioning the consequences of his actions. The government of Ethiopia also ought to reactivate the Eritrean opposition parties and make it clear to them that they have to transform themselves from simply whining and complaining into a more meaningful or even formidable opposition force that is capable of exerting some sort of internal pressure on the regime in Asmara. Of course, after all this, no one with a right mind is to naively expect that the brutal dictator in Asmara will all of sudden, be baptized into a peace-loving and responsible leader but at least, the world would be fully aware as to what kind of warmonger and senseless tyrant Ethiopia is dealing with and if it is dragged into another unnecessary and rather senseless war, it would be because of this hallucinating and out of touch wicked despot who dreams he can terrorize and bully his way due to his incapability of making a distinction between reality and fantasy. As to the alternative path of a possible war, one can only hope and pray that Ethiopia wouldn’t have to be dragged into another round of all out war for the people of Ethiopia know fully well the destructiveness and the incalculable price of war that no humanity at any time would have to face up. Comments or criticisms at mulu02@shaw.ca are always greatly valued Home