UNITE OR PERISH TOGETHER,

THERE ARE NO SPECIAL RIGHTS.

By Asfaha Woldemichael

Let me first congratulate the participants of the 2^nd. Congress of EDA for their successful achievement in knocking out the controversial points 4 and 5 from the charter. Surely, this was not a cakewalk; it took patience and compromise to reach the consensus. For the reader who may not understand what points 4 and 5 stand for: they represent the principle of rights of Eritrean nationalities up to and including cesession; and the aspiration of introducing the Sheria law at least in parts of Eritrea respectively. However, after they passed the tougher hurdles, the process of selecting leadership evidently hit a snug. Even though they ended up in two blocs, I believe they can still work together under the umbrella of one EDA.

In my view, the following points can contribute in looking beyond the rhetoric of the day and start serious business of the people.

1. Emotions blur ones thinking; so control them.

2. Find and isolate the sticking points of disagreement.

3. Inform the people who disagrees with what and why?

4. Do not embellish your side of the story, stick to the rules of the charter agreed upon.

5. Refrain from using any side of EDA as a staging ground to viciously attack individuals whose only fault is their presence in the struggle.

6. Give the benefit of the doubt; don’t jump to conclusions without sfficient back up.

7. Have the courage not to entertain people with negative attitude – even if they are your friends.

8. Accept responsibility rather than shifting the blame to others.

9. Stop treating those who disagree with your line of thinking as your enemies.

10. Do not touch old wounds just for the sake of making a point.

11. Be sensitive to the wishes and feelings of others.  Wodahankum.

 The way the congress ended up was, quite frankly, unfair and unjust. To make matters worse, reports continued to flow cooked and twisted by the spin - doctors. The blame game kept moving around. Within some weeks, the outcome generated to stories like – alfas min seregu? Ana? La’, huwa seregu. In English: Who stole the ax? Me? No, he stole the ax. Clearly, some one was not telling the truth. No one is willing to accept responsibility either. However now that unvarnished facts are coming out, they cannot walk away with this any longer. Solutions shall surface from cool heads and the so - called two camps plus the rest can work together. If this is not acceptable modus operandi then by God, stay where you are without creating road – blocks to each other. 

In a related subject but diametrically opposed to the above, I read Fesseha Nair’s article @nharnet.com from April 21, 2007 and found it puzzling. As a result, I took a detour and shifted gears in order to respond to his piece. Yes, on the surface the tone of his language may seem softy-softy, but he quietly steps into uncharted territory of the opposition. I would never even in my wildest dreams imagine that he would be willing to add his signature to the detractors of bloc one or any block for that matter. From his colloquy, it seems to me he represents some thing larger than Beshir and his EFDM.  

In his piece, Fessaha incriminates ELF-RC and or its senior cadres because they allegedly insulted Beshir Ishaq of his ethnicity. Let me say this to you both: do you really feel insulted by that? I don’t. If you do, I have news for you. Unless you have an ulterior motive, our roots cannot be defined by a few shots aimed at you. Like all Eritreans, our ethnic group is well represented and well served in this organization. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it is limited with one party alone. So, don’t feel challenged about your ethnicity. It is here to stay. However, if intimidation occurred, it is then clearly a crime that has to be checked. But please, don’t try to make individual conduct as an official one. By the way, we read only your side of the story. What about the other side of the coin? More over, you owe us an explanation why they intimidated you in the first place.

Fessaha continues to show a very interesting new phenomenon in his thinking. New, because I knew him as a forward - looking progressive person. Then again what is new? Many trusted friends slipped down the slippery slope. May be, it is a trend in Europe this days. He still doesn’t shy away and says the following about Bloc One: this group driven by its ego and lack of humility polarized the EDA. He goes on further and puts his pejorative phrase in quotes. That is: the capable leaders. Interestingly enough, he then attributes the misgivings of EDA to what he calls, the bad culture of the so-called cadres of the liberation period. I am speechless. I can understand my friend’s conversion to his newly found home in EFDM. Nevertheless, what could possibly have pushed Fesseha to trash the cadres who transformed jebha into a modern organization thru their pen, sweat and blood? At one time he stood and defended them fiercely. He was right then. He thinks he is also right now. Unfortunately, the two don’t reconcile. Therefore, he can’t have it both ways.

Generally, he accuses bloc one as a non-compromising egoistic arrogant group. This is not a light accusation. Whose anger is he directing to the group he seemingly hates? What is so humble by the way in collaborating to divide the country along religious lines? Some one must have an insatiable ego to dream for such a sinister grand plan. For a change, I would agree with your idea of federalism, if all the nine provinces were allowed to have federal status. Guess what? With my proposal the country would die a quick death. Your formula would kill the country a slow painful death. Now, if any one plans to run away with this and make a hill out of a mall about me, you can go ahead and pollute the air. I will still remain faithful to my belief

An opinion to be paid attention to:

Over the years, we have witnessed the struggle of the opposition between uniting its organizations on one hand and the obstacles it has faced on the other. The consequence was lethal: Eritreans never joined the opposition in masses like they were supposed. And so, what we have now at hand is sadly an impotent opposition of our own making. Then, what are the obstacles? I thought long and hard about it. It is not the Jehadis or the Jebertis. In fact, these two groups deserve a respect from us. For instance, from the out set the two Islamist organizations made their wishes and aspirations crystal clear. They didn’t hide anything behind the curtain. They have been honest.  However, this should not be taken as an endorsement for religious groupings. Similarly, the Jebertis came out to the fore and demanded the right and respect they well deserve. They have been tossed around for long by both Muslims and Christians. I sympathize with them and I am ready to take the blame for that. The real obstacles to the struggle are those who add poison pills in their political programs behind which they hide to disconcert progress. To enumerate some: here we are suffering of lack of unity and EFDM dreams to disunite us. 2- Kunama. 3- Affar and the rest. Get rid of the extra baggage and join hands with the opposition. There are no special rights for the ethnic groups when the whole country lost all rights. Unite or perish together, there are no separate rights to be had.

Glory to the martyrs.

Remember our political prisoners.