Now history has to be told, like it is, and like it was. Ethiopia played a very important role in the establishment of the United Nations, the League of Nations at that time. And then Mussolini’s planes roared in and his tanks across large territories of the country in an unprovoked attack on a founding member of the league.
A deranged leader who couldn’t do away with his childhood horror of the defeat of Adwa returning to avenge the Crispis and Baratieris of four decades back! The bombs rained down; so did poison gas. Under the very eyes of the world the proud people of a proud nation were gassed daily. no country has suffered as much as our country did under tons and tons of poison gas earlier or since. And our country thought it was time for the League of Nations to flex its muscles.
What do they do? They pass resolutions which were more face saving rather full hearted. Arms embargo was laid on the aggressor and we the victims too! But when it came to enforcing it the invaders transported tons of hardware and millions of liters of oil over the sea lanes while Ethiopia’s hands and feet were practically shackled.
They threw us out to the wolves. And Mussolini’s planes continued with barbarity which would have made the Lucifer camp shudder with envy. Ethiopians believed that as it was
a clear invasion of a highly modernized army over a nation struggling to stand on its own two feet, the League would came to its defense and were betrayed, like they would be in the coming years too.
And then the Korean problem exploded. Despite all the wrong done to it in its time of suffering, Ethiopia sent its troops to fight side by the side of the very sections which now are trying to stab it in its back. And the Korean Ethiopian contingent came back with honors few could dream of, with no casualty, and even with no prisoner taken.
Now this is a country that has been thrown to Mussolini’s marauders and had every reason to tell the international community “You betrayed us when most were in need of your support and why would we sacrifice a single Ethiopian life to war. It’s your war; go fight it!” No it never chose that path living up to its international commitment as it was the most humane to do so.
The Congo came. Once again Ethiopia responded to the call for its support and sent its troops. Like always it sent its troops who displayed heroics coming all the way down from Adwa. Then, betrayal hit once again! The expansionist forces of Said Bare crossed the Ethiopian borders and thundered across the desert practically unhindered as it was an attack
which came out of the blue and there wasn’t much resistance. Ethiopia, had no reason to expect such an invasion. It had previously paid a hundred million dollar for the purchase American weapons, and that was the time it needed the hardware most to stop Bare’s forces from storming Addis Ababa. And what happens? It was denied the vey weapons for which it has paid every last cent.
Once again the very sections on whose side it stood during their times of crisis looked the other way when it needed them most. But the brotherly people of other nations standing by its side it drove out the invaders. The history books, however, were blackened and a proud nation and its proud people were betrayed.
Still it never looked back and said “Since you have thrown us out to the wolves during our toughest days there is no reason we can rub shoulders with you!” But no,
Then came the al shabab, and Ethiopia was in the forefront of saving region and the world from terrorist nightmare. It never said, “Why should we care! We’ll defend ourselves, and that’s it!” and stand by your side as you repeatedly betrayed us, No. Then it is Darfur. Ethiopia put its children in harms way to ensure law and order of other nations and it never took it as burden.
But when it took action to ensure that law and order were respected in its own territory, the unthinkable happened, once again it was betrayed. The vicious attack on the Northern Command of the Ethiopian forces is barbarism never seen in modern history.
For months there were all kinds of signs that there were people who were living in military fantasyland. Shows of hardware and thousands of fully armed youngsters holding military parades were daily occurrences. It even felt those very things were taking place in another country. There were repeated calls from Addis to cool down nerves. Mothers knelt and wept in front of unresponsive souls who, very unlike Ethiopian culture, threw cold water on the pleas.
Even some diplomats were said to have tried to throw in their weight to no avail. The writing was on the wall that something very bad was about to happen. But few, if any, expected things to go as far as they did. All the times the world was watching!
Things were played out in the open froth diplomats, the so-called ‘experts on Ethiopia’, for the ideologically corrupt and hopelessly biased mainstream global media. And now they gang up against us!
When, if ever, will the Back-stabbing Stop!
The Ethiopian Herald March 14/2021