BY ALMARIAM
PART II
Four years earlier, I had launched my search for the enemy of peace in Ethiopia. In my July 28, 2008 commentary, “We have met the Enemy”, I found out for sure who the enemy of peace in Ethiopia is! I announced our enemy by name “Us”. Yes, we have met the enemy, and the enemy is “Us”.
I concluded by pleading for a vision that transcends enemies and foes: There is a future for Ethiopia that is beyond enemies and foes. It is a future that we can all shape, mold, create and build for ourselves and generations to come.
It is a future free of fear, violence, hatred and religious and ethnic bigotry. It is a future firmly founded on the consent of the people, the rule of law and vibrant democratic institutions. It is a future very much like the one envisioned by Nelson Mandela for South Africa: ‘Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.’
It is a future about a society where government respects the rights of its citizens and protects individual liberties; and leaders are accountable to the people and the law of the land. It is a future where our young people will take over the helm of state and society.
We are wasting too much time and energy talking about enemies from without. We should be talking about us — our cause, who we are and who we are not, what we stand for and believe in, how we can help each other and avoid harming ourselves, cooperate and collaborate with each other to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
We should not have a conversation about enemies. Our victory is in our unity, not enmity. We should be talking about friends who seek to reach the same destination at the end of the rainbow of green, yellow and red.
We should be talking about the pot of priceless treasure at the end of the rainbow: human rights protected by law, democratic institutions sustained by the consent of the people and public accountability secured by the rule of law and law of the land.
But we cannot get to our destination traveling the same old road paved with accusations, recriminations and insults. Nor can we get there on the wings of bitterness and pettiness. We must take a different road, the road less traveled…
Now that we have met the enemy, let’s hold hands in friendship and head into the future on the road less traveled by the road not taken. It will make all the difference for us as human beings! It will make all the difference for us as a people, and as a nation!
Peace I have witnessed with my own eyes On September 11, 2019 (Ethiopian New Year), Ethiopia and Eritrea jointly proclaimed a state of peace by the leaders of the two countries marching into the border towns of Zalambessa and Bure and dramatically ending their two-decade old no-peace, no-war stalemate.
I was present when peace crushed to earth rose once again between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Only I know the heartache I suffered when Ethiopia and Eritrea separated in 1994. We were one people and then we became one no more. I imagined hundreds of scenarios how we could have resolved our differences and stayed together as brothers and sisters. I was left with nothing but regrets about what “coulda, woulda, shoulda” have been done to fix it.
When war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998, I was distressed beyond measure. It was a war that should have never been fought. So many thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans died. For what?
On December 8, 2000, the House of Peoples’ Representatives issued Proclamation No. 225/2000 “ratifying the peace agreement” between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
On December 12, 2000, the late Meles Zenawi personally signed the Algiers Agreement establishing a neutral Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission with a mandate to delimit and demarcate the colonial treaty border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902 and 1908) and applicable international law. (Art. 4(2).)
I examined the legal issues in the peace and Algiers agreement in my June 10, 2018 commentary. For nearly two decades, Ethiopia and Eritrea remained in a no war, no peace situation until PM Abiy Ahmed broke the ice and the two countries mended relations in June 2018.
Throughout the years, I and many other utopian Ethiopians and Eritreans, felt there will come the day when the two countries will live as good neighbors in peace and prosperity.
I personally realized my dreams for peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea when I was granted the supreme honor and privilege to join the march for peace alongside H.E. PM Abiy Ahmed and H.E. President Isaias Afeworki at the border towns of Zalamabessa and Bure and become a witness for history on September 11, 2018.
It was a moment of incredible joy and pride for me to see my most intimate wish occurring before my eyes. I was moved to tears witnessing history in the making.
That march for peace on September 11, 2018, ended the stalemate of no-peace, no-war that existed between the two countries for 20 years. For his efforts in establishing peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea and peace in his own country, PM Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2020.
In his Nobel Lecture, “Forging a Durable Peace in the Horn of Africa”, PM Abiy said: “I accept this award on behalf of Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace.
Likewise, I accept this award on behalf of my partner, and comrade-in-peace, President Isaias Afeworki, whose goodwill, trust, and commitment was vital in ending the two-decade deadlock between our countries.”
I later reflected on peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea my commentary, “Blessed are the Peacemakers: The guns silenced, the suffering the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea may now speak, shout out, that the two countries hereafter ‘shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ Witnessing swords beaten into plowshares is a source of great joy for me. Ethiopia and Eritrea are at peace now.
Today, the struggle is between those who want to see Ethiopia at peace and Ethiopia in pieces.
My proposals for peace and reconciliation over the years… I have been writing, talking and lecturing on peace, national dialogue and reconciliation in Ethiopia for years.
In my August 20, 2012 commentary, “Cheetahs, Hippos and Saving Ethiopia”, I argued, “Now is the Time for Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation to Lead the Way to National Reconciliation”. I now call upon and appeal to all of Ethiopia’s youth to lead the transitional national dialogue because I believe Ethiopia’s salvation and destiny rests not in the hardened jaws of the hippos but in the soft paws of the cheetahs.”
In my April 12, 2012 commentary, “Identity Politics and Ethiopia’s Transition to Democracy”, I argued that we need to “transform the politics of identity and ethnicity into a dialogue over strengthening national unity and furthering the common cause of our humanity through cooperation, accommodation and reconciliation (while avoiding the path to conflict and violence).”
In my April 16, 2012 commentary, “The Bridge on the Road (map) to Democracy”, I argued in prophetic voice that inclusive national dialogue is necessary in the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Conventional wisdom says the important task of managing the transition from dictatorship to democracy should be left to the elites… But for there to be a truly a successful transition followed by a durable democracy, the dialogue base must be expanded to broadly include civil society organizations, human rights advocacy groups, women and the youth. In fact, the likelihood of a successful transition is increased manifold if civil society organization, advocacy groups, women and youth take a leading role. The reasons are self-evident. Civil society organizations are critical to civil engagement and citizen action for participatory democracy. They are important in facilitating broad-based mobilization in a transitional period and in ensuring responsive governance in the post-transition period. They are also most effective in giving voice to the poor, the minorities and the vulnerable. The youth are important because the future belongs to them.
Women need to be given a prominent role in the transitional dialogue because they have been historically ignored, discounted, overlooked and forgotten though they represent one-half of the population. There could be no true democracy where there is no gender equality and that is one of the glaring inequalities in Ethiopia today.
But women’s involvement in the transitional dialogue is vital because they bring their own unique insights and perspectives to the problems. I believe women have special leadership qualities which are vital to democratic transition and governance. On balance, they tend to be more honest, intelligent, understanding and trusting than men. They are more compassionate than men and more likely to negotiate and compromise. But we will never know the leadership potential of Ethiopian women because few have been given a chance to prove themselves. They must have a major role in the dialogue on Ethiopia’s transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Beginning in January 2018, I wrote a series of commentaries exploring the necessity and possibility of national dialogue, reconciliation and truth finding in Ethiopia.
The general aim of the series was to raise fundamental questions about “reconciliation” within the framework of a TPLF-centered political dialogue and to urge caution and help inform those who, in good faith, seek to promote a “reconciliation process” as a way out of dire situation in Ethiopia at the time.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald January 19/2022
