By Yelfiwos Wondaya

If and when the fate of our nation is determined must be determined not by a small group of elites who desires to control state power but by the people of Ethiopia themselves.  With that said, I for one do not believe that Ethiopians are willing to accept any political gesture that negates what I stated first in my opening statement.  Afresh, alas, ER’s report aside, rumor has it that G7 is taking a Trip to Eritrea; a Trip supposedly compromises its own position of obligation.  So far according to what is being said on the part of so-called Ethiopian Review, G7 is once again flirting with enemy camps to join forces with them in order to achieve its own short-lived political goals.  Given that flirting with enemy is a failure by itself deciding to work with them is even worse than one can imagine and it is indeed a grave mistake and must be corrected immediately.  After all, dealing with enemies and being an exclusive in any important national matters that affect the future of the people is what Meles is known to have been doing against the will of our people.  So making a step forward to a wrong direction is an error that can make your political future miserable.  It causes public outrage and censure as has happened to TPLF and collaborators.  If continue to ignore the calls of Ethiopians, believe you me, you will have gone astray and shall never make it back again. Because, intentionally, holding secret meetings with one of Ethiopia’s biggest enemies is a betrayal for your own nation.  Once you breach the public trust, however, you lose your credibility altogether and that is a moral laps you are committing against your own fate like that of Meles of TPLF! 

Firstly, though one has to take national matters very seriously especially, not to compromise it for the benefit of getting attention and backing from the ranks of some fanatic supporters.  Instead, one has to change a trend and learn how to respect and defend the principles, the commitments, the duties, the beliefs and the ideals of his own nation.  Obviously, though Ethiopians have as much an intense and usually long lasting feeling of hatred, enmity and antipathy for EPLF as they have for TPLF if you will.  So in this case, siding EPLF to fight out TPLF does not make your move right since it is true that both EPLF and TPLF have a bad blood with the nation state of Ethiopia itself.  Are you recognizing Isayas’s contribution to the success of the campaign he has been waging against Ethiopian fate for decades?  We knew for fact that Elias Kifle is doing just that.  Isn’t that true that Isaya is the one who organized TPLF, OLF, and other Ethiopian rival elements in order to divide and weaken Ethiopia?  What makes you pick this time to pay an official visit to him and establish headquarter in Asmara?  And according to ER, forming an alliance with OLF, ONLF and other anti Ethiopian elements in Asmara is one of main agendas you are about to deliver.  . 

Secondly, one has to respect people’s right to self-government without any interference from outside in the name of support and Diplomacy.  Diplomacy aside, TPLF is the only political group that we know of that accepted Eritrea as an independent state and EPLF as a government of Eritrea.  Are you standing by the word and decision of TPLF in order to get help from Isayas of EPLF?  Because, that is the same condition TPLF used to get help from Isayas in the 60s and 70s of their struggle against Ethiopia.  Altogether though one has to take this notion of national independence as a matter of principle and live up to the principal values and beliefs common to the society as a whole.

Besides, there have been a lot of speculations and debates about the behavior of hyper G7 especially, about its political behavior, the way in which it acts and responds in a tense environment and under any other circumstances.  In my view, G7 is unique in many ways.  One of which is that it is Anxious, eager, agitated and obsessed with power and fame.  For instance, it has been extremely busy in giving passionate speeches and interviews about coupe’s allegation and all of a sudden brought us controversial news associated with a Trip to Eritrea.  Up until this movement, however, it spent a restless week fearing that the publicity it has been getting from several news outlets would wither away.  What is next?  Landing at the same category CUD landed?  Recreating the same AFD with the same old parties of course, this time CUD is no more but Hyper G7 is on the scene.  For a strange reason, however, Hyper G7 loves to go on its own way and enjoys stopping at places of its interest just to fulfill its own promise of greatness.  This time the province of Eritrea is found to be the right destination for Hyper G7 to land for another spectacular show! 

However, only a fool would trust G7’s move and invest in its failing scheme for nothing.  Thus far, despite few individuals here and there, the vast majority of Ethiopians are in a state of high alert not to get duped by such moves G7 is making.  We have learned expensive lessons from the election of 2005, and the decision of CUD to go into partnership with the OLF, ONLF and formed AFD.  It has to be stopped there.      

More to the point, paying an official visit to the mastermind of all Ethiopian enemies is like recognizing his bravery with medal as if he has done something heroic and worthwhile for Ethiopia.  Honestly, though without affectation or pretense, it is a known fact that all the integral parts of AFD with the exception of CUD were liberation fronts engaged in an armed struggle against the “Abyssinia Empire”. Now the hyper G7 is replacing CUD to bring the so-called AFD back to life.  Besides, aside ONLF, OLF is an old liberation front and who is also an old hand at the foundation of AFD, which is why millions of Ethiopians were skeptical then and continue to be clear-headed and responsive to that of a new deal made by CUD then and Hyper G7 now.  Fearing that it may result in crisis, however, Ethiopians would not appreciate such dealings and decisions made by such parties behind their back.  Once again fearing that the Holland’s conference was yet about to reinforcing the London’s’ conference many Ethiopians were quick to react against such formation, and questioned it whether or not the intent and the purpose of such parties was to serve Ethiopia’s interest.    And yet the HYPER G7 is in the move to hold the same conference comprising the same parties that compromise the unity and territorial integrity of our nation. 

Next, the so-called liberation fronts are ethnic-oriented, promoting nothing but ethnic politics and often do speak in favor of disintegration. That is why they call themselves Liberators Fronts and declared the fighting open to free their respective regions from the rest of the “Abyssinian Empire”? Amassing all these facts and more of their nature, who can easily be duped into thinking that merging with them is a good decision to liberate Ethiopia from Ethnocentrism?  It is unworthy of serious risk for CUD to suppose then and for HYPER G7 now.  Dealing with liberation fronts by deliberately avoiding Ethiopian organizations at large is the making of Isayas as usual.  However, unlike Hyper G7, the rest of pro unity forces are concerned not only for they find the nature of liberation fronts is threatening to Ethiopia’s sovereignty, they also learned that their political ideology is fetal to the existence of Ethiopia as a nation as well.   Can one imagine that ethnically based liberation fronts would stand in line with the unity forces to go to war in order to preserve Ethiopian unity?  That is unthinkable!  Seriously though this is part of the reason why millions of Ethiopians are still held up with fears and tension, and most important of all, forming an alliance with such forces backed by Isayas of EPLF is unthinkable to say the least. 

Be that as it may, one would also ask the following questions.  How likely things would go well between them in terms of reconciling their diametrically opposite ideologies?  Given that, we believe that Hyper G7 has an ideology of some sort, how can it go to adjust actions with OLF in response to the call of unification?  How can one expect to have the same end result from a unit of measurement that has different values in different context?  Clearly, these are the questions at the core they ought to resolve first.  If not, the carbon-copy of AFD yet about to be formed by the two strangers will suffer a lack of public support and will be adversely affected by the anger and rejection of the public at large. In other words, the vast majority of Ethiopians did not accept their formal piece of writings that would compromise the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.  And most important of all, the pro unity forces shall remain adamant to that of their general doctrines and principles that formed the basis of AFD to begin with. 

As a result, one would suspect that the ambition of assuming state power by any means possible is the only factor Hyper G7 might have in common with OLF and ONLF. Whether or not, this formation of alliance was intended for a strong yearning of power to achieve or a set of procedure for achieving something greater than power is yet to be seen. So, at this point in time, neither the political shift G7 made nor the nature of OLF or both can sway the publics’ opinion on their side nor can it change the very deep seated skepticism millions of Ethiopians bound to have about their motives.  Little did we know what the settlement is for, however, one would say for sure that the political shift G7 made to be a junior partner to the OLF and ONLF is good breaking news for the old guys involved.

Ironically, though all parties participated in Holland’s conference CUD included were unanimous in their agreement to work on the so-called Ethiopian constitution. Silly and amusing as it sounds Hyper G7 seems to be willing to implement the same agreement CUD representatives reached to agree with OLF.   The paradox about Hyper G7 is also that knowingly or not transforming itself from centralist to a moderate political ideology that plays down unitary system in Ethiopia.  Meaning it has moved from promoting a unitary system of government to accepting that of WOYANES’ model of ethno-centric federal arrangement. Besides, accepting the basic laws by which Ethiopians are forced to accept against their will is by no means going very much against the interest of the public. Ethiopians are no longer in the mood to deal with a leadership who is devoid of moral compass and irrespective of Ethiopian unity and territorial integrity intact.

Lastly, one has to remember the London’s conference, a conference in which EPLF was the brainchild, and the break away of Eritrea was one of the main topics on the table.  And also, OLF and TPLF were part of the principal forces to decide on the fate of Ethiopia and her people which in the end created the so-called Ethiopian constitution. Primarily, though the so-called Ethiopian constitution was framed by secessionists and ethnically based liberation fronts at that time.  Yes, the constitution was arranged to bring about the “formal withdrawal” of SHABIA from Ethiopian political arrangement altogether and to allow the province of Eritrea to break away from the main land of Ethiopia. The constitution was resolutely put together in a ways things were arranged in an appropriate order so that they can use them effectively against the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia. Think of article 39 G7.  AFD accepted the so-called Ethiopian constitution for the fact that OLF is part and parcel of the trio conferences that took place in London, Addis Ababa, and Holland and who know where now.

In conclusion, on the part of genuine Ethiopians, tending to make unfair dealings with organizations that do not have Ethiopian agenda is no longer acceptable.  Ethiopians like any other nations deserve to enjoy their rights of government and could not be happy to see another exclusive political club assuming state power without their full consent in Addis ever again. Moreover, it is true that deciding on issues and matters according to a classification system would undermine equal participation of all ranks from within a party and public participation at large.  So such bad practices would also undermine pluralism, equal opportunity and access to determine one’s fate especially, on the decisions and actions that would one way or another affect our national lives.  Taken as a whole, if and when the fate of our nation is determined must be determined not by a small group of elites who desires to control state power but by the people of Ethiopia themselves.     

Long live Ethiopia!!

Yelfiwos Wondaya