Maybe not, I mean let us be fair and honest. The loss of Assab is our collective bleeding wound. It never heals; it is a festering open wound itching for the past thirty three odd years beginning from 1993.
By no means is it a sentimental effusion. It is a life line Providence has thrown to 130 million people and the thirty mile distance is too close to make us permanently locked out of the Sea. You see it, you feel the warm offshore breeze, your kinsmen are within hearing distance and they are actually the ancestral owner of the coastline but it isn’t meant to be yours. This isn’t a mathematical algorithm. We might as well lean out and actually touch it with acquiesce of the Eritrean public.
1-Something’s gotta give!
Besides, scholars have long debunked the applicability of the principle of Uti Possedetis to adjudicate Ethiopia’s claim to Assab. Guess why? Unlike the rest of Africa Ethiopia isn’t a colonial heir artificial State. Whatever you do, please don’t invoke ‘international law’ by folder and sentimentally the way Bayissa Waqweya and Yared Hailemariam did on DW two days ago. Look, of all sources of international law nothing has been effectively maintained as the customary domain. By the way two thumbs up Negash Mohammed for the clarity of thought and for avoiding the most convenient simplistic explanation that suits a second grader.
I can understand to a certain degree the plausible counter argument coming from the Eritrean end. Remember Isaias Afewoki’s infamous interview with Aljazeera English’s Jane Dutton? He was so worked up that anything was liable to happen. He was sweating profusely and for every question Jane Dutton forwards his answer was an emphatic ‘where is the evidence!?’ If she were to interject suddenly ‘you are head of the PFDJ, aren’t ya?’ he would have blurted ‘where the evidence…is this is another boring joke!’
True to form Eritrean scholars’ narrative are dominated by ‘where is the evidence, where is the treaty’. They keep repeating Guissepe Sapeto’s bargain purchase time and again and of course the year 1882 when Italy took possession of the coastline. Uti Possedeti writ large that is but they are missing a little link here-we have never been a colony, Bwana, and the logic ends there.
Bottom-line-preferably by fair means we need to break the spell of the asymptotic curve and access a few kilometers of the coastline. Something’s gotta give.
2-A Gift on a Silver Platter
In 1993 the international community was left wondering when suddenly Ethiopia was declared “happily and eternally landlocked” not by PFDJ but by EPRDF! The Three Old White Men knew that was going to be trouble not just for Ethiopia and Eritrea but for the entire Horn region as well. Can you believe it? As far back as 1950 the UNGA had adopted a resolution that declared under no circumstance should Ethiopia be left landlocked. If you ask me in the face of the selfless idiotic generosity of EPRDF Eritrea was put in a precarious position. (The Three Old White Men is an allusion to seasoned Western African Study Scholars who define the authoritative narratives on post- colonial African history and politics. Specifically the reference was made in relation to John Markakis, Gunther Schlee and John Young in the preface of their anthology of essays titled The Nation State a Wrong Model for the Horn of Africa)
If you seriously think about it Assab is a burden imposed on Eritrea by the EPRDF. Had it negotiated terms of secession and conceded Assab to Ethiopia Assab would have been outside the collective consciousness of Eritrea and Eritreans. They knew little about it and they cared even less for it. However, after close to four decades letting it go is an affront to the pride of the Nation. We will have to admit. That is where renegotiating without compromising the Sovereignty of the State of Eritrea becomes imperative. Speaking of sentimental effusion-if there is any indeed-who would forget back in 1993 there were more Eritreans in Gondar than in Assab? Assab’s residents were predominantly from Wollo and Civil servants and military families hailing from all corners of the country. Identifying oneself as የአሰብ ልጅ was so common place until very recently.
EPRDF gave away Assab in the heat of the war fever when it was advancing the idea that anything that comes from the majority Amharic speaking city folks and scholars was anathema. In spite of some visible disagreements between TPLF and PFDJ the one thing that kept them stuck together was these shared prejudices against the rest of the country. That was almost like an article of faith between the two. In a way Assab was the sacrificial lamb to ‘the mesmerina haylina’.
What compounded the loss is the fact that it was signed away by an unelected bunch of jungle outlaws who had assumed power as caretaker administration until such time an elected assembly was convened. In the current Tigray context imagine Assafa Abraha and Co declaring and committing the Regional State of Tigray to give up Western Tigray beyond Tekhze and Southern Zoba of Tigray in their caretaker capacity within the coming six months- that was exactly what EPRDF had done back in 1993.
3-The Sovereign State of Eritrea
The one thing I wouldn’t put a question mark on is the Sovereignty of the State of Eritrea. However much we fail to comprehend the best they would like to relate to us is as much filial bond a Swiss German feels for Germany. I live in a part of Addis predominantly inhabited by Eritreans. I wouldn’t say Eritrean refugees because neither do they act as one nor folks treat them as refugees. Some have seamlessly integrated into the local way of life and speak a unique brand of Amharic easily identifiable for its exaggerated high pitch Tigrigna accent-sounds kinda sweet, too.
On Sundays and Saints’ feast days they are known to flock to Churches in large groups blocking sidewalks unlike the rest of the faithful. What is more, local folks are picking up the language-particularly the kids and shop keepers. So if you get the politicians out of our ways we get by just fine. One thing is above board-they want to be taken for Eritreans, not for a Hamasien, an Akaleguzay, a Seriaye or a Kunama, or a Saho (secretly we do envy them); and they love their country as much as we do ours. That is in part why I just don’t buy the contention that these people have been tricked into becoming independent. They chose to. I don’t even doubt the 99.83 % stat standing for those who had voted ‘yes’ for independence.
What I find hard to digest is the reason why their politicians wouldn’t let us be. We are finally saying ‘go in peace and don’t look back’ but they just keep popping up where they are least expected. One more thing I would like to see a viable healthy patriotic opposition in our country, not one developed and hatched as lab culture in PFDJ clinics. At the end of the day Ethiopia has become a second home to Eritreans. No one molests them or makes them feel unwelcome bar the few bad apples on both sides. So in all honesty a prosperous peaceful Ethiopia with access to the coastline is to the best interest of the Eritrean public.
God Bless.
The writer can be reached at : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com
Editor’s Note: Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
__
Join our Telegram Channel: t.me/borkena
Like borkena on Facebook
To submit a press release, send the submission to info@borkena.com
Add your business to Ethiopian Business Listing / Ethiopian Business Directory
Join the conversation. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian news updates regularly.The Gospel Market Meltdown in Ethiopia