From June 1998 to February 1999, all of the important organizations on this planet such as the UN, the OAU, and the EU called for peace and urged Eritrea to accept the "fair and balanced" peace plan put forward by the OAU.

Most of Eritrea's aid-donors (US, Sweden, Italy, Canada, etc) also pleaded with Eritrea to settle for peace and issued public statements appealing to Eritrea.

Even the most prominent Eritrean opposition group (the ELF) asked the Eritrean government to accept the internationally sponsored peace plan.

However, during this 9-month period, the Eritrean elite who are closely associated with the ruling party in Eritrea (Eritrea is a one-party state) stood for confrontation and rejection. They encouraged the intransigence and stubbornness of their dictator. They reinforced the climate of distrust by distributing articles loaded with the standard vocabulary of hate that Eritreans have developed to refer to Ethiopians. For the first time in history, they began describing themselves as a new ethnic group and tried to deny the obvious common culture that is shared by the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The behavior of the Eritrean elite clearly indicates their desire to continue along the path of militarism. Reasoned debate is suppressed in the name of patriotism. Blind devotion to a dictator becomes a fashionable political statement.

The bitter reality of the war and the damage it has caused to Eritrea's economy and to its people is suppressed. Rather than becoming soldiers for peace, the Eritrean elite have conducted an extensive war on the truth. The facts about how and why the war started are replaced with half-truths and outright falsehoods produced by the propaganda machine in Asmara.

Marching for peace means exercising independent judgement. It means rejecting emotional nationalistic impulses. It means asking your government to be accountable for its actions.

Given the examples from recent history (eg. the US antiwar movement during the Vietnam era, the Israeli 'Peace Now' movement) the behavior of the Eritrean elite is pathetic. They have tied themselves to the regime in Asmara, and this renders them impotent as factors for peace. It is impossible for Ethiopians to have a dialogue with them because they simply parrot the official propaganda from Asmara.

In Ethiopia there are a variety of views that are expressed on this conflict. There are those who reject involvement in this war for valid reasons. There are many who advocate different courses of action than the government is pursuing. This is ok. People should be free to exercise their own independent judgement. To be a patriot does not mean closing your eyes, shutting off your brain, and bowing down before the government in power.

In any case, now it is too late. The war has claimed thousands of Eritrean and Ethiopian lives. A peace plan that was intended to prevent a war is no longer applicable in this drastically different situation. For comparison, the Munich Accord of 1939 ("peace in our time") was no longer applicable in 1945 when Germany was defeated.

Yet, even though the Ethiopian government is still willing to implement the OAU peace plan, Eritrea refuses to accept the basic principle embodied in the plan: that aggression cannot be rewarded. A true Eritrean commitment to peace would result in Eritrea withdrawing from Alitiena, Zalanbessa, and all other occupied territories, and the re-instatement of the pre-existing civilian administration.

Conclusion:

The only Eritrean march for peace should take place at Alitiena and Zalanbessa. When the Eritrean army marches out (or is thrown out) of these places, then we can say Eritreans have marched for peace.

Note: Alitiena and Zalanbessa have never been administered by Eritrea (either as colony, province or independent nation). For references, please read Alitiena before the invasion and the historical paper by Souba Hais "Some facts about the Irob".

-Dagmawi

After Zalanbessa was captured by Eritrea, one of the prominent writers at Dehai (the Eritrean e-mail network) visited the occupied area and wrote an article in which he boasted about Ethiopia 'losing face' among the local population. He also giggled about how he had driven across the border and entered Ethiopian territory without permission. Needless to say, there was never any call by these Eritrean elites for the Eritrean government to pull out of Zalanbessa. In fact, it now appears that Eritrea will assert territorial claims to that area.

"Prior to arriving in Zallamabasa, one sees a sign that reads, "You are Leaving Eritrea", and another -- "Welcome to Ethiopia." In the town of Zallamabasa is the Ethiopian charter bank." VOA Report by Carol Pineau, June 11, 1998 (after Eritrea invaded and occupied Zalanbessa).