Ethiopians in the Diaspora, May 18, 2000

First and foremost, allow us to salute the heroic Ethiopian armed forces on their ongoing decisive military victories over the invading and occupying Eritrean army. We commend their selfless and courageous efforts in restoring the sovereignty of our country and reaffirming the dignity of our people. We would like to express a deep gratitude to those who have given their precious lives on our behalf.

We are a group of Ethiopians in North America, Europe and Australia who have been following and discussing the conditions in our country very closely and anxiously on the Internet, by phone and meeting in person. We come from all walks of life, and our political, social and religious outlooks and beliefs do vary. However, when it comes to such an important issue as the sovereignty of our country and the well being of our people, we are united to speak in one voice.

As such, we applaud the Ethiopian government for the effective leadership, political and diplomatic wisdom and courage it has demonstrated in such time of tribulation. We are indebted to our defense forces who, on their way to final victory, have taken their military tasks in stride and are surmounting every obstacle the enemy puts on their way. Words can't express our sympathies for our displaced people who are enduring every privation and suffering, but we now have the faith that the time has finally come for restoring their long over due freedom and livelihood. We are grateful to the people of Ethiopia for keeping the faith and holding on to our old tradition and history of standing united in a time such as this.

Although physically away from our homeland, we feel that we are one with our people in spirit. We share the sense of betrayal, and have lost the little faith we had in the world body and the western nations who made the cowardly decision of blaming and condemning the aggressor and the victim of aggression equally and collectively. We are appalled by the hypocrisy of those who pride themselves in sending their troops to every part of the world to help restore the sovereignty and freedom of nations aggressed trying to deny us of exercising the same right for ourselves. We have come to mistrust those who saw a great opportunity in our natural disaster, and made every attempt to use it as a tool to bring us to submission - albeit unsuccessfully.

True, at times we have been discouraged by what appeared to be a depressingly endless uphill battle with every difficult political and diplomatic twists and turns, but our faith and strength has come from being part of the proud and enduring people of Ethiopia who value sovereignty and freedom above all; knowing the capability and determination of our patriotic and overbearing army fully well and realizing that we have a thoughtful and courageous leadership to whom this great historical responsibility has been entrusted. Once again, you have made us happy to be Ethiopians, and our hearts are overflowing with pride, admiration and gratitude.

We realize that there still is more work to be done. We are witnessing the parties who have had every opportunity and a two year time period to resolve the conflict peacefully - but lacked the will to do it - mounting their pressure on us unfairly. We see how, instead of doing the right thing by humbling itself, conceding defeat and coming to the peace table, the arrogant leadership in Asmara, for whom the conflict has been like some kind of game playing, is attempting to use the same old tactic of asking for a time out.

We compare the Eritrean president to a sadly mismatched, ego-maniac fighter in a boxing ring whose only strategy is avoiding a knockdown. He hopes to be saved by the bell or does everything for the referee to stop the fight so that he could take a deep breath; attend to his injuries and come back to take the fight to as many rounds as possible with the hope of winning the heavyweight title fraudulently. The sad truth is, this is not a sporting event and two rounds are already too many.

We share the sentiment His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi expressed during his May 8th. briefing of the Diplomatic Corps in Addis Ababa that it is impossible to "get peace out of the jaws of this beast", and that Ethiopia cannot afford a wait-and-see approach indefinitely. We fully support the Ethiopian government and the armed forces' decision and action to end this war "now and quickly", and we pledge to do everything we can individually and collectively; in collaboration with Ethiopian community offices and embassies in our adopted countries and cities.

We look forward to the day this conflict comes to an end so that the communication and unity we have established could be shifted to focusing on fighting poverty and helping our people on the economic, education and health front. With the leadership of the Ethiopian government, the efforts of our valiant defense forces and the unconditional support of our patriotic people, we are confident that day is finally here.

Thank you and God bless.

Ethiopians in the Diaspora