Commentary:

The role of Eritrean Intellectuals - Intimidated by their government, and frightened by the truth

September 5, 1999

Dear Netters:

Read any article on the Ethio-Eritrean conflict written by the prominent Eritrean Phds and Professors, (who I suppose represent the cream of the Eritrean intellectual class) and it will become readily apparent that there are two fundamental topics they cannot handle.

I. ) The Eritrean intellectuals have a great deal of trouble dealing with the start of the war. A whole raft of ideas are advanced to explain why the war started, but invariably, the Eritrean intellectual will steer clear of the undisputed facts. Namely that Eritrea sent its soldiers into Badime (peacefully administered by Ethiopia) on May 6 1998, precipitating a clash with Ethiopian police, and then sent a much larger mechanized force into Badime and beyond on May 12, 1998.

In retrospect, the decision to send Eritrean troops into Badime is best regarded as an act of lunacy. But how do you defend and explain this lunatic behavior by the Eritrean dictator? This is the problem the Eritrean intellectuals are faced with.

Their response can be to (a) explain the truth and criticize their government for precipitating a totally avoidable war, or (b) lie about the origins of the war and invent a large number of alternative stories to provide cover for their dictator’s stupid blunder.

To their eternal discredit, the Eritrean intellectuals have chosen the latter course. The suffering of 300,000 Ethiopian civilians displaced from the main occupied areas of Badime, Zalanbessa, and Alitiena, was cavalierly dismissed, and instead Eritrean intellectuals posted articles giggling about the military occupation of Zalanbessa.

When confronted with the voluminous evidence demonstrating that Ethiopia had made absolutely no preparation for war while Eritrea had taken a number of steps in the opposite direction, the Eritrean intellectuals once again remain dumb. Rather than researching their local libraries and providing documentation that explains the situation, they resort to their silly conspiracy theory.

But let us see whether this “hidden agenda” rubbish that the Eritrean intellects constantly refer to is actually supported by any evidence. Any researcher investigating this conflict can quickly establish that in the period preceding the conflict, Ethiopia has done the following:

  • sold its Navy in 1997 (partly to Eritrea) (see refs 1,2: AP and SIPRI arms database),

  • turned down a contract proposal from Israel to upgrade its airforce (Defense News Online 1997) After the conflict began Ethiopia tried to urgently initiate this work, but it was indefinitely blocked by Israel (see ref 3).

  • cut its defense spending to below 10 percent of the budget, while the Eritrean defense budget ranged from 25 percent to over 50 percent. In 1996 the absolute magnitude of Eritrea’s defense budget exceeded Ethiopia’s (see IMF data; ref #4)

  • neglected its armed forces to focus on economic development (AFP: ref 5)

  • allowed Eritreans to live in Ethiopia with all the rights an privileges of as Ethiopians even after Eritrea became a new country. Eritreans were involved in high positions in many government institutions (all Eritreans and Ethiopians know the facts about this)

  • loaned Eritrea over one billion birr (see IMF data: ref 6)

  • trained the Eritrean air force at Debre Zeit in 1996 (A friend of the Eritrean pilots posted a photo of them in Debre Zeit on the internet, but has since taken it down for fear of embarrassing Eritrea)

  • loaned the Eritrean air force four helicopters in 1996 during their conflict with Yemen (BBC)

  • consistently directed over 90 percent of its trade through the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa, and made no contingency plans for access to alternative ports (Quote: “Eritrean port authorities estimate it will take years for Djibouti's port to expand enough to take the full load of Ethiopian cargo” – VOA, July 20, 1998: see ref 7. Note despite these predictions, Djibouti has managed to ramp up the port to match the required demand for new services)

Now, according to the analysis of the Eritrean intellectuals, all this proves a prior Ethiopian conspiracy to ensure its “hegemony over Eritrea”, or… annex the port of Assab, or….overthrow the Eritrean government, or… erase a purported inferiority complex through warfare or…attack Eritrea because of jealousy … destroy Eritrea because of hate etc.. etc…

Can it get more ridiculous?

II. )The Eritrean intellectuals are ashamed of their previous noisy denunciations of the OAU peace plan. They are in an untenable position – they wrote volumes detailing how it was unacceptable for Eritrea to withdraw from Badime. But then a funny thing happened - their dictator changed his mind. And lo and behold, like a herd of cows, the entire Eritrean intellectual class followed suit. There was no previous analysis, debate, or discussion about why it would be better to accept the plan. There was no questioning their dictator. Only blind following.

Next, the Eritrean intellectuals became busy with the new project of vociferously declaring that the Eritrean army was not defeated at Badime. No, the Eritrean army withdrew because they decided they would “feel happier in new positions further west.” (Don’t laugh – that is actually a paraphrase from the Eritrean government spokesman).

In conjunction with the above, the Eritrean intellectuals were actively propagandizing the stance that Eritrea should not withdraw from the other occupied territories. But then once again their dictator changed his mind without telling them in advance. And true to their character, although they were put in the comic position of essentially arguing against themselves, the Eritrean intellectuals once again kept themselves closely attuned to their dictator's backside.

Many people died while the Eritrean intellectuals were busy denouncing the peace plans. And we know that had the Eritrean army not been ejected by force from Badime, we would still be reading lame articles from these same people about why it would be physically impossible and morally unthinkable too return to the status quo.

It is a measure of the lunacy of the Eritrean dictator, and a demonstration of the lack of integrity among the Eritrean intellectual class, that bloodshed was required for them to think just a little more clearly.

Conclusion:

In view of this sorry display it may be too much to continue using the title “intellectual” on these people as they are not using their intellect to analyze this conflict. Their political analysis and logic is totally dependent on the latest utterances of their dictator however contradictory those might be.

The Eritrean intellectuals are either too lazy, too stupid, or too frightened to acknowledge the truth about why and how this war started.

In particular, the Eritrean government’s harassment of the one or two brave Eritreans who did speak out against the invasion of Ethiopia has sent a clear message that even Eritreans living outside the country are not free to express their opinions. Instead of supporting free speech, Eritrean intellectuals on the Internet were instrumental in identifying and shutting down a lone independent Eritrean voice in the Middle East who made the mistake of openly expressing dissent.

Pretty shameless behavior from the very people who in other countries are in the forefront of free speech and independent thought.

- Dagmawi


References:

1. Ethiopia's Fleet Is For Sale AP, Sep 17, 1996
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/News/Aug14_EthNavySale.html

2. SIPRI Arms Transfer Register 1997 weapons sale to Eritrea from Ethiopia (almost certainly on credit)
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/News/Aug14_Eritrea_ArmsImports.html

3. Israel Bemoans Cash Lack for Ethiopian MiG Work Defense News Online, July 1997
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/News_July29_Israel.html#MIG Upgrade

4. Comparison of Eritrean and Ethiopian Military (Defense) Expenditures: 1993- 1997 Based on IMF Staff Country Reports for Ethiopia and Eritrea
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/NewsMay99/May2_Military_Spending.html

5. Ethiopia's Army Gets Some Muscle AFP, Feb 5, 1999
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/NewsFeb99/Feb5_EthArmy.html

6. The Currency Issue Revisited: "Net Claims on the Birr Area" Based on IMF Staff Country Reports for Ethiopia and Eritrea
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/NewsApr99/Apr11_Econ_Feature.html

7. VOA Report from Djibouti July 20, 1998
http://www.oocities.org/~dagmawi/News_July20_Djibouti.html


Related Article:
The Adi Murug Cover Story



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