The previous Melesian policy of appeasement and submission has been totally rejected by the Ethiopian people

Meles writes letter a letter to the UN Security Council telling them what he should have told them back in 2000 when the Algiers Agreement was being negotiated:

It is unimaginable for the Ethiopian people to accept such a blatant miscarriage of justice,” warned Meles

Where is Justice?

International Law is subject to a higher, more fundamental law. The law of justice. When laws and justice are in conflict, then a sovereign nation has the right to pursue justice. Unjust laws are themselves fundamentally illegal. The Hague ruling has been shown to be inconsistent with the Algiers Agreement, internally contradictory, and riddled with errors. Despite detailed requests from Ethiopia for correction of the obvious errors, the Hague commission has refused to take any action.

Therefore, the Ethiopian government is morally, and legally bound to reject the Hague ruling. The Ethiopian government has absolutely no right to impose this unjust, ludicrous, ruling on the Ethiopian people. Similarily, the international community has no right to impose an unjust, legally muddled ruling that creates more problems than it was intended to solve.

A Sloppy and Provocative Decision

Take one look at the torturous zig zag border around Zalambessa - what a joke. How on earth can that border be implemented in the long-term? It is simply an invitation for endless conflict. The Irob area demarcation was shown to be based on non-existent rivers. It has been shown that it will result in the divison of a community that has existed peaceably united since the time of Axum. Now, on the basis of the careless, sloppy work of the commission, Ethiopia is expected to destroy this community? Forget it. Justice is more important and legally more relevant than the nonsensical maps produced by the commission.

The Hague commission claimed that Badumma became Italian by 1935 not as a result of the treaty but because there were 15 or so maps showing the Italian interpretation and only 3 showing the Ethiopian interpretation. So Italy wins 15-3. What is this a volleyball match? I would love to have seen the reaction of Haile Selassie to this nonsense. Of course he would have eloquently and devastingly rejected such garbage.

This decision if implemented is likely to provoke more conflict. Without it there may also be conflict. But in any case, our defense forces resoundingly defeated the Eritreans. It can be done again, and if necessary, there are permanent solutions that can be found without resort to the international arena.

Aid Dependency or Self-development?

There is a very real possibility that the Western nations may cut their development aid to Ethiopia. But aid is a double-edged sword. Its negatives have outweighed the positives. It is our own policies that keep us poor and dependent.

For example, writing in his famous book The Mystery of Capital, development expert Hernando de Soto compares foreign aid to the suppressed resources that exist within poor countries:

"In every country we have examined the entrepenuerial ingenuity of the poor has created wealth on a vast scale - wealth that also constitutes by far the largest source of potential capital for development. These assets far exceed all the aid from advanced nations and all the loans from the World Bank."

"Leaders of Third World nations need not wander the world's foreign ministries and international financial institutions seeking their fortune. In the midst of their own neigborhoods, there are trillions of dollars, all ready to be put to use if only the mystery of how assets are transformed into live capital can be unraveled."

What Hernando de Soto is referring to above is essentially the legally unrecognized and unvalued property that is in the hands of the poor. This "capital" is the true source of wealth and must be mobilized for rapid growth to occur.

Under the path we have chosen - to reject the Hague decision - it is absolutely imperative that Ethiopia mobilize her assets for development. We cannot tolerate artificial ideological constraints that stop us from achieving a high rate of growth. We have no choice but to free ourselves and develop ourselves using our own resources. The participation of the entire country is needed. Divisive ideologies must be dropped immediately.

A Spurned Hussy

No country has ever prostituted itself to the world powers as vigorously as has Eritrea, and no country has ever been so pitilessly rejected. The Arabs, the Americans, Gadhaffi, - they are all being begged to take Eritrea and use her. All Eritrea asks for in exchange is a comforting embrace of security and for them to hurt Ethiopia.

But no one wants Eritrea. No one wants to risk their interests and their people to rescue the delusional fuehrer of a weak and powerless country.

And so, Isaias Afeworki punishes and scapegoats those that are defenseless against him - the Kunama, the Afar, the Muslims, the lowlanders, the few independent thinking highlanders.

The warsay, the yikealo, they are not equal to the task of delivering Badumma and Irob to Isaias. This was proven in 1998-2000, and can be demonstrated again if necessary. On the contrary, they are fleeing by the thousands to Ethiopia - the supposed enemy - where they plead for refuge.

Conclusion

Ethiopia needs to carefully map out its strategy and lead its people to a new stage of development and security. This is not a TPLF issue. This is an issue that requires the effort of the whole country. Eritrea has no leverage whatsoever. Whatever the crazy fuehrer in Asmara says should be ignored.