By Berhane Kahsay
May 01, 2012
The Eritrean dictator appeared on Eri-TV yesterday to dispel the news of his death/grave illness that was widely reported in various international outlets. It took him nearly a week to tell his own people that he was alive and in ‘robust health’, and that the rumours were spread by America via the CIA to destabilise his precarious regime. The President did not explain why the strongest and richest country in the world would go out of its way to remove him from leading a destitute miniature nation with a population of only 4 million people out of which half of them are scattered all over the world because they are unable to live in their own country. The megalomaniac tyrant routinely blames the CIA for all his ills; even the Soviet Union didn’t blame the secret service as much as Esayass does at the height of the Cold War. American interest in Eritrea which isn’t in a position to feed its own people is insignificant. The US would not give a toss whether a ruthless dictator is dead or alive. Esayass does not need enemies when he has Johnnie Walker by his side.
No doubt in my mind that the rumours of his demise were indeed the work of the desperate tyrant himself and no one else’s. The man is desperate as his grip on power is waning slowly but surely. He was simply trying to measure the level of his popularity among his own people especially those in the Diaspora, who are still bank rolling him, before he pounces on his opponents in the Eritrean Army for undermining his authority. In March of this year, Ethiopian Defence Forces entered 18 kilometres deep inside Eritrea and destroyed various camps belonging to bandits trained and armed by Esayass. Their mission remains to be to maim and kill innocent civilians in Tigray by planting bombs in buses, cafes and schools. The tyrant wanted to retaliate swiftly but he was strongly overruled by the military hierarchy according to reliable sources.
The army is fully aware of Ethiopia’s military superiority but the dictator who suffers from grandiose delusion still believes he can defeat Ethiopia and remove ‘Woyane’ from power. Esayass is unhappy by his Generals refusal to obey his orders, and he is waiting for a convenient moment to incarcerate them as he did to his former comrades (G-15) who are still languishing in prison in sweltering containers. The deliberate absence from view and the subsequent fear and uncertainty created among the gullible Diaspora, may be wrongly taken by the tyrant as a resurgence of his dwindling popularity and a green light to play his old tricks of arbitrary arrest, assassination and unexplained disappearance of his opponents. But this time around Esayass is very unlikely to succeed. At the moment, the army has the upper hand and the chances of being out manoeuvred by the tin pot dictator are very slim indeed. Dispirited, lonely and depressed Esayass spends much of his time carving woods and consuming huge quantities of alcohol, and is only surrounded by a handful of zealots of Tigrian origin. The noose is tightening and the conniving schemer’s days are numbered, and the army no doubt will get rid of him sooner rather than later.
The rumours of Esayass’ death/illness was not reported by the Diaspora ’opposition’ with the exception of Ethio-media for obvious reasons. It must have been a traumatic moment for Ginbot-7, OLF and ONLF who are trained, armed and financed by Esayass. They can breathe a sigh of relief for now, but it won’t be too long before they disappear into thin air with their god father. In the meantime, it is onwards and forwards for Ethiopia; the hard work must continue to ensure that its pole position among the emerging nations of the world is maintained. What is left now is to wish the great leader of Eritrea success in his endeavours to bring his country to the level of Somaliland provided the alcohol does not take its toll before then.
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