A belt fastened while jogging will unfasten itself when running

By Dilwenberu Nega
Tigrai Online London 23 January 2015

Two weeks ago ESAT, a television station funded by the State of Eritrea to help Ethiopian quislings in the Diaspora disseminate anti-EPRDF propaganda, jubilantly announced that Ginbot 7 and Arbegnotch Ginbar are merged.

Disdainful comments even from critics of EPRDF accompanied the fusion between a phantom corps of Eritrean soldiers and an irredeemably reckless Ginbot 7. Moreover this make-believe-event could not have come at a worse moment for Ginbot 7. The “I am Andy” bubble is deflated, Andy’s damning revelations of the state of affairs inside Ginbot 7 has spurred many members to emigrate into greener political pastures and, as a result, subscriptions have dried up.

A desperate Birhanu Nega was left with no choice but to come up with a face saving plan that would allow him to portray a decaffeinated G7 as a power to be reckoned with in the eyes of the general public. With the help of his mentor, Derg’s preeminent champagne socialist, Kassa Kebede, he concocts a sham signing ceremony with Ethiopian flag waving Eritrean soldiers in attendance. But he had one other obstacle to overcome. He knows in his heart of hearts that if Ethiopians saw Birhanu Nega visiting Eritrea while the two nations were still in a state of belligerency, and while Shabia continues to train, arm and dispatch terrorists to destabilize Ethiopia, his hope - something that he has been salivating for so many years - of making it to the Menelik Gibbi will turn into quenchless despair. He instead opted for the wiser option of addressing those gathered at the signing ceremony via Skype, and decided to dispatch to Asmara Mengistu Haile Mariam’s half brother and someone widely regarded by many as “the Moses of the exiled Derg,” not to mention that is his previous clandestine dealings with the likes of Al Shabab and by extension with Eritrea.

Throughout my commentaries on the blogosphere, I have opposed any talk of Ethiopians engaging with whimsical Isaias Afewerki as premature. Who in their rightful mind would like to see EPRDF engage with Shabia while Eritrea continues to train, arm and dispatch terrorists in order to destabilize Ethiopia? I have even went further and advocated for a calibrated response to Asmara’s acts of provocations. When partisan journalists Elias Kifle of Ethiopian Review and EPPF’s Silechi Tilahun became the first ‘Ethiopian’ journalists to accept freebees from the State of Eritrea to interview President Isaias Afewerki in 2009, I lambasted their treacherous act as “a comedy of errors” in a commentary entitled, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”  You now only have to lend your ears to Elias Kifle’s fulminations against Eritrea on Paltalk to prove that I had not committed a lapse of judgment when I criticized severely the actions of those two journalists.

If ESAT and Ginbot 7 believe that they have won the battle for hearts and minds, it then means that they live in cloud-cucoo-land, for an alert public only says amen to the word of God and not to the utterances of snake oil merchants. Commonsense dictates no matter how much one opposes the policies of the ruling EPRDF, there is no justification for Ethiopian dissidents to align themselves with a foreign regime hell bent on turning Ethiopia into a bonfire.

I am reminded here by an Amharic proverb “A belt fastened while jogging will unfasten itself when running.” Utter desperation has nudged Ginbot 7’s Chairman to indulge in unthinkable and despicable acts of treason. All too often the Tamagne’s of the opposition-at-large use EPRDF’s hitherto tactical alliance with the EPLF as their alibi for forming an alliance with EPLF. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the two alliances are as different as chalk and cheese. EPRDF’s alliance with EPLF was to get rid of a murderous Derg; Ginbot’s alliance with EPLF, on the other hand, is to GET RID of ETHIOPIA. Wake up folks! 

Admin Note: Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki telling the truth for the first time. He is spilling out everything how he want to destabilize and destroy Ethiopia using proxy rebel groups and false propaganda.

Due to overwhelming request we have translated the speech of President Isaias Afewerki.