Two East African Opponent Dictators Entering Into Deadly War Berhe Desta 
Two East African dictators are destined to wage a dangerous war of extinction, without the knowledge and consent of their respective constituents. These two dictators are both power hungry and ambitious to do anything and everything in order to advance their supreme ambitions. Both of them have systematically liquidated many political enemies and bankrupted their respective countries, and unless some humanitarian powers unite to bring the two opponents to terms, their countries will be harmed. In order for one to know the nature and behavior of these two dictators, one has to understand their historical backgrounds. Their
common traits are beset by extreme cruelty,deception, and pathological lying, and complete disregard for law and order. In addition, both ofthem were alleged American CIA agents, and are highly vengeful and faithless.
Their distinctive differences are that Isayas Afeworki is an “evil genius” who is highly gifted to deceive, to trick, and divide and slice his enemies. From the day Isayas Afeworki joined the Eritrean armed struggle in 1966, he quickly rose into the ranks and by 1970 /1971, he became a key figure in the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) military structure. And ever since, he has mysteriously and systematically liquidated hundreds of gallant nationalist fighters, who he thought would challenge his power. These victims were the best and the brightest, including some outstanding military strategists. After Eritrea received its independence after 30 years of armed struggle, on May 24th, 1991, Isayas Afeworki defiantly proclaimed himself president for life. Now the country is destroyed beyond repair. Isayas, the spineless arch enemy of the Eritrean people has eradicated hundreds of thousands of young men and women, while trying to flee leaving the people and country they love and adore to freedom. He is a butcher and merciless exterminator who gets rid his opponents for good. Out of extreme terror, fear, and panic, nobody dares to utter a word of negativity. That’s why he has stayed in power for 35 years. Eritrea operates without a national constitution or a functional government structure, a parliament or a judicial system. There has been no election for 35 years. The country is intentionally left out without a vice president, to prevent any challengers from emerging. Eritrea is a nation ruled by an iron fisted dictator, who single-handedly rules by decrees and intuition, and any dissent is met with immediate maiming or death.
On the other side, Colonel Abiy Ahmed Ali, the prime minister of Ethiopia, is a renowned orator, who claims to be divinely chosen. He has famously asserted that his mother prophesied when he was seven years old that he would be the “seventh king of Ethiopia.” He is a “flip flop” leader with the temperament of a child, who lacks a stable stance on economic or diplomatic policies, and often acts before thinking. His identity alternates between Christian or Muslim, depending on his audience. When he travels to Sadi Arabia, his name is Abiy Ahmed Ali, but in the Christian World he goes by Abiy. He is a master of deception, who even managed to swindle the Nobel Prize Committee — receiving a gold medal for a peace process that was, in reality, a prelude to a collaborative war.
Surprisingly, on June 5, 2018, Abiy approached Isayas Afeworki and proposed to him that Ethiopia will unconditionally withdraw its troops from the Eritrean lands that were occupied in 2000 by Ethiopia, including Badme. He also promised to sign the Algiers Treaty of 2000. Such a gesture was highly hailed and appreciated by most peace-loving Eritreans and Ethiopians. However, the proposal was not genuine. Abiy further said that when he and Isayas were united (ketedemern), he would receive the Port of Assab, the Northern Sea port of Eritrea. Isayas seemed to agree to the statement because his own hideous dream was to become the supreme leader of “greater Ethiopia,” which includes Eritrea. These two dictators also signed a highly secret Peace Accord at Jidah, Saudi Arabia on September 16, 2018. But, the secretly signed Peace Agreement is not legally enforceable due to lack of consent of the people of the two countries.
Again, on November 4, 2020, Abiy invited Isayas to help him collaboratively wage a deadly war against Tigray, the Northern province of Ethiopia. Abiy also involved 5000 Somali soldiers along with Emirate and Turkish drones. The extraordinary casualties perpetrated upon the Tigray people including the loss of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including women and children. This clearly shows that Abiy has committed an outright treason against the Ethiopian people, because Tigrayans are Ethiopians. In addition, it is important to recognize that most of the Tigray war casualties were caused by the Eritrean battalions, who participated in this unfortunate war from Adigrat and Adwa, and in other strategically important areas, like Humera and Shire, they captured Alamata and Korem, in collaboration with the Ethiopian federal forces from the south. Despite Eritrea’s early involvement in the war, though, Isayas and Abiy adamantly denied the Eritrean military’s participation in the war against Tigray. However, Mesfun Hagos, the former defense minister of Eritrea, revealed in early December 2020 that the Eritrean government had deployed seven infantry and four mechanized army divisions. After such embarrassing disclosure, Isayas’s government finally admitted that Eritrea entered into the war, but then claimed it was only in self-defense, when the Tigrayans first fired missiles to the Asmara airport. This is clearly not true; the Eritrean army was involved in the war as of November 4th, 2020, and the Tigray army fired the stated missiles to the Asmara airport on November 14th, 2020. Isayas Afeworki, the heinous enemy of both the Eritrean and Tigrayan people, had a hidden agenda of intentionally and vengefully planting an everlasting hatred and animosity between the two brotherly peoples of Tigray and Eritrea for generations to come, but he did not succeed in his cursed plan because the Tigrayans and Eritreans have long-standing historical ties that bind them together. Isayas has mercilessly ruled Eritrea for 35 arduous years since independence, and he has psychologically planted a
haunting fear and terror in the minds of the Eritrean people. Due to that extreme fear and horror many Eritrean people, young and seasoned, would do anything that would please Isayas Afeworki. Abiy also intentionally and criminally starved the Tigrayan people during the time of the two-year war, 2020-2022, and many civilians perished from lack of food, water, medication, and medical care, which Abiy used as a weapon. The approximate number of deaths of the military and civilian together is about 1.5 million Tigrayans, while the displacement was up to approximately 2 to 2.6 million people. Since Abiy came to power, there has never been any peace in all 13 Ethiopian provinces.
The primary victims of these wars are the children of the poor and the children of the martyrs. The dictators send these youth to be drugged and killed in the battles, while their own children live safely in Europe and the United States. The people of both sides have been excluded from the decision-making process that led to these unnecessary wars. In the first place, wars are unnecessary for the Ethiopian and Eritrean peoples, because wars do not solve any national problems, except unnecessarily wasting human lives and unwisely draining national wealth. In addition, the opinions of the Ethiopian and Eritrean peoples are not taken into consideration when the corrupt war mongers unilaterally decide to go into these unnecessary wars.
These two dictators wage wars with their neighbors in order to extend their power. Isayas, starting from the beginning of his presidency, waged wars with almost all his neighbors, starting from Ethiopia, Yemen, the Sudan, and Djibouti. In addition, he also sent his soldiers to other countries as paid mercenaries, but the sons and daughters of the poor and destitute are those who are drugged in to these wars and they do not get a penny of the mercenary money. What is alarming right now is that Abiy is obsessively claiming that Ethiopia, with about 135 million people, remains without a seaport access, and that has become an unbearable problem for Ethiopia. Ethiopia is not the only country without port access, many countries, big and small the world over, are also without a seaport access. Documents suggest that a “people to people” approach with amicable and inviting attitude could bring Ethiopia a reasonable lease term. The Eritrean people would not hesitate to live with Ethiopians side by side as good neighbors, and a reasonable Lease opportunity would be bestowed by the Eritrean citizenry. But Abiy instead chose the path of aggression. Abiy recently said that he will destroy Eritrea like Gaza unless Eritrea allows Ethiopia a sea access.
In reality, these two Dictators can ill afford to go into war at this time because, both of them are socio economically and security wise hard pressed. Security wise, Addis Ababa the capital City of Ethiopia is in extremely unsafe and chaotic situation. Likewise, Eritrea is unusually showing some confusion and sense of uncertainty. Economichally, especially Ethiopia is highly indebted Billions – and Billions of dollars debt, beyond its capability, to the following creditors: To China, the World Bank, the IMF and there are also various commercial Banks of the world, and private Bond holders Abiy should understand and recognize that Eritrea is a sovereign nation, and he should leave Eritrea alone. Abiy and a few misguided and ill-informed Ethiopians are dwelling on a constant threat of forcefully seizing the port of Assab, the southern part of the Eritrean Sea port. Abiy’s approach has been hostile rather than diplomatic. Abiy is also trying to brainwash and misinform many innocent Ethiopians in order to incite them to go to war with Eritrea for self-serving purposes, instead of teaching them how to live in peace and understanding. As a result of Abiy’s threats, Isayas is seriously terrified, that is why he is now compelled to create the concept of “Tsemdo,” or alliance with factions of the HEWAHAT, the leadership of Tigray. This appears as a cynical temporary tactical military alliance – and unless they join him, Abiy will separately attack and most probably defeat them, because Tigray’s annual economic budget is in Abiy’s hands. But if the Tsemdo alliance is successful, what the dictator will do next is uncertain. It is clear that he is not to be trusted. Abiy is now in delicate situation, because almost two third of his constituents are waging wars against him.
Now, Abiy’s major problem is the case of the West Tigray Lands, which is actually a problem of his own creation. These contested lands consist of Humera, Wolkait and Tsegede and Mai Kadra. In November 2020, Tigrayan residents of those areas who were forcibly displaced. However, these lands carry historically Tigrayan names. And this case was mentioned in the Pretoria, South Africa Treaty, which specifies that the displaced people from the contested areas must return to their lands, and the people who came to the areas after year 2020 should go back to where they came from. After which, a referendum must be taken. However, Abiy in collaboration with some individuals from the Tigray leadership have refrained from implementing the Pretoria accord. So, this has become a major head ache for Abiy right now.
This war of deep vengeance and animosity between the two dictators seems imminent, and millions of people from both sides will be unnecessarily wasted. Unless the two dictators are stopped by coordinated efforts of concerned humanitarian institutions and organizations, these two dictators will not cease until they have eliminated each other, leaving the entire East African region in a state of terminal chaos. Organizations including the Organization of African Unity, the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) must act urgently and in unison to bring a resolution to the acute problem, before it is too late and the East African region is left in a state of terminal chaos.
Berhe Desta / Seattle Washington, USA.
