There is a story of a man who sells his house with one stipulation: the buyers can have the title to everything—the house, the front yard, the back yard—except for one item. He will retain ownership of a nail fixed to a wall inside the house. Further, the agreement stipulates that the seller would have the right to enter the house to visit his nail. Any time. The deal was done but, soon enough, the buyers regretted buying the house because the seller turned out to be a frequent intruder who entered their house with the pretext of visiting his nail!
The seller is “Juha”, a legendary Iraqi comedian whose wit is abundant in Arab folktales and “mesmar Juha” (Juha’s nail) signifies any issue that initially seems minor but eventually mushrooms into something huge, a cause of remorse for the buyer of a deal.
Badme has become a Mesmar, a nail of sorts. Our own “mesmar Juha.”
It is a matter of public record (although now twisted beyond any recognition) that five years ago, I publicly condemned the escalation of enmity between the fraternal people of Eritrea and Ethiopia by the supporters of the PFDJ. They were pouring kerosene in an already volatile border. They got what they wanted when the border crisis finally became a full-fledged war. Today, they are safe; those they pushed to the war have perished in the tens of thousands. The region has lost six years of its life in stagnation and is left with depleted resources under the mercy of charities. A simple 'What if... question' would have saved us all the agonies; a simple 'what if...' could save us more agonies now.
We have a problem with mushrooms, the human mushrooms who can only prosper in damp, dirty and dark places. They come out only in times of crisis. Their idea of proposing solutions is to exaggerate the problems. They are replaying the same role they played five years ago: escalating the situation - the same names, the same opportunists and the same ...intellectuals. To them, human lives, human beings, are dispensable.
Five years ago, the Ethiopians were opposed to any dialogue unless the Eritrean troops pulled out of Badme. Now, Eritrea has a clear ruling in its favor and Badme, as far as the world is concerned, is Eritrean--as it has always been, as far as we Eritreans are concerned. Still, I believe on a dialogue to solve the impasse. I believe on dialogue to solve any impasse. At the end of the day, after the people exhaust themselves firing bullets at each other, issues are always resolved in a table—round table, rectangular table, square table, but always a table; and I will always volunteer to buy the tablecloth for any dialogue. Richard Holbrooke understood this when he gave up on the stubborn “leaders” of Eritrea and Ethiopia and basically said let them fight it out, they will get tired and then finally talk. And they did. Of course, politicians never fight. They send someone, usually very, very young people, to do the fighting for them.
The governments are not qualified to lead us to peace. They are qualified to waste lives and stagnate development in the region. They are qualified to wreak havoc and destabilize the region. The record is clear. They are qualified to condemn their people to endless war, poverty, destitution, misery, but they are not qualified to have a dialogue. They never learn their lessons, mostly because we refuse to teach them and they might start a war, unless we prevent them from doing so.
Under the pretext of sovereignty, which was embodied in Badme, millions of people in both countries have been suffering for the last six years. Badme has been portrayed as a trophy in a wrestling-like game where the winner pins his rival to the ground to count, one. Two. Three.
In his letter to the UN, Meles mentioned Badme village: an area of one or two square miles. Some other official mentioned Badme environs: maybe two or three times as large as the village.
When Girma Asmerom, the man now lecturing us about Badme, used to be Eritrea’s Ambassador to Ethiopia when the war flared up, he was quoted saying that Eritrea was administering Badme village just before the war flared up. I submit to you that he is not a liar, at least not on this one. He is just ignorant, like all of us then. He was not lying; he just had no idea! Even within the government, only Isaias can give land and can give citizenship and only Isaias can take back land and revoke citizenship. Girma simply had no clue that his boss had given away Eritrean land for years. Isaias, who owns Eritrea, used to refer to Badme as a “dusty insignificant village.” He used to say that to prepare people to accept the loss of Badme, and sure enough, all the PFDJ cadres started saying, “the issue is not Badme!” Now Badme is not a “dusty insignificant village”; it is a trophy and a medallion. Maybe it has magically become a sprawling metropolis. And maybe, the Tigrai government has plans to shift their capital city there - after a donor nation develops another Badme.
Some Ethiopians are crying like a child who lost on a marble game: give me my marble back! Some Eritreans are acting like they won a championship by their cult leader. It is pathetic - but one gentleman has an opinion...
Her Majesty's Ambassador.
In an unusual manner, the British Ambassador to Ethiopia gave a detailed interview. Diplomats are not known for airing their view publicly. They usually give hints in the form of short answers… or leak information. But they never go out and make on-your-face statements on sensitive issues concerning the host countries - that is not a traditional practice of diplomats. Comments that are not to the liking of the host country can cause the expulsion of diplomats; and that is not good for their career. But sometimes people lose patience. The British Ambassador seems to have had it.
He is somehow telling the two government to go feed their people before complicating a clear ruling. He is telling them to use their resources wisely instead of squandering them on trivial issues. He is saying let the demarcation begin and stop acting like gangsters and shape up your governments. He is right.
The British diplomat, who has apparently (and understandably) lost respect for the two governments suggested a creative solution: building another Badme, a brand new Badme, a village of 100 huts or so with electricity and running water - something the present governments are not capable of offering.
The West, that is shouldering the bill for our hunger and cure from maladies, should not be expected to give us money just to be squandered. It is the West that is funding the peacekeeping operations to the tune of $200million a year - a waste of resources created by non-other but our own governments. The West is not supposed to be blackmailed into baby-sitting us when we claim we are adults - when are we going to manage our own affairs in a civilized manner?
The answer is dialogue but are the parties concerned qualified to hold a dialogue? They are not. Then who is? The New York Times just reported about a citizen-to-citizen initiative between Israelis and Palestinians, another group of people whose governments have failed them. Will the citizens succeed where the politicians have failed? I don’t know. The politicians there have reacted predictably—condemning this “irresponsible freelance diplomacy” by citizens who dared to dream. Where are the Eritrean and Ethiopian citizens who will take such initiative? Where are our scholars, our students, our civil society? Will we talk to one another only when foreigners “sponsor” our talks? If we say that these governments don’t represent us, then why should we not enter into dialogue and discussions? Is peace so mystified that it should be left only in the hands of the professional politicians? One man would agree…
Aboy Georgio The Watch Smith
The curiosity in a child is boundless. In a tender age of obsession to discover new things, watching craftsmen and artisans do things is one of the most favorite pastimes for children. Attentively watching for hours as carpenters, blacksmith and mechanics work gives a child an impression that he would learn the skill. In time, some children learn the skill they admired as children others totally fail to pursue their dreams.
To me, the black eyepiece, the magnifying tool that Aboy Georgio the watchmaker put over his left eye, gripping it between his eyebrows and sockets was very fascinating. Under the magic glass, the tiny pieces inside a watch appeared like big wheels of gears connected by shafts. Everything that looked tiny in a watch's belly magically became huge under the eyepiece. Even Aboy Georgio's own nails showed some weird cracks, eroded fingertips of an old watch smith.
In the workbench were strewn timepieces of all makes and sizes- mostly Japanese watches, which were considered fake and inferior to Swiss watches. They included the mystery watch, Seiko 5, which apparently was smuggled from Aden when the port city was a flourishing free port. There were Romer watches which people believed was the best brand because the radio station advertised "Romer only" -- there was no one to explain to the public that it was because only Romer paid for the advertisement. Then there was Omega watches, a sign of status of wealth - it was rumored that "Haile Sellassie owned the Omega factory in Switzerland", (a prelude to another rumor: upon overthrowing the HS1 regime, the Derg sent a high delegation to Switzerland to confiscate the factory). There were stainless steel watches; water-resistant watches; and watches that carried the engraving, "17 Jewels inside". I wondered: what are jewels doing inside a watch? I never found out.
I once asked Aboy Georgio: what is the significance of a jewel in the watches' "engine"? He started to explain to me in long dragged technical jargon. He stopped when he thought he said enough to confuse me and asked if I understood. I just nodded pretending I did - I was bored and wanted him to stop. Then trying to change the subject from physics to biology, I asked him about the novel watch, Seiko 5, the self-winding mystery watch, that didn’t’ need a winding every 24 hours, and which was referred to as "automatic". People believed that, strapped on the wrist, it winded itself by the warmth of the human blood. That is why if you put the Seiko on a table for a few hours away from the warmth of the human blood, it stopped. To me, that was biology. I posed my question to Aboy Georgio to explain that magic to me. He was reluctant.
The witty Osman Srenggi, who happened to be there gave me a lesson and freed Aboy Georgio from the obligation of explaining my biology question: "sr al mehna" he said - secrets of a skill that are not given away easily. Craftsmen do not knowingly breed competition... even if it was a curious potential competitor in a twelve-year-old child.
They're many ways to mystify a skill or a talent; especially a bread earning skill. If you take a gadget to a repairman, they would never repair it instantly less you think it was an easy job and refuse to pay hefty charges. The technician would exclaim, "oooh, it needs a lot of work; I need to order spare parts and then test it". That would make you believe your gadget is beyond repair and you would painfully pay the bill regardless of the amount.
If you unravel the secrets of a seemingly sophisticated skill, you will understand why Eritrean leaders (and their cadres) act the way they do. Much like Aboy Georgio wanted to guard his trade secrets so he can monopolize the market, the PFDJ and their cadres want to monopolize the entire political spectrum. We are to make peace when they tell us; to make war when it suits their purpose. To call for elections, and then to cancel them. To arrest, then to release, then to arrest again. But the current incidents are not secrets and their solutions remain with the owners of the nation—the people—and not those who rule over them without their consent.
A divorced man may in time long for his ex-wife and would want to remarry her - just waiting for a heaven-sent opportunity. To some, the border crisis might be such a blessing - the PFDJ spinster is there for the taking. I see some individuals trying to break ranks to approach the spinster known as PFDJ.
History repeats itself, a wise man once said, the first time is a tragedy, the second as a farce. In our case, we don't even have the luxury of a farce: it is always a tragedy. One tragedy after another after another because we the people have no relationship with "power": we don't have it, we don't demand it, we never even ask for. We just surrender it.
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