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***image1:left***When Ras Allula had his seat of government in Adi Tekhlay, he received a letter from the Italian general who landed in Massawa with his colonizing army. The letter was written in Arabic and the Arab-garb-dressed Allula could neither read nor find anyone who could read Arabic within his entourage. He sent for a known personality from Adi Baro, Sheikh Abduselam, to read the letter for him. The sheik arrived and read the letter loudly and informed Allula of its content: the Italian general wrote telling Allula that he was on his way to the highlands, the Kebessa, with his army. Allula was furious. He unsheathed his Crescent shaped sword and started his war-cry: Zeraf, Zeraf. Bewildered, Abduselam said the following immortal verse: }[ sD mk ]X cE
]M sDM mk oE
s [[: } |?
mk[EM }p kAE!
So strong was the comment that Allula sheathed his sword and started to think calmly. The rest is history paved by the advance of the Italians to Asmara. In the early sixties, the faint airwaves carried the Ethiopian stations broadcast. One song, which must have been on the top of the charts, was repeatedly played. The song which blasted from the few radios in Eritrea went, }p lF Y\ MD\ MD\. That is also history. No one gave weight to that song and the karrosa was not returned in time. Heed the advice is the morale of the anecdote. The Awate Team is just singing and it is up to the Dettores, especially the enlightened Dettores, to listen and stop the Karrosa that is heading towards chaos. If not, the second best thing they can do is stop pushing the Karrosa to the edge. Had Abduselam been around, he would have asked Dr. Taddesse: AX ko} M H[X ]X|
q Ha} mk } |
|p Hͧ } ]{q kAE
go oM[ }p kAE!
Prominence comes with integrity. Integrity, we all know, is in short supply. Intellectual integrity is the worst hit. In the beginning of 1998, most of the literates who fanned the war are all alive; those they pushed to the war died by the thousands. Yet, the conscience of those who contributed to the inflating of the leaders egos seem to be sound asleepno remorse, no sorrow and no pain! Nevertheless, the gates of the peoples cause is wide open and people just get in and mingle without repent: We should have a priest and a booth were all should confess and reconcile with their conscience before reconciling with others. Needless to say, sometimes, even priests seem to need a confession booth to confess to other less irresponsible priests! Eritrea does not have Peacocks; it has Zagra, the wild Hen. It also has the common household Arha Derho, the Rooster. The Zagra tribe is fond of disarray to the extent that we have an adage, I M c V. The Rooster has one mission in life, waking people up at sunrise whether people need to wake up or to sleep the morning off. It is annoying. The Rooster, flamboyant, all dressed up in designer feathers from Nina Ricci and Christian Dior, is an arrogant creature. A favorite of witchdoctors, over the centuries, countless roosters were knifed to cure obscure maladies and to ward-off evil spirits. In the practice, the possessed are brushed with the dead rooster; seemingly, that cures them. The evil people do that to posses the healthy with an evil spirit. The result, an invalid soul usually referred to as draz. Next time you see a rooster think of three things: witchcraft, natural alarm clock and Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is also important to think outside that triangle; think of Chinchira. Eat a lot of that. Find the source on your own. Pity, they do not serve it in fast food restaurants! Let us go to the karrosa. Few years ago, a martyrs mother received ten thousand Nackfa, as compensation for the life of her loved one. In todays prices, it is equivalent to forty roosters (that is enough to bring tears to the driest of eyes). The mother bought a karrosa, a cart and a horse, to be driven by a relatives kid that she raised after her only son left her to the destiny on those who ate a lot of Chinchira. One humid, gloomy day, the karrosa was arrested for traffic violation and taken to HazHaz prison. Few days later, the poor woman went to HazHaz to pay the penalty and release the karrosa. Just like the bird that goes blind in September, Meskerem tEwr, she discovered that the horse had died of hunger and neglect. She was asked to dispose the dead horse or else! Strangely enough, to the woman, the horses face resembled the face of her son. After all, it was bought with the compensation money she received for loosing her martyred son. Each bread she had from the income of the karrosa made her feel it was paid for by her son. I am not sure if the woman is still alive or anxiety and sorrow has already killed her. Blame it on the roosters that are not interested in such stories; we will move on. Then we have monitors who hibernate for ages to come out dissenting. They talk of integrity. They talk of principles. They write about how watchful they are. They boast that they are of gold metal. They forget that Gold is as valueless as a yellow stone if it cannot be used to buy food or at least to adorn a womans bosom. Isolation. Isolation. Those who killed the karrosa cannot be forgiven. The roosters have to remember that they are only a witchs prescription drugs. Allula shout from Adi Teklay will not reach Massawa. Abduselam just read the letter and did not create it. In the forties, two brothers were split between the Rabita and Andnet parties. When one brother would display Andnet flags (Ethiopian) on the roof, the other brother would take the Andnet flags off and replace them with Rabita flags. It was a partisan feud between two brothers living under one roof. Once, when the elder brother was hanging the Ethiopian flags, the younger brother arrived and went mad. He was determined to teach his Andnet supporting brother a lesson. He took the ladder from the wall and left his elder brother on the roof for hours. The brothers were shouting at each other; one from the top of the roof the other from the ground below. Neighbors came to resolve the difference. The one standing with the ladder in the ground has one condition to give the ladder to his brother to enable him to come down: take the Ethiopian flag off the roof. Otherwise, you stay on the roof forever with your flags, he said. The standstill was resolved when mediators ruled that they divide the roof into two parts and each brother rules over half the roof and hangs his favorite flag on his side of it. Had a rooster been the mediator, he would probably tell them both to stay divided until the witch doctor decides on the case. Witches, karrosas and roosters. Teachers are used to instruct their obedient and not so obedient student. They present comments as instruction without even thinking of their remarks. They think views can only fit two categories: giving instructions and receiving them. There is something called opinion, view, position, stand, pleading, appeal and Dagusha! Why Daghusha? We need a lot of it. At any rate, if an honest appeal to restraint and reconciliation is taken to mean an instruction, my advice is heeding it. A kettle on fire starts to whistle when the water inside boils enough. If one doesnt respond to the whistle, the water evaporates and you end up with a burned kettle. But wait! If your kettle doesnt have a whistle, you would not have a burned kettlewould you? Few years ago, when many voices were calling for reconciliation of the government and the rest of Eritrea, many made the calls for reconciliation a laughing material. Those who belittled the calls were given a fitting name: zeragitos. As we all know, Zeragito, the twisters, come on a seasonal basis. It seems we are confronted by a new wave of Zeragito that would not like to see harmony among brothers and sisters. A leader can never be created out of a wreak of a zeragito. Be a fighter and not an arsonist. Gaps are wide enough as they are. The witty Ibrahim Wed Jabera used to mimic his orphan Amharic adage to comfort his Tor Serawit customers before tricking them: }q DM} oʷS? sY DLq! But that is a story for another time. The riskiest problem facing Eritreans for decades is the polarization along ELF/EPLF lines. Neither religious, regional nor any other divide is as harmful. It is bleeding our nation. In being obsessed with our individual legacies, we are killing our nation. Importantly, condemning the Alliance doesnt make one on the side of the people. Condemning the ELF-RC doesnt make one on the side of the people. Even condemning the PFDJ doesnt automatically make one an advocate for the peoples interests. Dictatorship is against the people: we must stand against it. Polarization is against the interest of the people: we must help stop it. There is more behind what the eyes on the surface meet. Importantly, the motive is an indication. The motive. Reconciliation starts piecemeal. First, get rid of any obstacle to reconciliation. Then, get rid of the obstacles to reconciliation. Lastly, get rid of the obstacle to reconciliation. Then ask: are there any hindrance to reconciliation left? Self centered arrogance and an ignored whistling kettle.
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