A long time ago in rural Eritrea there was an old man living with his wife and his two teenage boys. He never heard the advice of his wife or children and because of his character he took illogical decisions unilaterally and the household fell into misery. The man’s greatest folly was the mending of peoples’ fence while his house lay in ruins. Finally, the house fell into shambles and the man told his children to sell their only ox. The two youngsters went to the market and waited for hours. At the ox market, the ox was mixed up with other oxen and the poor fellows could not find it. They searched and searched for the ox but their effort bore no fruit.

When everyone left the ox market, they started their long journey to their home. They were so sad thinking of how their father would react to the news. But finally, the younger brother who was smarter than the older one found a solution to the problem and they continued their journey with full confidence.

When they arrived at their home, their father welcomed them and asked them about their errand. “My dear father, everything was so OK at the market, but we saw a very strange and sad thing,” replied his younger son. The man asked, “What strange thing did you see?” The boy retorted: “father, we saw a donkey without a tail.” True to his nature, he man stood up and started wailing: “A donkey without a tail! I feel very sad for its owner. How can he load it has no tail? How cruel the almighty God has become!”

His son interrupted him by saying, “Not only this, father, but we lost the ox and…” The man did not let him finish and said, “You are so silly to talk about the ox! Don’t you feel sorry for the poor animal without a tail? What really amazes me is the predicament of its owner! He can neither use it as a pack animal nor eat its flesh!”

THE "INTERVIEW"

This man is a replica of our self-made president. Eritrea has lost its only ox, and he is crying about the tail-less donkey in Ethiopia! I was sitting with a dozen people when the interview started. In spite of the interview being so monotonous and tiresome, people watched and listened attentively in the hope that something new will pop up. However finding nothing new, everybody left before it went halfway. Everyone was so frustrated and began to talk in the following manner: “What is the man talking about? The same evil is happening here. My God! The man has gone lunatic I think! If he is earnest, why does he not talk about the current situation of the nation?” Like the story of the old man above, Isaias is more interested in the misfortune or agony of others rather than those of his people.

Following on his usual style of pre-arranged interviews, our great helmsman invited two important journalists to interview him. In fact, no one in his sober mind can call it an interview. The man has lost all confidence and wants to drown the voices in his head by talking endlessly. As the Tigrigna saying goes, Nbeynu zgoyi ziQidimo yeblun. [a solo runner wins a race every single time.] He can talk and talk endlessly and consider himself the winner. But those of us who watched at least part of the interview considered it all absurd, disgusting and rubbish and we grade him below zero. 

Whereas the main issue in Eritrea now is the absence of justice, security of life, lack of basic commodities etc. he tried to impress us with the politics of woyane and opposition, Somalia , Darfur , America etc . These issues are of no importance to the Eritrean people. Issayas tried to be an analyst of regional politics. Ab aynika zelo gundi zeyewxaekas ab ayni seb zelo beser ktali mftan koynu eti neger. [attempting to remove specs from the eyes of another while a splinter is stuck in your own eyes.] 

A leader who is not bold to talk about his people needs a scapegoat. That is what Isaias is doing. His survival depends on outside enemies. If they are there, it is OK. If not he should create them at any cost.

To come back to his interview, he tried to divert the opinion of the masses to another direction, while at the same time he wanted to vent his anger at Woyane and have some relief. Either the man has become so paranoid that he never knows how hated he has become by the people or he is trying to cheat himself. If the answer lies elsewhere, why does he not let the people ask him at the municipality like the good old days? He knows he has lost the trust of the people. It has been almost eleven years since the celebrated “Rikib hizbi ms president” [townhall meeting with the president] has become history. It is all pre-arranged interviews now!

The interview had no new content whatsoever. It was a heap of junk mixed with unverifiable data. It was a hotchpotch accumulated from dmxi Hafash, Eritv, gazeta hadas Eritra. In fact, it would have been easier and more economical if it had been broadcasted as reportage or an essay on regional events.  All the points he talked referencing Woyane were the ones that he is doing right here in Eritrea. The point that makes me wonder is how shamelessly he tries to cheat his people. If we go point by point, we get the following picture.

1. What The Woyane Did In The Past Sixteen Years.

Isaias cannot have it both ways.  What the Woyane did in the past 16 years is either our business or it is not.  If it is our business, we should have talked in the same tone starting from the beginning. Until early 1998, we have been talking about the achievements of Woyane and have been denigrating the Ethiopian opposition groups.  Now because of the border war we are making a U-turn and losing our objectivity. We should give the devil his due after all. Like any other nation, any regime has its own shortcomings and virtues. Leaving the border issue aside, if we are to judge the regime we should be able to point the pros and cons and support them with verifiable data. Does Isaias have the capacity of assessing such various topics of another nation in one shot? He is simply trying to create a make believe scenario. In fact, he is not clever at such things. He was much better while he was in the filed because he had the help of his comrades then. Now he has become like a stray dog that wonders from place to place in the hope of fetching a dry bone. In the past 16 years, Isaias more than destroyed Eritrea. Above all, he betrayed the principles of the revolution.    

2.  Domination of Power in Ethiopia and Eritrea

Like the PFDJ, Woyane is the dominant power in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, Woyane has a passable façade since it is the EPRDF (a coalition of parties) that is in power. If we come to Eritrea, the PFDJ as the dominant clique never wants a partner and it is a taboo for it to talk about coalitions or party politics.  It would have been much better for him to talk about the problems of PFDJ. The issue is so clear that it does not deserve any explanation.

3.  Elections in Ethiopia and Eritrea 

Needless to say, almost every Eritrean considers the Woyane & PFDJ as trash.
Isaias claims that he does not want to make fake elections like the Woyane. The question he never wants to answer is why he does not want to hold a fair election and establish a constitutional government. He does not want a democratic Eritrea because in a democratic Eritrea he will be accountable for his political and economic crimes. If Woyane is responsible for anything it is not his job to talk day and night about issues the Ethiopians have almost forgotten. After all, as he said during the second EPLF congress, he cannot be more catholic than the pope. Whatever may have been the discrepancies or ballot rigging, at least in Ethiopia an election was held; i.e. an exercise was made. Leaving the sins of Woyane to those that are concerned by the issue, we should mend our house first. Isaias never wants to talk about election in Eritrea. If a foreign journalist asks him about the issue, his migraine immediately starts. If this is the case, how dare he talk about another government that held an election in a huge country with infinitely diverse society while he cannot do it in a nation that is 1/20th of the population of the country that he is blaming? This is simply like a child criticizing another child for bad handwriting while he himself cannot write.

4. Opposition

In Ethiopia, the prisoners have the right to see their relatives, lawyers and meet friends. The paradox is that PFDJ cares more than anyone else about them.  The man lost his ox and he is still wailing about the tail-less donkey. Here in Eritrea we have so many opposition forces, parties, organizations, civic groups etc. Because of Isaias’s dictatorial policy, they are not able to enter into Eritrea let alone participate in elections that do not exist. Here we have so many Gulag Archipelagos that it is difficult to count them. Here we have Eritreans in unknown prisons for more than 12-13 years (to be safe) with no access to sunlight and decent accommodation. Blaming others for imprisoning opposition elements is like the pot calling the kettle black.   

5. America

Any nation gives priority to its national interest, and America is among the famous nations that cherishes this principle. Because this is natural, Eritrea itself gives priority to its national interest even at the expense of sacrificing principles. The army is endlessly indoctrinated to think in the following manner. “Since Eritrea is surrounded by big, populous and powerful nations, it is in our national interest to create political turmoil in our neighbors, namely Sudan and Ethiopia.” It would have been better to choose peaceful co-existence. Unfortunately, since Isaias thinks in a twisted manner (this may be due to his lack of intelligence), he chose the negative one. Whereas no one appreciates many of the measures taken by the State Department, this does not absolve Isaias from answering many questions. If he is asking America to respect the rule of law in the border issue, he should also abide by the rule of law inside Eritrea. After all Eritrea is a signatory to the charter on human rights. Unless he respects the rule of law in his country, it is fruitless to harangue the international community about the rule of law. It is a Xemam hade derfu [the deaf know only one song] issue. He should be able to come to his senses rather than make endless interviews.    

6. Economy

The old man worrying about the tail-less donkey was crying about the widening gap between the rich and poor people in Ethiopia.  He is so shameless that he loves to belittle his enemies.  Just because the gap between the poor and the rich is still wide or widening, we cannot say a nation’s economy is not growing. China has the fastest growing economy and yet it has millions of poor people. But since he has not learned political science, it is his usual habit to follow the Maoist parable that says belittle your enemy. According to Mao’s paper tiger theory, America should have either been destroyed or transformed into the United Soviet States of America by now. On the other hand, China is turning to the capitalist mode of production. Men like Isaias, Mobutu and Milosevic learn the bitter way.

The Ethiopian economy is growing at a higher rate than that of Eritrea at least. According to Isaias’s conclusion, because the gap between the poor and the rich is wide, The regime will fall. It has also fallen in 2005: he claimed in an interview (two years back) that it is the 59th minute for the Woyane. On another occasion, he claimed not to have the time to talk about a regime that is stinking before its death—or, as he put it, Ab af mot TeleTel zbele sir’at.

But everybody knows that the Eritrean economy is in shambles and the man is having a hard time shuttling between Asmara the Gulf States and Sudan begging for cash. Not only this, as if he has not been battering the private traders for price hikes, now after his Red Sea Trading Corporation (09) monopolized the market, it is selling basic commodities like sugar, wheat flour, cement etc. at triple their price. In spite of this, the economy is still plummeting.

But the old man is still worried about the tail-less donkey, and cares not about the missing ox. This is why, above everything else, the Ethiopian opposition in Tigray are clothed and fed better than we Eritreans. The dollars are going there.

7. People of Tigray

When the dictator was trying to organize the Ethiopian opposition, one of his official propaganda was that the Woyane is developing Tigray at the expense of other parts of Ethiopia.   This fell right into the prejudice and bias of the non-Tigrayan Ethiopians.  Now this has changed, the official propaganda now is that the Tigrian people are suffering even more than Ethiopians in other parts of Ethiopia.  They are suffering so much now because their children who joined the opposition are being forced to pay cash.  What about the Eritrean people? Why do you want to ask about the ox when there is a donkey missing a tail! Do no grumble if you are ordered to pay 50 thousand nakfa when your children leave without our permission!