***image1:left***She is six years old now, but she still can't walk.  Sadder still, nary a breath is laudable nor a pulse pulsates.  Were she not a child, we would say she is dead but that word is so indelicate.  So we say she is lifeless.  Or maybe in a coma.  Or just taking a much needed rest.  Many think of blowing life into it, others want to bury it deep in the crest of the earth� where it will melt and be forgotten.

She is the Eritrean constitution. She is slim and attractive. Fathered by many, reared by no one,  orphaned by all. The little life, just the breath of life, choked out by the stepfather. Forgotten, it collects dust� or maybe gone with the dust. Ashes to ashes, babies to dust.  It sees no morrow and it lives on tomorrow but tomorrow never comes.

But I am getting ahead of my story.

The Midwife Cometh

It was the summer of 1995.  The midwives roamed the globe.  In my corner of the globe, two men of scholarly persuasion trotted it.  Their names, I came to learn later, were Dr. Tekie Fessehazion and Dr. Gebrehiwet Tesfagiorgis.   They were soft-spoken men with earnest eyes.  Their manners spoke of legality and they carried an air of modest authority: they wore the right uniforms; their names carried the most appropriate honorific.   In their hands, they held a small manual, announcing the first coming of a child.

"Look at this," they said pointing proudly to the faint traces of an embryo in the ultrasound printout, "Isn't she beautiful?" 

Well all embryos look alike, I thought, wanting to invest no emotions.  "I am sure she is," I replied, "but aren't they all?"  

Scholarly they were, but more animated than me.  "That may be," they said, "what makes this one special, besides being exceptionally beautiful is�." They paused to look at each other, then announced in unison, "she is yours."

"Mine?!" I asked.  As far as I know, I had my alibis.  I hadn't been anywhere near anything.  I had been too busy writing for years about the eligible but single-for-life candidate.

"Well, yes.  More accurately, she is ours.  All of us.  All 3.5 million of us."

I looked closely. Really, it is hard to tell.  They do look alike�

"Here's the paternity test," they declared, "it is conclusively yours." 

It was persuasive: I am an Eritrean; this embryo is the Eritrean constitution.  So it must be mine.  I shrugged, "Let me look at the parenting manual."

And that's when I fell in love.  To be sure, there were some oddities. The manual instructed me and all parents that we are to speak to the child in any one of the nine languages.  I thought this would make life on the child and the parents difficult.  After all, long before the conception of the child, we had an agreement that we would speak to the child and, in its presence, among ourselves, only in Tigrigna and Arabic. 

"Not to worry; everything in this manual can be amended," they assured me.

The manual also said that regardless of my opinions, the baby was to be clothed in specific colors-red, green, yellow and red-and I would have no say in that article of clothing.   I shrugged it off, because there were even more important articles.   58 of them.

There were articles that instructed the co-parents on how to care for the baby; articles that said that all parents are, in the eyes of the baby, equal. There were articles that said that the co-parents could use this manual to solve all disputes; there were articles that said that the baby would unify the parents. There were articles that specified the rights of the baby and the parents.  There were specific articles that said that no one can abuse the baby; there were specific articles that said that the baby and only the baby gets to decide how the parents are punished and rewarded.
There were specific articles that said that the baby gets to decide how the co-parents govern themselves and create separate clusters of power with checks and balances. There were specific articles that instructed the parents on the conditions they have to meet to make any changes to the baby, as it grows, and as the parents grow older.

Like any goo-goo eyed parent, I fell in love.  Unconditionally in love. 

"We hope we can count on your support.   Remember, we are not just the mid-wives here," said the mid-wives, "we, too, are the parents.   We have as much stake as you, as anyone of the 3.5 million parents, in the health of this child."

Baby Is Born

Nine months later, in May 1996, the baby was delivered.   The mid-wives congratulated themselves and the co-parents and they told us all to prepare for the miracle of parenthood.   It is our duty now, they lectured quoting the Baby Manual, to "know, respect and defend the Constitution."

1997 came and went, and the baby was clothed in her article, invisible to the parents.

1998, 1999, 2000 came and went and the baby was clothed in her article, still invisible to the parents.   Her guardians said, "It is too dangerous to expose her now; there are crazy people shooting at babies and parents."   You know, said some parents, the baby is so wise it will even tell us how to deal with the crazy people shooting at us.   "Nonsense!" said the guardians, "babies don't know about war.  Leave it all up to us; we are experts in warfare."  

Then came 2001.  With the war now over, some of the parents said, "can we see our baby now?"   "Not yet!" replied the guardians, "the crazy people are still out there."

Some of the parents thought this was not a good answer.  "Listen, guardian!" they replied, "you are just another co-parent.  Just like us.  We don't think you are a good guardian�are you sure you are a co-parent?  Does the baby even exist?"

"It is right here!" said the guardian, "trust us.  All in due time."

But some of the parents persisted.  They went to the bassinet and, to their horror, discovered that the baby was deformed.

"Abuse!" they cried, "The guardian is abusing the baby! Help! Help!"

The guardian arrested the parents. They were caught red-handed conspiring with the crazy neighbors to hand over the baby and her bassinet and kill the guardian.   Their arrest had nothing to do with their whistle-blowing, he said.

"This is wrong!" said the university students, who, being new parents, had, more than any other group of the co-parents, studied and memorized all the baby's articles.

"Agents!" accused the guardian.   There were gullible agents and malicious agents, accused the guardian.   Some were arrested; others shipped to the hottest place on earth.   Do some digging of the earth; it will get your mind off things like miracle babies-concepts too complex for your young minds.

"What does the baby say about arresting people?  Can we see the baby? " asked some of the journalists.

"Conspirators!" accused the guardian.  Then he arrested the journalists, too.  Their arrest had nothing to do with their wish to see the baby.  "Let's not pretend the journalists love the baby more than we do.  After all, it was our idea to have 3.5 million share in the co-parenting duties.  Technically, they are not even jouranalists."

Came then the elderly.  "We don't know anything about this new co-parenting you talk about.  But we do know a few things about parenting and how to mediate conflicts between children.   Can we help you resolve your dispute?" they asked.

"Co-conspirators!" accused the guardian.  Then he arrested the elderly grandparents, too.   Their arrest had nothing to do with their offer to mediate, said the guardian.

"Worrisome signs," said the EU.  And the US.  And Human Rights Watch.  And Amnesty International.  And�.

"Enemies, all." Responded the guardian.

2001 came and went.  Still, the miracle baby was un-sighted. The guardian came out with an empty bassinet and pointing to is said: "she is visible to the believers.  But in December, come election time, she will be visible to all!"  The guardian assured she will be seen in due time.   December came and went; the baby was still invisible.

"We believe!" said the unbelievers.  They swore they saw what wasn't there and condemned those who refused to play along.

2002 came and went.     The miracle baby was still miraculous: it now held the world record for the only ratified constitution in the world which is yet to be implemented.   To the co-parents, it is just another disappointment in a life of empty promises, misery, poverty, hunger and bloodshed.

And the mid-wives?

Well, it turns out that they see their job as purely a technical function.   They delivered the baby.  Whether it is deformed, still-born or killed after their surgical work, well that is not their business.  They are just co-parents, one in 3.5 million, who feel no obligation to be pained.  They will wait.  Maybe for a year, maybe for a decade.   If the same guardian who had the wisdom to choose them to be the midwives is now asking them to wait, who are they to question his all-knowing judgment.   In truth, he knew and they knew that the Guardian was and is the only parent that mattered.

What about the hundreds if not thousands of Eritreans who have been disappeared, arrested without charge for multiples of forty-eight hours?  What about all wonderful articles that clothe the miracle baby?

Not to worry.  It is all a technicality, that is not worth defending.  For what is the meaning of being right if it means you will fail?  It is much more preferable to do wrong and know you are doing wrong if you are siding with a winner.  The mid-wives are of faint heart.

Before we announce the death of the baby, we ask the old midwives. How can you talk of anything else while you buried the only baby we agreed to rear together and you don't want to talk about �the baby? 

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PS: O midwives, in case you've forgotten the sweet voice of the miracle baby you have buried, here's a reminder:

Article 17 - Arrest, Detention and Fair Trial

� 1. No person may be arrested or detained save pursuant to due process of law.

� 2. No person shall be tried or convicted for any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence at the time when it was committed.

� 3. Every person arrested or detained shall be informed of the grounds for his arrest or detention and the rights he has in connection with his arrest or detention in a language he understands.

� 4. Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be brought before the court within forty-eight (48) hours of his arrest, and if this is not reasonably possible, as soon as possible thereafter, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond such period without the authority of the court.

� 5. Every person shall have the right to petition the court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Where the arresting officer fails to bring him before the court of law and provide the reason for their arrest, the court shall accept the petition and order the release of the prisoner.

� 6. Every person charged with an offence shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a court of law; provided, however, that such a court may exclude the press and/or the public from all or any part of the trial for reasons of morals, the public order or national security, as is necessary in a just and democratic society.

� 7. A person charged with an offence shall be presumed to be innocent, and shall not be punished, unless he is found guilty by a court.

� 8. Where an accused is convicted, he shall have the right to appeal. No person shall be liable to be tried again for any criminal offence on which judgement has been rendered.