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Yassin Osman wrote an article in awate.com on 2 January 2003 under the title of Who is Menhot Woldemariam, only to end his writing without giving readers a concrete message other than monotonously calling my article poisonous. The gist of, or rather, the weakness in his writing was the absolute crave he showed in what he called his genuine quest to find out if Menhot is a real name or a pen name of what he described as a certain Woldeyesos Ammar. The hard-to-hide intention and the contradictory contents of this untidy article betray the number of Yassins that joined hands in finalizing that piece which was posted under Yassins name. This is of course bad reflection on any supposed author, but for the sake of convenience I will quote only Yassin Osman. Yassins reaction to my article of early November 2002 (ELF-RC: Poised for Another Round of Persecution?) came two months after its posting in the websites and long after the issues it raised had started to become part of our rapidly evolving history. Since Yassins writing was difficult for me to follow, I found it easier to select phrases from his paragraphs and try to raise questions and make a few comments, whenever appropriate, and with the sincere aim of clarifying issues for Yassin and hinting to him how others would understand his post. 1. In paragraph 2 of Yassins writing, it is alleged that writers like myself went as far exposing their ugly sectarian side by calling on the ELF-RC to join hands with the EPLF/[DP] against the ENA. I have no way denying Yassin of his claim to be a member of the ELF-RC. However, I can only say that, if a member, he is a very weak link in the ELF-RC political culture and lacks its true members understanding of Eritrean politics. Yassin for sure needs more help from other ELF-RC members (i.e. other than those who helped him finalize and post this article). What is ENA for Yassin? Is it a camp for Moslem Eritrea? Is ENA a sacred body that subjects anyone who criticized or even rejected its mistakes and policies to stand accused of having taken an ugly sectarian side? Do ELF-RC members, other than Yassin, consider the former EPLF members now opposed to the dictatorship as unapproachable enemies? Are they really sectarians, all of them? And are the vast majority of ELF-RC members now opposed to claimed interference in the election of ENA leadership to be called sectarian? And to which religion should they belong to be characterized as sectarian? It is this mentality, Yassin, that I would call poisonous writing and a dangerous interpretation of political viewpoints. 2. Under his paragraph 3, Yassin wrote: [Menhot] goes to accuse the rest of the ENA members as satellite organizations under the control of Ethiopia and Sudan My article, dear Yassin, was partly narrating history and analyzing current affairs; and neighbouring peoples and governments do not deny those facts. Today, those governments in fact regret why such persecutions should ever happen against Eritrean patriots. Similarly, those Eritrean factions which resorted to excesses and illegal acts like a coup detat are not proud of their past deeds. There is no use in hiding ones shameful past. We expose it and then try to forgive and forget, which is the core of reconciliation. As to the accusation of subservience to outside forces, it is not the ELF-RC or my article that alleged it but it was some ENA members themselves that claimed they were pressurized. And all what my article stood against was this claimed interference. It was regrettable that the Addis Ababa meeting did not care about the much-needed consensus in an alliance wanted to stick together for a limited purpose. Yassins wild accusation that my article called upon ELF-RC members to do away with ENA and that [Menhot worked] to create as much confusion and havoc as he possibly [could] may not find the concurrence of many readers of my contributions, including the one under discussion. 3. Yassin Osman may be a member of the ELF-RC, but as his recent writing exposes, he has little respect to that organization, let alone to give allegiance to its programme and policies. For instance, by stating our chairmans unwarranted publication of his correspondence with Yassin M. Abdalla (the ENA 5th Conference Chairman) in the Internet, the writer Yassin already disowns the ELF-RC and its Chairman, Seyoum Ogbamichael. Likewise, to Yassin Osman, ENAs suspension of the ELF-RC from membership is considered as standard organizational procedure and not a brazen mistake that misinterpreted the democratic right of a protest walkout as withdrawal from the ENA itself.
4. Yassin saw exaggeration in my criticism of the new ENA leaderships suspension of ELF-RCs membership in the alliance. As such, Yassin believed this could only attract the questioning of [Menhots] credibility and integrity. Thanks Yassin for the crocodile tears you shed for Menhot and your other target, Woldeyesus Ammar, about whom you tell readers of your high regard to the person and in other paragraphs describe him as a certain Woldeyesos... trying to say that you never knew him. (Or is it the multiplicity of Yassins in the article that has created all the confusion in the loose allegations and incoherence of ideas? Even in spite of the intended spelling mistakes, though, the style of some writers is still identifiable.)
5. Writing about pen names, Yassin thinks that authors go for a pen name for a number of reasons including this: when writers wish readers to discuss issues they write rather than individual authors personalities. He added that Ammar would not be expected to go for the latter reason. That indeed is an insult to Ammar who a few paragraphs earlier was described with (unintended) respect. To sum, Yassins article was a diatribe that did not deserve readers time but I had to throw these paragraphs to make sure to Yassin and his likes that, in spite of their wrong interpretations of the current political developments in the Eritrean arena, they are not disregarded. We must keep educating and correcting each other. Best regards
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P.S.1: Menhot is a real name of this author given him at birth. Also Woldemariam is a real name of the person who fathered this author. What else? (Village of birth, mothers name??) P.S.2: Yassin: Before its posting, this response was shared with Woldeyesus Ammar, who did not disagree with the contents. By the way, Ammar also did not have any problem with my article that you found poisonous. He may come up to you, Yassin, at his own convenience. |
