By: Abeba Isahac

Since I had not cared much to read Michela Wrong’s book that carried the title “I did not do it for you” I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt by reading her latest article titled “How horn of Africa brothers fell out”  which she wrote for the BBC.  I was very disappointed to see that there was nothing in her article that had not already repeatedly been said in the past by her BBC colleagues and others, even the pictures that were supposed to accompany or support her article were redundant and old news.  One can detect that her writing was not based on research, but only on hearsay and cut and paste from here and there, which is what most journalists do nowadays anyway, so she is not alone there, but hopefully, by now, Eritreans, and most of the rest of their readers, must have learned to take what they write and say with a grain of salt.

Not so different from many cultures around the world, it is also part of the Eritrean psyche or culture to label or call people or objects by how they act, function or look like, rather than by how they were originally baptized. Eritreans are especially famously known for their ability of analogizing or coining phrases, a trait which escapes foreigners or outsiders like Michela Wrong, who pretend to know everything about us,  when actually they know practically nothing!  What they think they know is usually told to them in street corners, coffee shops or bars, by those who are sometimes too drunk to make any sense, or those who maybe do not care or wish to let them in too deep into everything.  So, since her writings are all based on hearsay, without any research, or first hand experience whatsoever, one can safely say that she, most of the time, does not know what she is talking about.

I am sure that, long before the Italian domination and the building of the Keren road, the concept that the people of Tigrai had twisted minds or twisted hearts, was well established. And when the Keren road came to be as twisted as it was, Eritreans must have found it a befitting example. In other words they could now better illustrate what they meant, having found a tangible symbol to support what they had been saying all along. One only has to go to Keren to find out what twisted really means. But Michela Wrong, always one track minded when it comes to issues regarding both nations, in her ignorance and zeal to pour fuel over the fire, translates it in her own twisted manner, as follows:

“The fact that ordinary Eritreans have gone so far as to baptise a road after a neighbour's perceived perfidy gives some insight into the strength of the emotions that have allowed a minor dispute over a border village to balloon into an issue that threatens to sabotage peace in the Horn of Africa.”

Is Ms Wrong insinuating here that the analogy of the twisted Keren road to “Lib’bi Tigrai, came up only after the 1998-2000 invasion by the woyane?  And does she genuinely believe that the 1998-2000 war was all about a “dispute over a border village?”

And then Ms. Wrong, further demonstrates her ignorance by writing the following:

“Eritreans took pride in their 1890 colonization by the Italians, a contact, they felt, that had left them better educated and more sophisticated than their neighbours to the feudal south”

Here, I believe Michela Wrong is pretending not to have been aware, because covering up and white washing the white man’s atrocities, especially in Africa, has become the business of current white reporters.  Anyway, the facts remains that during the Italian era, education for Eritreans was practically non-existent. Schools were closed to Eritreans, with the assumption and fear that, if education got through to potentially smart people like the Eritreans, governing them would be made difficult. As a matter of fact, to give credit to where it is due here, when it comes to education, it was the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie who, in those times, was encouraging and trying to promote education in Ethiopia, from which many knowledge hungry Eritreans benefited, at that time. There was also nothing to be proud of about colonialism, where indigenous people were considered to be inferior human beings, and were therefore made to go through the indignity of having to go to the back, and to stand behind white people in any public place, such as buses, shopping places and cinemas, to name just a few.  Therefore, Michela wrong, as usual, and as her name aptly indicates, has it again all wrong.

As all western journalists like to remind us Eritreans ad nauseam, and also to inform the rest of the world, alluding that colonialism was not so bad after all, since some nice buildings and roads were constructed and left behind  by the Italians, well, no matter how many roads and buildings the Italians may have claimed to have constructed in Eritrea for their own interest, they were also, at the same time, in the business of trying to break the indestructible  Eritrean spirit.  So what pride and sophistication is Michela Wrong talking about?

Eritreans, by their very nature,  and by way of inheritance from their forefathers, are a very brave and proud people who have full confidence in themselves and in everything that they venture to do. Eritreans also know who they are, where they come from, and where  they want to go, and are equally proud of all those traits, which they would not exchange for anything.  Is this not what is  keeping the USA state department awake all night trying to come up with ways to make us kneel down and surrender to them our  hopes and dreams?  And Michela thinks we inherited those qualities from the colonizers!!!

Another thing is Michela Wrong’s disingenuousness. Instead of telling the simple truth, like the fact that the case of Badme was settled in the courts and that a final and binding verdict was given to which the only intransigents were the woyane, and not the Eritreans, and instead of mentioning the fact that those countries and institutions which had guaranteed and witnessed the Algiers agreement have now turned their backs and abandoned the court’s ruling but are instead supporting the intransigent woyane, she puts both the Eritrean abider, and the lawless woyane in the same category.

“Outsiders who try unblocking the logjam usually depart defeated, exasperated with both players.”

That, Miss Wrong, is wrong! Those outsiders are imposters! They have no business or right to unlawfully  try and undo what the courts have meticulously and legally put together.  Based on the agreement signed and agreed upon by both parties, in the presence of witnesses and guarantors, in Algiers, the final verdict was supposed to be final and binding. Eritrea  agreed to abide by the final verdict and the woyane refused.  So where is the Eritrean intransigence in this case?  And why then are all the western reporters, without exception, lumping both Eritrea and the woyane in the intransigent category, as though Eritrea had also refused to have the borders demarcated, which she has not. Why is the world closing its ears to this simple fact?

"Too much damn testosterone," was the succinct verdict of one American diplomat I met.”

And then there is this old phrase supposedly uttered by an anonymous American diplomat which we read about years ago, but I am not sure who it was that first wrote about it.  Nevertheless, it is nothing new. Why then is Ms.Wrong presenting it as though it were recently said?.  Is this perhaps plagiarism?

Michela Wrong’s article is a classic example of how the west manipulates, twists and turns to bend and make the truth look like a lie, and vice versa. It is this type of behavior, in addition to the Keren Road, which we Eritreans would allude to as a typical example of Lib’bi Tigrai.  No wonder they all get along so well with the woyane leader!

A recent example which the whole wide world might relate to, after having observed the woyane for the past five years, repeatedly violating the Algiers Agreement, and refusing to cooperate with the border demarcation, is some relevant excerpts from the latest formidable statement given by the legal counsel of the woyane explaining why they would not abide by the ruling handed out by the court in 2002, in other words, demarcation of the border between Eritrea and Ethiopian and why they refused again on the 6-7 of September 2007 before the EEBC.

Statement by Ethiopia's Legal Counsel

  “Ethiopia told the Commission that demarcation of the border had been rendered practically impossible by the actions of Eritrea in continuously violating the Temporary Security Zone, severely restricting UNMEE's operations, and persistently engaging in terrorist activities against Ethiopia. Eritrea's actions are in open defiance of a number of Security Council Resolutions, and constitute a fundamental breach of the Algiers Agreements.

In its presentation to the Commission, Eritrea made it clear it would not withdraw these forces, nor lift all restrictions of UNMEE. This failure to comply with its fundamental legal obligations is unacceptable. During the meeting Eritrea did not deny that it was engaged in the threat and use of force against Ethiopia.

In view of this, the Commission said it could not resume demarcation

the Commission abandoned its own demarcation process because Eritrea refused to cooperate with the Commission. The fieldwork was made impossible by Eritrea prohibiting UNMEE helicopter flights and other essential operations and moving its army in force into the TSZ.

Despite Eritrea's actions, Ethiopia remains committed to the peaceful resolution of its disputes with Eritrea, including boundary demarcation pursuant to the Algiers Agreements and international law.

WOW! Can anyone beat that twister?!!  Jandayi Frazer, perhaps?

Of course Eritrea’s, as well as the EEBC’s views and testimonies of what really took place at the Hague on 6-7 September 2007, are quite different and more accurate.

With truth, straightforwardness, honesty and transparency as her creed, Eritrea will ultimately always prevail.