Africa’s Role Model; Eritrea’s 30 Years of Independence
Africa’s role model, Eritrea, located on the Red Sea will mark 30
years of independence this coming Monday, May 24. When a rag tag band
of afro coiffed Eritrean rebels drove captured Ethiopian tanks into
the streets of our capital Asmara thirty years ago it marked the first
successful armed struggle for national liberation on the continent.
Others had fought but only Eritrea took it all the way, defeating the
occupying colonial army of Ethiopia and winning power “by the barrel
of a gun”.
This Independence Day has seen Eritrea overcome to many obstacles to
name and not only preserved our national sovereignty but build a Pan
Africanist unity here in the Horn of Africa that is threatening the
very basis of neo-colonialism’s continued exploitation of Africa’s
people and resources.
Eritrea, under the leadership of President Issias Aferwerki has
brought about a remarkable transformation in our erstwhile enemy,
Ethiopia, next door. Where once the gangster government of Ethiopia,
the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, were our sworn enemy all the
while brutally repressing the Ethiopian people, today Ethiopia has
destroyed the TPLF and begun to move away from its history of famine
and war towards a self sufficient, independent and peaceful country.
And this was all brought about by almost two decades of behind the
scenes diplomacy and trust building with the new government lead by
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. When in 2018 Issias Aferwerki announced at
our Martyrs Day program that it was “ game over” for the TPLF in
Ethiopia we were all shocked. It had all been done secretly and when
PM Abiy flew into our capital Asmara a short time later he had a lot
of very positive things to say about Eritrea. How he wanted to emulate
Eritrea’s self sufficiency and independence to the point where he said
he would be our “unofficial foreign minister…so he could help fight
the lies being told about Eritrea”.
This wasn’t the end of the TPLF, it wasn’t until November of 2020 that
following a desperate attempt to regain national power via a coup
d’eta and the subsequent final destruction of the TPLF on the field of
battle that the next chapter of Ethiopian freedom and prosperity was
begun.
Of course there are still major problems in Ethiopia, daunting
challenges to those without a firm grasp of what is really going on.
But as PM Abiy said when President Issias first visited Ethiopia on
July 8, 2018, (to paraphrase the Amharic spoken by Abiy Ahmed) “ we
have a lot of problems in Ethiopia to overcome but don’t worry Issias
[Aferwerki] is leading us”.
Straight from the horses mouths so to speak, this statement couldn’t
be denied only ignored, which of course it was. But there was no
ignoring the new, close friendship and solidarity that has been
growing between Ethiopia and Eritrea. PM Abiy credited Eritrea with
playing “a crucial role” in defeating the TPLF coupsters and thanked
us publicly for our support in this speech to the Ethiopian Parliament
days after the final battle that finished off the TPLF army.
Ethiopia is about to hold an election and all signs indicate a
landslide by Abiy Ahmed and his supporters. PM Abiy has promised to
write a new constitution for Ethiopia that will include the
nationalization of all the land in Ethiopia and thus lay the basis to
end the centuries old ethnic based violence over land ownership. If
the government owns all the land how can they fight over what land
belong to what ethnic group. The land will be assigned by the
government to those that will use it and to hell with all the foreign
bloodsuckers that have been ripping off Ethiopias wealth under the
TPLF.
Nationalizing the land, which is what Eritrea did upon winning
independence on the battle field thirty years ago is a major change in
Africa, and when adopted by the rest of the continent after they see
just how important it was to do this by Ethiopia, how it lead the way
in transforming Ethiopia from a backward, war and famine blighted
country to the beginnings of a modern, self sufficient independent
country similar to Eritrea, a major step will have been taken in the
critical move away from western, mainly EU theft of African wealth and
the beginning of a new truly Pan Africanist continent.
Land nationalization is the first step in ending the bloodthirsty grip
of neo-colonialism on our continent and this is what has got the
western imperialist so upset, upset to the point where they have
launched a vicious slander disinformation campaign about what is
really going on in Ethiopia today, especially in the former stronghold
of the TPLF, Tigray.
Expect a lot of lies and slander about the upcoming election in
Ethiopia to try and denigrate PM Abiy’s upcoming landslide. The TPLF
regime were overwhelming hated by all Ethiopians and the destruction
of the TPLF has been cheered by Ethiopians at home and in the
diaspora. The popularity of PM Abiy and his program for change in
Ethiopia will be demonstrated conclusively in this upcoming election
so all the western banksters and their lackeys in the UN and the human
rights mob will be able to do is try and spread disinformation and
slanders in an attempt to taint the legitimacy of the election.
The role model Eritrea has been for the last 30 years has begun to be
noticed in Africa and the new government in Sudan is just one example
of how Eritrea is leading the way in bringing peace to what used to be
known as the Horn of Hunger in Africa.
The end of the TPLF was publicly welcomed by all of the nations
comprising the Horn of Africa, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and
others as well. While the future is still fraught with challenges and
difficulties there is a role model for our neighbors, and eventually
the rest of Africa to follow. Eritrea is Africa’s role model and has
30 years of independence proving it.
Thomas C. Mountain is an educator and historian living and reporting
from Eritrea since 2006. See thomascmountain on Twitter,
thomascmountain on Facebook and he can be reached at thomascmountain
at g mail dot com
Source: Dehai Eritrea Online