Shabait.com (Asmara)
6 February 2008
editorial
Asmara — The people of the Horn of Africa are going through a dangerous and trying, but at the same time enlightening, stage. The various conflicts and tragic losses of life in the region today is the direct outcome of the strategy of certain powers that seek to secure global dominance at the expense of the rights and precious opportunities of peoples through perfecting the art of crisis management by instigating conflicts where there was none.
In May 2005, in Ethiopia, when a regime rejected by the people sought to cling to power by suppressing the people's choice, the international community-particularly the US Administration-never voiced a single protest against the gross violation of the Ethiopian people's right. On the contrary, the US supported the regime's actions and Ethiopia was plunged into a never-seen-before political chaos that claimed the lives of many innocent civilians. It would be too optimistic to believe that a nation which witnessed such gross crimes against the people could ever regain stability. Hence, Ethiopia is at present like a volcano waiting to erupt at any given moment.
The Ethiopian people's suffering did not seem to be enough for the minority clique which again set out to obstruct the Somali people's own initiative towards peace and reconstitution after 15 years of mayhem. As everyone recalls, once again the US Administration gave the regime the green light to violate Somali sovereignty, ensuing it to further chaos and turmoil. As a result, last year has witnessed Somalia being besieged in a violent humanitarian crisis, the gravity of which ha stunned the world.
The current political crisis and turmoil in Kenya is also the outcome of external interference. The most disturbing matter is whether the violence and destruction that followed the ethnical and externally-enforced election might have opened up wounds that may not heal easily. The crisis, handled poorly from the start, has now been further complicated as a result of the 'counsel' given by the US Administration in order to prevent it from escalating into a full-blown 'ethnic cleansing or genocide.'
The Darfur problem in the Sudan is also another clear evidence of the US Administration's strategy of instigating conflict among peoples and then professing fine crisis management skills. Washington's game of fire in this case has not only ensued in the death of multitudes of innocent people but also gave rise to a civil war in Chad and has become a cause for tension between the two nations.
It is no secret that the US Administration, bent on securing dominance through conflict, is now working to reinforce its military presence in Djibouti towards Somaliland so as to instigate chaos from a closer point.
Whenever their strategies of setting off conflict succeeds to the point where Africans begin hacking away at each other, these powers then immediately call for planes or helicopters that would fly their citizens, along with their animal pets, off from the areas of conflict. Consequently, as observed in the experience of the Eritrean-Ethiopian dispute, the Rwandan case and now the problem in Chad, it has been highlighted that the apparent fact is that these powers could not care less about the death of Africans.
In recruiting the AU to do their bidding and closely managing its activities, these powers obstructed the option Africans have in coming together to resolve the problems that are erupting everywhere in the continent as a result of external interference.
This being the worst aspect of the current circumstances in Africa, on a brighter side, the people of this continent as well as others in different parts of the world are becoming increasingly alert of the conspiracies against them. Hence, the powers that seek to manipulate the riches of our globe through conflicts should realize that they will not gain anything from their strategy of crisis management, but on the contrary are at risk to lose everything as the people's awareness of strategy and tactics increases. Interests can only be secured through partnership and integrity, and not through conspiracy and the use of force.
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