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In Solidarity With the Forces of Good
By: Yonas Araya

First Published on Asmarino.com on April 8, 2002
On May 29, 2000, I posted my last message on Dehai.org in which I called on Issayas to make an honorable exit from Office by transferring power to someone he trusted, but that if he failed to do so, the nation would face unprecedented danger. In my last posting, I also promised the readers that I would post my views, which I believed then Eritreans weren’t ready for, which I thought then would fall into the cracks or I felt then would be counterproductive when their time arrived. So many events have unfolded since then, and many Eritreans have also expressed their views on each one. Nonetheless, I have now decided to prepare a series of articles and essays packaged into 24 parts, where I will express my views, in my own words, on the many aspects that Eritrea has so far witnessed and on events that I believe the nation will face in the future. In some parts of the package, I will put forth my proposal to the post-Issayas governments, but in many of them, I will simply make my views known.

Since I will post the 24 parts of the package in several weeks and not in one day, it has proved impossible for me to release them in a way that adheres to historical, chronological, or topical order. Therefore I will post them in the order I believe will accommodate the interests of diverse readers.

I will post the 24 parts under the title “In Solidarity With the Forces of Good.” Each part will be identified as part 1 of 24, part 2 of 24 … part 24 of 24. Each part might comprise two to 10 pages. I will prepare each part in two to six days, depending on my circumstances.

I also would like to make it known to all readers beforehand that I do not belong to any political organization. I consider myself independent, and my views are based on my own independent thinking and research.

Below, I will give the readers a glimpse of what each part will contain:

Parts 1 through 6 will discuss mainly the Badme War, its origins, its consequences, whether or not the War was needed at all, and whether there was a way to stop it before or immediately after it broke out.

Part 1 of 24 will discuss the causes of the War.
Part 2 of 24 will go over the causes of the War as presented by the GOE and its cadres and look into each one of them as to whether or not they could’ve been the real causes and whether those reasons alone could justify War and the loss of Eritrean lives.
Part 3 of 24 will discuss the steps that Issayas should have gone through to resolve the border issue before and after the War broke out and whether Issayas as a leader had an opportunity to lay the ground for a win-win exit from the War.
Part 4 of 24 will discuss why Eritreans bought into the war effort and whether or not Eritrean scholars and the US could’ve helped stop the War and minimize the war casualties. Also will discuss why the Ethiopian and Eritrean peoples have been the real victims of the War.
Part 5 of 24 will discuss hypothetical scenarios of whether the ethnic and religious backgrounds of both Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders aggravated the conflict and what Eritreans need to do to prevent the recurrence of the same episode in the future.
Part 6 of 24 will explain the real war casualties, the death toll of Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers, and why such a heavy human casualty happened in a two-year war.

Parts 7 and 8 will discuss why the PFDJ usurped the lands of the Eritrean villages, the short-term benefits for the PFDJ, and the long-term consequences for the nation. Also will discuss the use-and-dispose-of-habit of the EPLF/PFDJ.
Part 9 of 24 will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly nature of Eritreans in Eritrea and abroad and whether Eritreans are better off under PFDJ than they had been for hundreds of years.
Part 10 of 24 will also commemorate the Mi Habar heroes and why Eritreans have turned their backs on these heroes.
Parts 11 through 13 of 24 discuss whether Tigrigna and Arabic will complement or destroy each other in Eritrea. Will also discuss the pros and cons of declaring national or official languages.
Part 14 of 24 will discuss whether the formation of the EPLF by Issayas benefitted Eritrean Christians and the nation or whether the negative results have outweighed the positive of such a splinter group. Also, will discuss PFDJ’s prisons and prison camps. Will also discuss the habit of using and disposing of Eritreans by the EPLF/PFDJ
Part 15 of 24 will discuss the habit of using and disposing of Eritreans by the EPLF/PFDJ and the systematic obliteration of Eritrean religions and culture by the PFDJ.
Part 16 of 24 will discuss whether the PFDJ will be committed to an actual political plurality and whether it will ever conduct a true and fair election. Also will discuss how the PFDJ has been committed to excluding its real and imagined opponents from the outset, right since it set its feet in Asmara.
Part 17 of 24 will discuss why the PFDJ has never been and will never be committed to the freedom of the press and whether or not the PFDJ is a closet communist.
Part 18 of 24 will discuss why Issayas chose to take the Presidency hostage and why he has refused to name his successor, also whether or not Issayas could have been made the George Washington of Eritrea, and whether 200 years from now, he could have been remembered by Eritrean children in the same way as George Washington is by the US children in the USA now.
Part 19 of 24 will show how Eritrea and Ethiopia can coexist in the future and how Eritrea could resolve Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea permanently. For this, I will let the readers keep guessing what I mean by permanently.
Part 20 of 24 will discuss what was behind PFDJ’s decision to alter the regional map of Eritrea and how it succeeded without meeting stiff resistance from Eritreans, despite their disapproval of the measure.
Part 21 of 24 will discuss how the PFDJ is banking on its name, “Shaebia” or “Hesbawi Ginbar,” and why it chose to keep those names. Will discuss why the PFDJ imposed its own flag on Eritrea and the need to restore the Eritrean flag and change the current choice of an emblem of the PFDJ. Will also discuss why a true-multi party system is a must-have for Eritrea. Also, the need for all political parties to drop their old names and the need to prohibit parties from including terms that connote violence or militancy, etc., in their names.
Part 22 of 24 will comment on Eritrea’s foreign policy and on whether or not Eritrea should become a member of the Arab League and under what circumstances.
Part 23 of 24 Conclusion will also discuss the future of the PFDJ and its leader and whether the PFDJ has an ace in the hole, which could be the ultimate weapon to its survival. Also will discuss the need for religion in Eritreans’ lives and why all Eritreans collectively should shoulder the responsibility for what their country is in now, also points out why all Eritreans need to forgive one another and why peace is around the corner for Eritrea and Eritreans.
Part 24 of 24 will discuss whether the local legends (for those who believe in myths), passed down from generation to generation in Eritrea, have any relevance to the present and future of Eritrea.

I thank everyone in advance.
April 8, 2002