Thank you, Ken, for this article. As usual, the scholarly community is notably not focused on African Conflicts and Issues, and your writings on African Issues are making a difference. Your observation that the Ethiopian Elites seem almost disinterested in lasting peace is a painful truth.
Odd that the role of the United States isn't mentioned here, nor the fact that Eritrea appears to be re-allying with the TPLF after a 28-year drought just as the US drops sanctions against Eritrea. Of course the TPLF has long enjoyed support from certain sections of the US blob, (see Susan Rice's odious eulogy of Meles). I still would very much like Chris Coons to give an interview to a journalist who understands Horn of Africa politics about his activities in the region!
Malaysian and Singaporean governments have long suppressed ethnic tensions. But the West and local elites calls this authoritarianism. Lucky for us Mahatir and LKW didn’t care about what the West and local elites think.
African-American here: I am sorry to hear that such events are again perculating in Ethiopia. At sixty years old, it is time for me, and others perhaps, to free our minds from the fog of history's myth about Ethiopian exceptinalism... Even this grand dam construction is not enough to unite this once heroic nation for the rest of the 21st century? Have you not shed enough of your peoples blood already? You have foes mounting around you and again, ages-old African tribalism looms?... Maybe the myth of unity is all we will ever know in African? Or maybe we direct our hope toward the Sahel Alliance, and hope some more. Meanwhile the Asian century marches forward.
Wrong on all points. The industrialization that began under tplf and continued until Abiy required unifying Ethiopia and integrating Horn infrastructure, hence the struggle for Medemer. The separatists and Afwerki are 100% responsible for secessionist violence, not the ‘Ethiopian elites’. The Pretoria agreement can only be implemented with the military defeat of the separatists. Quite possibly Afwerki’s shelf life is over. Full unity to establish Medemer and dismantle all military forces not allied with the union, and resistance to all interventionist forces is the path to industrialize and modernize Ethiopia and the Horn. Incessantly we hear ‘why does Africa fail’? Here’s one clear case - separatist armed disruption of political union. And look how all the moaners about failure shirk from the immediate task.
Your question about the positive case for Ethiopian unity stayed with me. As a Liberian, I find myself asking what people must be able to expect from a country that asks for their loyalty: safety, dignity, a future for their children and a meaningful say in how they are governed.
I would add women’s experiences to that test. When leaders choose war, who keeps children fed, cares for displaced relatives and tries to reach a clinic? Those responsibilities belong in the conversation about governance and political legitimacy, alongside women’s authority to shape the peace.
What would change if those carrying the daily costs of these decisions had more power over the decisions themselves?
Thank you, Ken, for your very informative article. Without journalism like yours the rest of the world would have no idea what's happening in this conflict.
Thank you, Ken, for this article. As usual, the scholarly community is notably not focused on African Conflicts and Issues, and your writings on African Issues are making a difference. Your observation that the Ethiopian Elites seem almost disinterested in lasting peace is a painful truth.
Odd that the role of the United States isn't mentioned here, nor the fact that Eritrea appears to be re-allying with the TPLF after a 28-year drought just as the US drops sanctions against Eritrea. Of course the TPLF has long enjoyed support from certain sections of the US blob, (see Susan Rice's odious eulogy of Meles). I still would very much like Chris Coons to give an interview to a journalist who understands Horn of Africa politics about his activities in the region!
Malaysian and Singaporean governments have long suppressed ethnic tensions. But the West and local elites calls this authoritarianism. Lucky for us Mahatir and LKW didn’t care about what the West and local elites think.
African-American here: I am sorry to hear that such events are again perculating in Ethiopia. At sixty years old, it is time for me, and others perhaps, to free our minds from the fog of history's myth about Ethiopian exceptinalism... Even this grand dam construction is not enough to unite this once heroic nation for the rest of the 21st century? Have you not shed enough of your peoples blood already? You have foes mounting around you and again, ages-old African tribalism looms?... Maybe the myth of unity is all we will ever know in African? Or maybe we direct our hope toward the Sahel Alliance, and hope some more. Meanwhile the Asian century marches forward.
Wrong on all points. The industrialization that began under tplf and continued until Abiy required unifying Ethiopia and integrating Horn infrastructure, hence the struggle for Medemer. The separatists and Afwerki are 100% responsible for secessionist violence, not the ‘Ethiopian elites’. The Pretoria agreement can only be implemented with the military defeat of the separatists. Quite possibly Afwerki’s shelf life is over. Full unity to establish Medemer and dismantle all military forces not allied with the union, and resistance to all interventionist forces is the path to industrialize and modernize Ethiopia and the Horn. Incessantly we hear ‘why does Africa fail’? Here’s one clear case - separatist armed disruption of political union. And look how all the moaners about failure shirk from the immediate task.
Your question about the positive case for Ethiopian unity stayed with me. As a Liberian, I find myself asking what people must be able to expect from a country that asks for their loyalty: safety, dignity, a future for their children and a meaningful say in how they are governed.
I would add women’s experiences to that test. When leaders choose war, who keeps children fed, cares for displaced relatives and tries to reach a clinic? Those responsibilities belong in the conversation about governance and political legitimacy, alongside women’s authority to shape the peace.
What would change if those carrying the daily costs of these decisions had more power over the decisions themselves?
Thank you, Ken, for your very informative article. Without journalism like yours the rest of the world would have no idea what's happening in this conflict.