From:  ()
Subject: Ethiopia/colonialism/civil war
Followup-To: soc.culture.african
Organization: Exxon Research and Engineering, New Jersey
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 23:52:33 GMT

Let's all pledge not to make this a medium for personal attacks that turn
off 
a lot of would be contributors to the discussion. I was very interested to
know the historical/cultural background for the practice of female
circumcission
and other interesting topics, but was completely turned off by the
character
attacks and counter attacks that followed. I still think that these medium
could be used for fruitfull discussion of the issues.
 
Today I read something very interesting and very thoughtful, very timely,
indeed, that made me respond to some of the comments made.

> >>I wasn't aware of this division of Ethiopia. I would be 
> >>interested to know more of the history of colonialism in
> >>Ethiopia.
> >>Scott
> >  I was responding to at least 10 messages and was not exactly accurate. You are
> > right, "Ethiopia" was never colonised by any one. Rather Italy expropriated its

INDEED ETHIOPIA WAS COLONIZED BY ITALY BRIEFLY, ABOUT FIVE YEARS.

> > nothern province, Erithrea, and rendered impossible for reunity subsequently.

THE TERM "reunity" IS PLANE NONSENSE CONSIDERING THE HISTORY OF THE
CREATION OF STATES IN AFRICA.

> > The gist really is that Italian colonisation caused the Ethiopian civil war
> > and contributed to the Somali conflict.
> > Makala
> >>
> As an African from Ethiopia I do not think the cause of our civil wars was the 
> Italian Colonialism. Eventhough it is not the sole factor, British colonialism 
> has done more damage & is closer to the source. I would like to remind you the 
> main factor in our destiny is ourselves. We(Africans in general) should watch 
> for the machinations of the colonizers & the venom they have left. What did we
> do the last 30 years?

I think the colonizers are to be blamed, period. Be they black, white,
Italians,
British,... is a secondary issue. The Italians colonized Eritrea and did a 
terrible damage to the people. BUT let's not forget that the
Ethiopians--they are blacks, just as Eritreans, and they share a lot of
common historical/cultural ties--did a far warse damage to Eritrea. Of
course, the root cause of it might be traced to the Italians or the British
or the Egyptians or the Turks...

There is actually an Eritrean song that loosely translates to something
like:
			"Oh brother! don't be fooled
			the venom of a white snake is deadly
			the venom of a black snake is equally as deadly!"
(a very very loose translation, it doesn't even rhyme and I don't know who
the author of it is but it is one of those "public" songs.)

But then:

> Yes we may not be responsible for getting down to where we are,but remember We 
> are the only ones responsble for getting UP!

Well put! I cannot say it any better than that!

The damage caused as the result of the 30-year war between Ethiopia and
Eritrea is appaling! with more than a million dead! This figure doesn't
even include all the people who died/are dying of starvation that has some
of its roots connected to the war.

> The Egyptians were already in the Northern most of Ethiopia
> (todays Eritrea,then Medri-Bahri) and along the Red sea Cost.

I disagree completely with your assertion that todays Eritrea was the then
Ethiopia's province. Sure, parts of Eritrea were an integral part of the
then Ethiopian empire and the empire extended over parts of todays Eritrea
and todays Ethiopia. But, while the European colonizers were actively
"shopping" for colonies, so was the empire of Ethiopia. That is actually
the way the Emperor (Menelik) moved further south--to parts of todays
Ethiopia that was never part of his empire. Call it by any other name, but
it still is the same old colonialism. In this case blacks colonizing
blacks!! Please, don't tell me that blacks did not have the power to
colonize. This southern part is now an integral part of Ethiopia because of
the OAU's charter that states that nations are formed by the boundries
created by colonizers. In the case of present day Ethiopia, for example,
between the Ethiopian emperor and the European colonialists that were
surrounding Ethiopia. Similarly, Eritrea was a colonial creation between
the Italians that were in Eritrea and the other powers that were
surrounding it--including Ethiopia. Indeed, present-day Ethiopia and
Eritrea were "created" at the same time. Although some now say that
Ethiopia was forced to sign the treaty with the Italians in the border
agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it was the same Ethiopia that
advanced south to create "greater Ethiopia." You have also agreed that:

> Ethiopia survived the scarmble. With the rcognition of Ethiopia as a
> Sovergin state the Europeans rushed to sign border agreements with
> Ethiopia for their colonies. An artificial border was drawn to divide
> the people of Somali.

(Almost?) all national borders in Africa are "artificial" the result of
foreign intervention, be it black or white.

> During the war with Italy the British were dropping leaflets to the Eritrean
> people promosing them to join their 'mother Ethiopia' if they rebelled then.

I would like to see references to this effect. But, the same British were
dropping leaflets in Eritrea promising INDEPENDENCE ones the Italians are
out of the region!

> This made a lot of Eritreans in the Italian army to desert and join the
> patrioits. But once the war is won the British did their third treachory!

It was the promise for independence that drove the Eritreans to fight
alongside the Ethiopians. BTW, there is also a claim that they also faught
alongside Ethiopia in Adwa.


> They also broke the promise &Eritrea remained under their rule.
> There they did a lot of politicizing work to join Tigray& Eritrea into one
> single kingdom.

      FYI, there was also a British proposal to divide Eritrea between
Ethiopia and the Sudan. But the Eritreans refused. They argument: one
people, one country. During their stay in Eritrea, the British sold factory
equipment and rail system to Yemen, essentially destroying whatever little
the Italians created to facilitate their colonization. The rest were taken
to Ethiopia, by Haile Sellassie during the federation (see below).
      I agree that the Italian colonization contributed to the formation of
an Eritrean nation, a nation in its present form. But at the end of WWII
Eritrea should have been free--it would have saved us (Eritreans and
Ethiopians) a lot of resources and precious blood. It was the global
geopolitics of the time that made Eritrea a "pawn in international
politics." During the declaration of the Ethio-Eritrean federation, the
then U.S. secretary of state (Dulles) said....as a matter of justise
Eritrea should have been free, but...for our interest in the area...it
should be tied to our ally, Ethiopia.
(Not verbatim, but I'd be more than happy to supply the reference and the
complete quote.)
      This idea cost Ethiopia dearly!! As Travaskis put it at the time:
Ethiopia is given a big responsibility...and the Eritreans are not
satisfied with the federal arrangement...and the Eritreans...will go back
to their demand for complete independence...if Ethiopia doesn't handle it
properly...will break up Ethiopia itself. [this was said more than forty
years ago] (Again, not verbatim, but I'd be more than happy to supply the
reference and the complete quote.)
      It seems that the leaders of Ethiopia are coming to their senses in
that they accepted the Eritreans offer of a national referendum--to be held
in about six months. What better way is there than to let the people vote,
decide what they really want: to be with Ethiopia OR to be Independent! To
ensure the fairness of the referendum the Eritrean government has invited a
lot of governments and organizations (including the UN and OAU). Hope all
will show up to witness this historic moment in Africa! No question that it
will be just and fair! I sincerely hope the outcome of the referendum will
be accepted worldwide without any conditions. And *nobody* should doubt the
resolution of the Eritrean people, ones they vote they will be ready to
die, even in millions, to uphold the outcome of the reference. After all,
they paid a very high price to achieve at this stage of the struggle. More
than 100-years of struggle against a lot of different powers has made them
immune to submission by force.
       One thing that looks very promising is that the Ethiopian and
Eritrean people are creating an atmosphere of trust among themselves. This
will greatly facilitate the development of that forgotten corner of the
world and essentially render the outcome of the referendum and all the past
enmity between the two people irrelevant. I hope this cooperation will
"spill over" to Somalia, the Sudan and all the countries of the
region....for a real and meaningful peace!
        I am an Eritrean but I presented the issues as objectively as I
could.

__________
Neeless to say that all the above comments I made are mine. I do not
represent any group or party and I am solely responsible for the comments.
__________



 
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