Africa’s role model, Eritrea, located on the Red Sea marked 30 years of independence today, May 24. When a rag tag band of afro coiffed Eritrean rebels drove captured Ethiopian tanks into the streets of our capital Asmara 30 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’état 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 coup 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 Ethiopia’s 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.
