Something That Does Not Click
If the government in office does not find a solution for the port problem that is besieging the nation, it will be recorded among one of their significant failures that should cost them dearly. The recent amount mentioned through the media, $700 million (birr??) could lease a port facility for at least one hundred years from any of the neighboring countries that have access to sea or ocean if the renowned TPLF diplomats and negotiators were hitting the pavement a little bit more. Because it makes economic sense. The idea is to lease an outlet to the Red Sea or Indian Ocean from the available sources. Eritrea and Djibouti can be approached to accommodate such a facility where Ethiopia will pay money for building road or railway and for its maintenance. It might include an air landing facility that might be built in anyone of these regions that would be willing to do business with our country. It is also possible to look at Somalia that will be glad to go into such a lease arrangement as long it gets between $700 million and one billion dollars as a lump sum payment to furnish at least a one hundred years lease. It does not have to be a big chunk of land where what is needed is to build a simple port facility.
There had never been any kind of reporting made on such effort made by the Ethiopians where the government had tried to come up with an alternative that is better than forking out the aforementioned amount to the Djiboutians who have a rich European country as their a caretaker. Why not lease Assab from Eritrea or build a new port from the ground up. Everyone agrees letting Eritrea go is a wise decision considering that they wanted their independence badly, and to keep them under Ethiopian sovereignty by a military means would have been too expensive. At least, when the government arrived at this kind of arrangement it could have asked some kind of concession or condition about a port, but it did not happen.
The outcome as we know it now is the people in office have created insurmountable animosity with the Eretreans to the point where they might not see eye-to-eye even if these two groups TPLF and EPLF had wedged their struggle together. It is not even possible to suspect that there might be a hidden agenda when we look at the kind hemorrhaging that is taking place in both countries. The reality is they cannot afford to have this kind of a relation with a neighbor that is in a position to provide the nation with a sea outlet. This alone is enough reason to disqualify them, because if one government encounters a deadened with a crucial neighbor, another government that can make this neighbor a partner should replace it. But since the country is not democratic and worse since the two leaders are said to be blood relatives, with their cronies on their side are picking bones that is alien for the rest of Ethiopia and it is causing considerable harm.
Fortunately, Ethiopia just happened to be a bigger country and is managing to fork out such astronomical sum by the standard of any third world country and it is going into the pocket of a nation that does not need it, because the French are there to supply the tiny nation with whatever it needs. But when looking at Eritrea and Somalia it is not difficult to turn a blind eye on the hardship the people are grappling with. If push comes to shove and if we have good negotiators who do not leave their bed always on the wrong side, there is no reason why we cannot include Kenya too that has access to the Indian Ocean. There is a road that goes straight into Kenya that is in use and all it requires might be some upgrading. This kind of failure would really make the government in office look bad because it does seem that they have difficulty to come up with new solutions. To make-up for their failure, the only thing they are good at as it is witnessed is creating a construction boom that would undoubtedly create low paying jobs and some economic activity. It would certainly beautify the cities and might provide housing for people, although it does not serve any other crucial purpose, because the nation has defaulted on its being a tourist attraction simply because of lack of new introductions and the erosion of values that used to be held as treasures for attracting tourists. Tourists are talking about what would they eat when they go to Ethiopia. Tourists for example do not necessarily want in a real sense to encounter a standard that is too much lower than they are used too, because of dire outcomes such as health or safety problems. That is why nations that are striving to provide an acceptable standard end up attracting tourists by the drove. That does not only mean building five star hotels although that is also important. It seems that there is a lot of money to be earned from backpackers who do not have too much money but they have big numbers if they like what they see. The traditional rich tourists have no business to go to a place like Ethiopia since there are many attractive places to go to around the world and some of them are worth killing for.
To come back to the main point, it should not sound like a wishful thinking because there is no reason why such animosity should be prevalent between Ethiopia and Eritrea for example, after both have got what they want where one of them want its independence desperately, while the other had no choice other than taking a respite. Once they attained what they want things should have continued normally and these two nations have to work together as neighbors because they need each other. If there is anyone that should be concerned with this kind of sorry affair it is the other ethnic groups, because the rest of the country should not pay for the animosity the Tigreians and Eretreans have created. If it had been Eritrea and the rest of Ethiopia it would have been something, but it is not, and it is written all over the wall. As an ethnic group that is in charge of the nation’s governmental affairs the Tigereans in essence are not entitled to create any kind of animosity with anyone. Their job is to put aside their own personal feelings and work to solve differences that come into existence. This kind of ethical failure is an abundant ammunition for the opposition when they start campaigning. Because there is a failure that cannot be concealed. The government in office had failed to live with its neighbors and that is costing the nation a lot of money, in fact more than it should incur as everyone was talking about several hundred thousand dollars of expense a few years back.
What will solve the problem is there should be some effort from the part of the government to try all the possibilities mentioned. It is possible to lease a port from the most unstable region such as Somalia and try to transport goods on roads, rails, or using air cargo that would not be so expensive. It is possible to strike a similar deal with Kenya too because they are not our enemies and as long as the Ethiopians handle the negotiation in good faith, there is no reason why the effort would not have a pay off. The same applies to the Sudan that has enough access to the Red sea. If building road or rail is expensive or unsafe, airfreight might be the alternative. As usual, it is the experts in that field that could crunch the numbers, but the job of the politicians and the diplomats is to create the environment where such arrangement should bear fruit.
If that is not the case, the only purpose the TPLF served would be keeping the nation glued together, as the rest of their effort seems to be not significant because it lacks good omens the nation used to enjoy, and we cannot deny the hardship that is still in existence in the nation.
A quick conclusion is when you look at the Imperial regime, one of the abilities of Hailesassie was he was a topnotch diplomat who was able to make the wold powers and rich nations do so many thing for the country that catapulted it from a backward nation to where it was in a few decades. Mengistu was also able to buy friends in the communist regime when the West gave him its back and that was a huge accomplishment even if the whole communist undertaking had to bite the dust and everything they stood for only makes sense for Marxists. However, when we look at TPLF there is not anything out of the ordinary that they have accomplished. What is keeping the nation going is the need the nation has that is recognized by well-to-do nations that were willing to put her in the list of their alms receivers. Nevertheless, if there is one credit that might go to them is they might have put to good use the alms that was finding its way from around the world into the nation. Yet, there are rumors even the alms that was getting itself into the nation had been abused to an extent, and if that is true it would continue to make the government look bad. The best way out from such a gridlock is to start negotiating with all our neighbors and one special capability the next consecutive governments should have is they have to be good in wheeling and dealing, and not build barriers with others and simmer in animosity.
There had never been any kind of reporting made on such effort made by the Ethiopians where the government had tried to come up with an alternative that is better than forking out the aforementioned amount to the Djiboutians who have a rich European country as their a caretaker. Why not lease Assab from Eritrea or build a new port from the ground up. Everyone agrees letting Eritrea go is a wise decision considering that they wanted their independence badly, and to keep them under Ethiopian sovereignty by a military means would have been too expensive. At least, when the government arrived at this kind of arrangement it could have asked some kind of concession or condition about a port, but it did not happen.
The outcome as we know it now is the people in office have created insurmountable animosity with the Eretreans to the point where they might not see eye-to-eye even if these two groups TPLF and EPLF had wedged their struggle together. It is not even possible to suspect that there might be a hidden agenda when we look at the kind hemorrhaging that is taking place in both countries. The reality is they cannot afford to have this kind of a relation with a neighbor that is in a position to provide the nation with a sea outlet. This alone is enough reason to disqualify them, because if one government encounters a deadened with a crucial neighbor, another government that can make this neighbor a partner should replace it. But since the country is not democratic and worse since the two leaders are said to be blood relatives, with their cronies on their side are picking bones that is alien for the rest of Ethiopia and it is causing considerable harm.
Fortunately, Ethiopia just happened to be a bigger country and is managing to fork out such astronomical sum by the standard of any third world country and it is going into the pocket of a nation that does not need it, because the French are there to supply the tiny nation with whatever it needs. But when looking at Eritrea and Somalia it is not difficult to turn a blind eye on the hardship the people are grappling with. If push comes to shove and if we have good negotiators who do not leave their bed always on the wrong side, there is no reason why we cannot include Kenya too that has access to the Indian Ocean. There is a road that goes straight into Kenya that is in use and all it requires might be some upgrading. This kind of failure would really make the government in office look bad because it does seem that they have difficulty to come up with new solutions. To make-up for their failure, the only thing they are good at as it is witnessed is creating a construction boom that would undoubtedly create low paying jobs and some economic activity. It would certainly beautify the cities and might provide housing for people, although it does not serve any other crucial purpose, because the nation has defaulted on its being a tourist attraction simply because of lack of new introductions and the erosion of values that used to be held as treasures for attracting tourists. Tourists are talking about what would they eat when they go to Ethiopia. Tourists for example do not necessarily want in a real sense to encounter a standard that is too much lower than they are used too, because of dire outcomes such as health or safety problems. That is why nations that are striving to provide an acceptable standard end up attracting tourists by the drove. That does not only mean building five star hotels although that is also important. It seems that there is a lot of money to be earned from backpackers who do not have too much money but they have big numbers if they like what they see. The traditional rich tourists have no business to go to a place like Ethiopia since there are many attractive places to go to around the world and some of them are worth killing for.
To come back to the main point, it should not sound like a wishful thinking because there is no reason why such animosity should be prevalent between Ethiopia and Eritrea for example, after both have got what they want where one of them want its independence desperately, while the other had no choice other than taking a respite. Once they attained what they want things should have continued normally and these two nations have to work together as neighbors because they need each other. If there is anyone that should be concerned with this kind of sorry affair it is the other ethnic groups, because the rest of the country should not pay for the animosity the Tigreians and Eretreans have created. If it had been Eritrea and the rest of Ethiopia it would have been something, but it is not, and it is written all over the wall. As an ethnic group that is in charge of the nation’s governmental affairs the Tigereans in essence are not entitled to create any kind of animosity with anyone. Their job is to put aside their own personal feelings and work to solve differences that come into existence. This kind of ethical failure is an abundant ammunition for the opposition when they start campaigning. Because there is a failure that cannot be concealed. The government in office had failed to live with its neighbors and that is costing the nation a lot of money, in fact more than it should incur as everyone was talking about several hundred thousand dollars of expense a few years back.
What will solve the problem is there should be some effort from the part of the government to try all the possibilities mentioned. It is possible to lease a port from the most unstable region such as Somalia and try to transport goods on roads, rails, or using air cargo that would not be so expensive. It is possible to strike a similar deal with Kenya too because they are not our enemies and as long as the Ethiopians handle the negotiation in good faith, there is no reason why the effort would not have a pay off. The same applies to the Sudan that has enough access to the Red sea. If building road or rail is expensive or unsafe, airfreight might be the alternative. As usual, it is the experts in that field that could crunch the numbers, but the job of the politicians and the diplomats is to create the environment where such arrangement should bear fruit.
If that is not the case, the only purpose the TPLF served would be keeping the nation glued together, as the rest of their effort seems to be not significant because it lacks good omens the nation used to enjoy, and we cannot deny the hardship that is still in existence in the nation.
A quick conclusion is when you look at the Imperial regime, one of the abilities of Hailesassie was he was a topnotch diplomat who was able to make the wold powers and rich nations do so many thing for the country that catapulted it from a backward nation to where it was in a few decades. Mengistu was also able to buy friends in the communist regime when the West gave him its back and that was a huge accomplishment even if the whole communist undertaking had to bite the dust and everything they stood for only makes sense for Marxists. However, when we look at TPLF there is not anything out of the ordinary that they have accomplished. What is keeping the nation going is the need the nation has that is recognized by well-to-do nations that were willing to put her in the list of their alms receivers. Nevertheless, if there is one credit that might go to them is they might have put to good use the alms that was finding its way from around the world into the nation. Yet, there are rumors even the alms that was getting itself into the nation had been abused to an extent, and if that is true it would continue to make the government look bad. The best way out from such a gridlock is to start negotiating with all our neighbors and one special capability the next consecutive governments should have is they have to be good in wheeling and dealing, and not build barriers with others and simmer in animosity.
posted by Ethio-Probe @ 8:05 AM
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