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It had been said that a leopard does not change its spots. And so the impoverished country of Ethiopia, and would-be regional power, is showing its true colors in terms of attempts to exploit in the worse possible way of Somalia's ongoing political problems. It is an open secret that this country (Ethiopia) has been meddling in the internal affairs of Somalia—its neighbor to the east—long before it's widely publicized invasion of the country in December, 2006. As it turns out this was far from being the whole story. Ethiopia’s military intervention proved to be much more expansive and beyond a mere support for the TFG. Their continued presence on Somali soil and expansion into relatively peaceful areas threatens Somalia's national unity and territorial integrity to the core. Furthermore, Ethiopia has all but made public its plans to dismember Somalia. Despite many denials, there is emerging evidence pointing to Ethiopia having made decision to "recognize" “Somaliland”, the secessionist enclave of Northwestern Somalia as an independent nation. This is a hostile act aimed at stabbing the Somali nation at the back at its hour of susceptibility. Judged from his nefarious activities vis-à-vis the secessionists-held enclave in the Northwest, Meles Zenawi must be convinced, these days, that the price of aggression against the Somali nation is rather cheap! One does not have to look any further than Zenawi's Hilltop Palace's decision to appoint Ato Wubeshet Demmisie, an ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary, to that rebel occupied Somali territory as a head of large diplomatic mission in Hargeisa. The recent interview that Ambassador Demmisie gave to Somaliland Times in which he commented about the secessionists' naked aggression against Sool region as an internal affair of "Somaliland" highlights the duality of the Ethiopian policy towards Somalia as the Ambassador has indicated in the interview and said that “Somaliland will not ask for permission from Ethiopia to engage Las Anod (Sool’s regional capital) because it has the right to engage and capture its territorial borders”. The decision by Zenawi's regime to cozy up to the Hargeisa rebels has apparently been in the works for sometime. According to knowledgeable sources, among them the freelance Ethiopian journalist Tamarat Nega, the decision was recommended by a committee of Somali specialists that Zenawi personally commissioned for this task. Their recommendation, which Zenawi is said to have accepted in its totality, posits that Ethiopia recognize "Somaliland" as the linchpin of what they called two-state solution for Somalia. The committee offered this recommendation as panacea for Ethiopia’s historical inherent vulnerability as a landlocked country as well as the potential future threat of a strong united Somalia. The proposed solution submitted to Zenawi by the so called “Committee of Somali Specialists” was a reward to “Somaliland” politicians' willingness to slavishly carry water for Ethiopia in any number of strategic issues of importance to Ethiopia. For example, politicians have agreed to round-up and hand-over to Ethiopian security personnel, Somalis from the Somali region of Ethiopia that come into their territory. It would then be up to the Ethiopian security personnel to determine the detainees' guilt or innocence. If they are young to middle-aged, male and from the Ogaden tribe, they are automatically suspected of being Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) members or sympathizers. And so more often than not tortured and imprisoned, or worse, killed. This is in addition to the well known fact that weapons and torture equipment used by the Ethiopian regime against fellow Somalis in Ethiopia’s Somali region and within Somalia particularly in the nation’s capital, Mogadishu, are unloaded from Somaliland main port of Berbera and shipped by land to Ethiopia. Having two full-fledged embassies, one in Mogadishu and the other in Hargeisa, Ethiopia has already embarked on the heinous course of virtually dividing Somalia into two. Having lost the Assab port to Eritrea and having soured relations with Djibouti ever since the management of that vital port was taken over by Dubai Ports, as a landlocked impoverished country with rapidly burgeoning population, Ethiopia has been seeking a secure conduit to the warm waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Taking advantage of the prevailing grim political situation and fragmentation in Somalia, Meles and his cronies see the easy way to achieve Ethiopia’s strategic national interest is to divide and subjugate the Somali nation. While the machinations of Machiavellian Meles Zenawi would only multiply the list of Ethiopia’s budding woos, it will certainly prompt Somalis to join forces and regenerate their battered nationhood. Osman Meygaag ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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