Introduction: Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea, is a man who is driven by paranoid nationalism. His war mentality has made it impossible to have the Eritrean harbors of the Red Sea flourish. Is the Ethiopian regime really on the point of starting a war with Eritrea for access to these harbors? And has the Eritrean opposition made up of veterans failed? Here the essay by veteran oppositionist Dawit Mesfin
We Eritreans paid a heavy price to secure possession of the coast along the Red Sea. Simply stated, we fought and died for it. But the end result turned out to be a disaster. The Red Sea is rendered useless for it fell in the hands of a man who is driven by paranoid nationalism.
We thought, rather naively, the sea was going to be our ticket to a bright and shining future. Yes, we thought it was going to wash our troubles away by opening lucrative opportunities, attract businesses from the region to boost our way of life. Now those dreams are simply done with, to put it lightly. And I can say, based on the little return of our costly ports we have all witnessed, I have grounds to argue that the Red Sea is dead as far as Eritrea is concerned.
Why was such huge effort expended for so little gain? Speaking truth to power, it is to do with the regime’s lack of adequate business acumen, and a Weltanschauung that is unremittingly negative.
First things first, this is an Eritrea-centric account not only because I have been watching Eritrea for my adult life, but I have also been affected by the regime’s missteps. My priorities are not to provide commentary, albeit related, on the chaos in Ethiopia or in-fighting within Tigray, but the defenestration of the autocratic regime in Asmara.
Everything in life, including politics, is based on negotiations. Everything is a little bit of give and take. The Eritrean regime, which believes in ‘bang-bang’ exchanges, does not possess an iota of such wisdom. Is it true ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’ as Mao Tse Tung said it a long time ago? What happens if you are weak, frail and without firepower, like Eritrea? Mao doesn’t have an answer to that, does he?
Moreover, due to President Isaias Afwerki’s tunnel vision and his repeated withdrawals into his burrow – the past’s mind-set – one can say he failed to liberate himself from the ghosts of the armed struggle. As Dr Selam Kidane would say, he is stuck in the past and continues to suffer from cognitive rigidity. I would complement that with a fact that he has constructed his life, as he strung us along, around a siege mentality from which he is not capable of escaping.
To start with, allow me to describe the circumstance under which this article was written.
I have been hearing a lot of claims and counter-claims that Ethiopia is allegedly intending to attack Eritrea in order to repossess the Red Sea. With no tangible evidence of such plan, the alleged assertion has whipped government supporters, and some fence sitters, into a frenzy of rage.
Of course, the likes of General Tsadqan Gebretensae, an individual who has no clout to change the course of the region, continues to release a lot of hot air concerning regional stability. As far as I know he is a has-been ex-official within the TPLF and works as an agent provocateur for the Federal government of Ethiopia. However, I admit he has the gift of the gab. I give him credit for knowing how to push Isaias’ buttons. I can say Tsadqan is desperately seeking attention to be regarded as a legitimate influencer in our region.
Look at what has happened in Eritrea of late though. One reckless and provocative word from Tsadqan has prompted Isaias to call up Eritreans under 60 years of age to be ready to defend Eritrea. Isaias wastes no time to step forward to milk the situation to his advantage – to portray himself as if he were the ‘Defender of the Faith’. He would leave no stone unturned to remain relevant.
Putting Tsadqan aside, allow me to add a peripheral point here – two conjoined assertions; a) I acknowledge the fact that we Eritreans are easily thrown into frenzied state of mind when it comes to nationalism; b) I take into account how the president exploits that head-rush to his advantage – by going around making up stories that suit his falsehoods, knowing full well he is not going to be challenged. Now, I can say it suffices to marry up the two assertions to understand where such an allegation (that Ethiopia is poised to strike) fits in. To provide further clarification to my claim, Eritreans are so exhausted of their deprived livelihood some have simply ended up becoming susceptible to government manipulations; and others have grown indifferent to government mendacities. Considering the two states, one can say Eritreans are left with no energy to analyse and respond to the regime’s outlandish claims; so they simply accept and echo the regime’s fear-mongering, scapegoating, conspiracy theories, and demagoguery.
A personal reflection
I would like to present another observation concerning our hot-headedness before addressing the subject-matter – with regards to the Eritrea/Ethiopia ‘bust-up’.
The brawls Eritrean human rights campaigners are pointlessly burdened with these days are rather rustically homespun.
At the risk of ruffling a few feathers, I find it intriguing why a group of ‘do-gooders’ are relentlessly attacking the activities of the members of the so-called ‘Brigade nHamedu’, a group of youngsters who are utterly frustrated by the regime. Seeing the diaspora’s ineffective rights-based campaigns they have rowdily risen up to take matters into their own hands.
True to form, we Eritreans are reacting by hurling stones and raising our batons at the primary victims of the regime – those most affected by government cruelties. I am sorry to say that we have been pointing our fingers at the youngsters as if they were culpable for our pains. In fact, we call them sell-outs. Yes, as if the ‘Weyanes’ were behind them – BTW, ‘Weyane’ has become our favourite refuge when we are confused and at a loss of words. That is a trait we have learned from ‘el capo’ – to blame every evil under the sun on the Tigrayans (Weyane).
Strangely, the Tigrayans are enjoying a bit of reprieve these days as the focus has shifted on Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. It was only yesterday when Isaias beat his chest with glee when he travelled to Ethiopia for a state visit. It is to be remembered when he declared ‘game over’ as he, figuratively speaking, shook his fist at the TPLF (Tigrayans) while siding with PM Abiy. Please note how Isaias rushes in where angels fear to tread … and how his followers, rather blindly and most embarrassingly, follow suit.
I know our actions – blaming the other – are designed to hide our weaknesses, frailties and our recurring fumbling. Do we really have any proof that the so-called ‘Weyane’ are behind our problems? Considering the uprising of our youth (‘Brigade nHamedu’), are they acting as if they are the enemy-within?
I beg to differ – we are simply programmed to echo the regime’s claptrap. Our imagined problem is not the problem; our peculiar rationale is.
We need to bear in mind that Isaias is trapped in Eritrea – surrounded by people he tramples upon at will. He knows that one day, hopefully soon, his day will come; the trampled will turn the tables on him. In the meantime, all he can do is concoct culpabilities – a waning act of self-preservation. We need to wake up and do the right thing – consolidate our efforts to intensify our resistance.
I would like to give my unsolicited advice to those who are doing the heavy-lifting in our campaigns. Continue to do what you are doing – fight for your rights! But you must learn from your mistakes, because ignored mistakes will come back to haunt you in later stages. Look at us! We never learned from our mistakes; and here we are spinning our wheels. In the process we turned ourselves into a yakety-yak club! Remember, it is in our nature to bite someone’s head off if he/she takes action; so, do not be dismayed by the naysayers.
A message to my peers: with all due respect to the association of ‘Qemish adey’ndyu Hanqwiluni’ ማሕበር ‘ቀሚሽ ኣደይ’ንድዩ ሓንኲሉኒ’ (the wishy-washy elders), of which I am one, why can’t we refocus our efforts on Isaias, the main cause of our frustrations? Sorry brethren, for the old Adam really got a hold of me here.
To conclude my flare-up, allow me to say the following (in no particular order) …
Some of us are giving countenance to Isaias’ cruel ways through our convoluted ‘la patria’ arguments. Some of us are witnessing the emergence of ‘autocracy-justifying-apologists’ out of the woodwork. Some of us are going in circles due to our incongruous emotional hang-ups. And some of us are suffering from a strong expression of regionalism and exaggerated religious zealotry. So let’s get a life!
Back to the story of the Red Sea
Whenever I think of Asab and Massawa, Eritrea’s dead ports, my thoughts drift to other thriving ports in our region – Djibouti, Port Sudan, Suez Port, Sharma El-Sheikh, Aden, Eilat, and Jeddah. I confess I look at them with covetous eyes. Actually, my thoughts bounce back to the time when Isaias, the deceitful pretender, haughtily claimed that our ports were going to emulate the success of the Port of Singapore (after Eritrea officially gained its independence via its 1993 referendum). To this day, three decades after independence, that very avowal haunts me to my core.
Another occasion that readily comes to mind is the day the late PM Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia said in the heat of the dispute that arose between the two leaders during the post-border conflict era. He sneeringly said Eritrea’s ports will end up becoming camels’ watering holes; meaning the Eritrean strongman was clueless in how to put the ports’ services to use. Well, have the chickens come home to roost?
When we were growing up how many times did we hear the contention that the Red Sea was of so much geopolitical and economic importance to Eritrea, to the extent that it was worth dying for?
Unquestionably, the Red Sea functions as a critical maritime corridor. Its strategic relevance is higher than ever now for it accommodates global energy supplies and trade routes. That alone should have given Eritrea a favourable foothold in the business world. But unfortunately, Eritrea lost its footing.
The fact is, let alone utilising its strategic advantage, Eritrea has allowed the conditions of its ports to sink so low that there is no business activity whatsoever; the streets of both ports are literally empty. The stories travellers bring with them are quite demoralising.
My romance with the Red Sea started to bloom when I was a young boy growing up in Asmara in the early 1970s. I remember attending a wedding party in Geza Banda where many youngsters were passionately dancing to a new song by the little known then Yemane Barya.
As Baria serenaded our ports with his silky voice, we, emotionally tipsy, shuffled around the room in a circle as tradition dictates, and sang ‘Laley-Lalo,Laley-Lalo,Wedebat Adey yire’ayeni’lo’ as if there was no tomorrow. That translates into ‘I see the horizon of our seaports drawing nearer’, more or less.
It was a surreal experience to see in my mind’s eye the images the song conjured up during that impressionable age. I never visited the coast in my life except when I descended to Massawa with my mother when I was a pre-schooler. But all of a sudden I could see myself walking on the sand enjoying the heavenly beauty of the beaches of Massawa. I still see its beauty in my twilight years.
A Brief Background
The Red Sea is strategically bordered by Yemen and Saudi Arabia to the east, Egypt to the north, Sudan and Eritrea to the west, Djibouti and to some extent Somalia to the south.
Its economic benefits and political corollaries are not easily gauged. The roles that the sea has played in our region, and is still playing, are occasionally presented by various studies.
Now, as in the past, regional institutions have been taking turns expressing concerns about the potential for another outbreak of hostilities in the region. While we await the outcome of the Eritrea-Ethiopia dispute, we can only dwell on the might-have-beens.
Historical documents show that Christianity and Islam entered the Horn of Africa region via the Red Sea. It is also clear that the forces of Turkey, Egypt, and Italy have invaded our region in an effort to control the up-country through the ports along the coast.
The incursions have also created overseas transit from our region, especially from Ethiopia, to Asian countries. For example, the city of Adulis on the Red Sea coast served as a major regional trading centre for about 1,400 years.
When foreigners took control of the ports, waters of the Red Sea, and the inland area, they were able to establish trades in gold, coffee, and slaves.
It is true that the foreigners who crossed the Red Sea into Eritrea and the entire Horn of Africa region, brought with them their culture, religion, language and other products. Their infiltrations also led to ethnic mixing in the Horn of Africa.
The Red Sea has a special bond with Eritreans. Its former name was ‘Mare Erythraeum’ in Latin; and its notion slowly seeped into their psyche and later helped form Eritrean nationalism which impelled them to conduct an armed struggle.
The coast stretches over 1,000 km from the Ras Kesar Plateau (northern tip of Eritrea) to the Bab el Mandeb Strait. We have already mentioned above that the long coastline has strong commercial potential which has made Eritrea a victim of foreign incursions. However, with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, foreign interest in Eritrea increased.
As we moved into the mid-20th century, Ethiopia’s vehement role increased. With that Eritrean nationalism began to rise. One can say Emperor Haile Selassie, through his violent campaigns (to open the sea-gate to Ethiopia) apparently he laid the foundation for Eritrean nationalism.
In other words, the Emperor’s violations and oppression against the people of Eritrea consolidated the ideals and desires of Eritreans to intensify their political campaign against aggression. The campaign turned into an armed liberation struggle, and the rest is what we have all witnessed with our own eyes – Eritrea’s independence.
Massawa
Soon after the Italians took control of Massawa (1885) they began to develop it. They made it the temporary capital of Eritrea (until 1890) and developed it by building docks, military bases, residential buildings, and a hospital. They built fortresses around it.
Many natives and Arabs (and Italians) were settling in Massawa at that time. They established a salt industry in Grar and a railway station in Twalet to expand the development of the port city. However, in 1921 Massawa was destroyed by an earthquake. Port operations took time to recover (until 1928).
Massawa played a major role in the preparations for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–1936). History books tell us that the Italians began to rebuild Massawa quickly and outstandingly for their own benefit (to suit them for the invasion of Ethiopia).
The roads that were constructed then and the 71 km long Asmara-Massawa Cableway transported tens of thousands of soldiers, weapons and military equipment from Massawa to Asmara.
In 1938, when Massawa was being built, there were over 15,000 inhabitants, 4,000 of whom were Italians. It had a power plant, an oil depot, a cement factory, large residential buildings, naval base on the Abdulkadir Peninsula, and, as mentioned above, a major railroad station at Twalet with railway lines that reached inland Eritrea.
In addition, in the 1940s, according to Dan Connell, a writer who studied Eritrea, Massawa had the best port facilities – from Alexandria (Egypt) to Cape Town (South Africa). It was a port with floating dry docks, cranes, warehouses, barracks, a military airport and more.
In 1941, the British bombed Massawa, causing much damage. They dispersed the Italian navy. In the mid-1940s, they dismantled service installations and began auctioning off the port’s goods and infrastructure for the benefit of their troops.
During the federation era the US government repaired residential places and various service shops in Massawa for its own use. The revived naval-base functioned properly from 1952-1977.
There are other factors that make Massawa memorable. One of them was the 1977 intense battle that was waged for the port city. It is said that it was the battle in which the EPLF fighters slipped into Massawa – but ended up suffering heavy casualties.
Dan Connell reported the EPLF fighters lost 2,000 fighters in the battle to capture the naval base, along with hundreds of wounded. Ethiopia, with the help of the Soviet Union, destroyed the area with aircraft and artillery.
Moreover, Dan Connell mentioned that fighters burned the fuel tank – which held the equivalent of 45 million litres. But the damage they encountered was so enormous that they were forced to withdraw from Massawa in July 1978, he wrote.
The second Battle of Massawa took place in March 1989, and is known as the Fenkel battle. It was a time when the fighters fought with all their might to enter the naval base and took control of the port city.
Assab Assab was the busiest port in Eritrea until 1998. This was because it was an important export gateway for Ethiopia. Located at the southern tip of the Denkel coast, Assab is a strategically important port overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Foreign rulers recognised the strategic importance of Assab early on. In1882, it came under Italian control. The political feud that followed – between Mussolini and Emperor Haile Selassie – is a long history. So let’s leave it aside for now. However, it is important to mention the attempts that were made by the Emperor and the Derg to annex Assab to Wollo (Ethiopia) remained in vain.
Assab is 400 kilometres from the mainland of Eritrea. That is why it established close economic ties with central Ethiopia from 1938. It is also important to remember the Soviet Union built the largest oil-refinery in 1967 in the region.
Even after independence, Assab accomoodated Ethiopia’s import and export services. According to Dan Connell, however, the disharmony between Ethiopia and Eritrea ruined everything – the huge trade went to Djibouti; and the economy of Assab collapsed.
In any case, let’s conclude by saying that Assab was the last city to be liberated by the EPLF, which heralded independence in 1991.
Having mentioned the port of Assab one needs to mention the importance of the port of Djibouti.
Djibouti, which gained independence from French rule in 1977, is a country located in southern Eritrea. In short, it is no exaggeration to say that Eritrea lost out hugely to Djibouti when Ethiopia favoured to use its port facilities.
The Port of Djibouti is the capital of Djibouti and is located at the junction of one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. The port serves as the principal maritime outlet for imports to and exports from neighbouring Ethiopia. An estimated 2,500 ships pass through and call through the port annually.
It is a fact that China is an important trade and military partner for Djibouti. Between 2011 and 2016, the Chinese built a high-capacity standard gauge railway to replace the colonial-era French railway (from Ethiopia to Djibouti).
It is the first electrified modern railway in East Africa. The new route – the addition of Djibouti Port at Doraleh – has eased the heavy shipping traffic at Djibouti Port and has now increased its annual capacity by 29 million tonnes.
In January 2021, the World Bank named the Port of Djibouti the best container handling port in Africa, and has praised it for its efficient service. This has raised hopes in port management that Djibouti Port could become “the Singapore of the future”.
Djibouti is also a port that hosts the world’s navies. The port’s strategic location in the Gulf of Aden hosts vital military bases for five military bases of major powers, earning a combined $125 million a year in rent from the United States, China, France, Japan and Italy.
70% of the cargo loaded and unloaded at the port comes from or is exported to Ethiopia. This includes more than 95% of the portless Ethiopia’s trade with the outside world.
Simply stated, had there been a cleverer government in Eritrea, the country would have been able to take advantage of the wealth flowing into Djibouti now.
Time and tide wait for no man
Old age has caught up with us without having enjoyed ourselves on the beaches of our Red Sea. As children, my mother used to take us down to Massawa during the ‘Ester’eyo‘ pilgrimage. The port city would be flooded with visitors and we would play on the beaches all day. I sadly reflect on the fact that today’s situation does not allow for such amusement.
I also remember my uncles traveling between Addis Ababa – Assab on a weekly basis during the reign of Haile Selassie. It was a job that brought hefty disbursements. Hundreds of trucks, most of the truckers being of Eritrean origin, used to form long queues to drive to and from Assab.
It is sad to think about the thousands of freedom fighter who lost their lives and unimaginable resources that were wasted for the liberation of the Red Sea. So many fighters were killed in the Massawa battles alone! Thanks to Isaias, with the services from Assab gone, it is infuriating to gaze at Djibouti with envy as it profits from his failed approaches. What have we gained from the Red Sea in the past 34 years since independence?
