" .
"But what makes the Ethiopian case unique and sad in the history of nations is the Afars, unlike the Taiwanese or the Kashmiri who are fighting for their own breakaway status, are locked up in a grim war against their "own government" which wants to assert Ethiopia as a landlocked nation, dismissing solid historical and legal evidences in favor of Eritrea." .
The baffled foreign diplomats further warned the Afars: "If you believe Meles is an Ethiopian, advise him. If you don't, get rid of him." .
Ten years have passed since the Afar encountered diplomats in New York City, and little has changed in the determination of the prime minister of Ethiopia to liquidate the Afar people by means of force because the Afars could not give up their Ethiopian nationality to fulfill the wish of Meles Zenawi. .
But that seems to be changing since November 15, 2003, when a government army unit was sent to wipe out ARDUF rebels in Afar region but retreated to Maichew, southern Tigrai region, after leaving 14 soldiers behind in the ranks of the Afar rebels. .
Meles has been on record as the chief guardian of Eritrean interests in Ethiopia. When leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) woke up from their decades of slumber and found out that the TPLF leader was the main Eritrean culprit in the Ethiopian powerhouse, they teamed up to remove him without bloodshed. .
The 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea War had taught the TPLF dissidents enough lesson that the leader who in public was acting like he were opposed to Eritrea, was the main enemy who turned the victorious Ethiopian Army's advance around, and crowned the aggressor with a victory in an independent boundary commission he conspired to set up with the Eritrean tyrnant. .
Knowing that his actions would one day be exposed and that may cost him his life, Meles had prepared years ahead, and when the TPLF leaders ganged up against him, Meles took the TPLF dissidents to task.
