The Pursuit of Peace

‘...Ethiopia has a very clear record
in its long history of statehood of
not fomenting any troubles or wars against its neighbors…’

Peace is sublime. The Bible and the Koran are primarily about peace over war.
Intellectuals and great minds of the 19th and the 20th centuries, not to mention other earlier personalities, have taught us to seek peace and abhor war. Those scientists who invented the most lethal weapons of time, in the end regretted having invented their fiendish tools of mass destruction.
Why are the world’s the most powerful nations so concerned today about non-proliferation of mega-death weapons and their technologies? These weapons are in their possession so any crazy move by other actors to illegally obtain weapons of mass destruction will be dealt with and will result in the indiscriminate and regrettable loss of human life and the mass annihilation of civilization.
I for one, do not understand the logic of why poor countries resort to war against neighbors whenever they face internal leadership crisis. As a commoner and an intellectual who has gone through different schools of public and international affairs and conversant with the art and science of international law as well as modern history, Ethiopia has a very clear record in its long history of statehood of not fomenting troubles or wars against its neighbors. It was always her neighbors near and far either on their own volition or on at the instigation of other external forces that waged war against her.
Ethiopia is a potentially rich but poor country; yet, she is proudly striving for rapid development and for the prosperity of her peoples by harnessing her natural resources. The forthcoming celebrations of the Ethiopian millennium attest to that. She is proud to be a country of diverse nations, nationalities and peoples of different cultural backgrounds, value systems, traditions and ways of life. It is a country of peoples who are found at different levels of socio-economic development.
It is a country that respects international treaties, conventions and agreements. As a sovereign state it is governed by the norms of international laws. It is a country that respects the principle of good neighborliness.
As such, it is one of the founders and permanent members of the United Nations’ Organization and the African Union. It is one of the few countries of the world that respects peoples’ right to secede as affirmed by the constitution.
Her solemn stand for peace is upheld by the majority of the members of the UNO, EU, and AU as well as by other international and regional organizations. This has been seen from the Korean war up to the present different theatres of war where she participated in the UN’s international peace keeping forces. Her unequivocal position on her constitution was further upheld by the peace loving nations of the world when she recognized the sovereignty of Eritrea and opted for peaceful co-existence, giving preference to the acceleration of her national development effort by abandoning the pursuit and continuation of war which was staged for thirty odd years with the liberators before the latter’s accession to a sovereign state.
With regard to Somalia, Ethiopia had never had any ambition towards tha state. There could be many dirty root causes to the current problem. However, the Ethiopian state and Ethiopians know only of one thing. Any sensible Moslem country would not wage senseless war against another neighborly Moslem and Christian country. If any thing, it would be only the profiteering and the elements of destabilization and the satanic elites that would be the protagonists of the whole issue.
For satanic wars, God will always be on the side of Ethiopia and the Ethiopians to thwart the machinations of such heinous wars and evilest designs. Besides, all democratic and peace-loving peoples of the world, who are after all, governed by the UN Charter and the laws of war, will side with the provoked since the principles of self-defense allow a sovereign state to take self-defense measures against illegal acts of another state or organized groups.
Therefore, in peace we will defeat poverty and in war we will only aggravate it. Thus, for reasons which are clear as day, let us Africans, stand in unison for peace, the only true pillar for meaningful co- existence.