The Unity that has eluded us for long

The Unity that has eluded us for long

We all love UNITY, sing unity, talk unity, want unity and do otherwise. We ask how can we achieve it. I think we have not defined well enough what we mean by unity. We have not defined as to who is our main enemy (the regime or e.g. Ethiopia because it did not implement the border ruling) Is it unity of purpose? unity of organizations? Shall we all be under one organization? Unity about future of Eritrea? In the forties we were divided along two main camps: those who wanted independence and those who wanted to be part of Ethiopia?, we lost. During the liberation struggle we were divided along two main political organisations: ELF and EPLF, we achieved independence but we failed to form a democratic, inclusive system. After liberation we were divided into two also: those who supported the EPLF (Eritrean government until 2001) and the minority then who opposed the regime from the beginning. Today we are divided on issues such as: shall we wage a violent or non- violent struggle, we are divided on how we define the regime on whether it is our main enemy or not? Do we want fundamental change or we just want to remove Isaias and maintain the existing system? Do we want a centralized system or a decentralized system of governance in future Eritrea? Is Ethiopia an enemy or a friend?

In my humble opinion and as has been mentioned in different programs and by many others, we need first to agree that the regime is our main enemy (no opposition group can be our main enemy however we disagree with it). Our first priority needs to be to get rid of the regime (both those who want to pursue military means or otherwise have not delivered much so far so this should not be a point of disagreement), save our country from collapse. We ought to believe that our role in the opposition camp is to deliver power to the people and then the people should decide on all standing issues. We need to have programs for the future of Eritrea and then let us sell our ideas (products) to the people and the best products will be chosen (bought) by the people. At the same time we need to respect each other’s choices. What do you mean by unity and how can we make it realistic?