If we want positive change to ever happen in our respective countries, all we have left to do which we have never done before is ask for genuine forgiveness and forgive honestly. But in order to do that, we all must first need to STOP generalizing, grouping, characterizing and labeling people according to our opinion and bias. Until we have spoken to all the Ethiopians (Amharas, Tigrais, Oromos, Gambellas, Aderes, Gurages and the rest of Ethiopians) and all the Eritreans, NONE of can speak for or against an entire community as to what they feel, think, believe etc. None of us except for God are nor will ever be an expert of anyone else but ourselves and at times even that is questionable.

So for the whole idea of forgiveness, apology, understanding and collaboration “Operation Yikirta” that I wrote about to work, we need on all sides to really let go of our egotistical need be the one who is “right” and “innocent”. In the end, what happened, happened and cannot be changed or taken back by any of us and as I stated in my article, none of us are innocent and none of us are the sole victimizer and lone perpetrator so enough with the hate, prejudice and score keeping of who was/is right and who was/is right, time to move on and start a new beginning. Instead of aiming and claiming to die so our side can win, let us all start to aim to live so we ALL can win. Let’s all aim to spread the message of love and forgiveness instead of hate, ignorance, bitterness and vendetta which contributes to more killing and destruction. May the strong who have heart stand up and take my message of Yikirta and Forgiveness and apply it in their daily life. Amen!!!!

I will forgive your innocense and lack of understanding Ethiopian history, however, I will never forgive Eritreans in thousands of years. I am also an Amhara but not the criminal and an oppressor that you are told to believe. Amharas are victims but not vitimizers. I urge your parents to read you about the treachery of Eritreans so that you do not join those who blame Amharas for everything bad that happened to Ethiopia. People who are not English don;t feel oppressed by the English language. Why should you believe that those who are not Amharas are oppressed because the Amharic language. No one, I repeat no one ethnic group was forced to accept the Amhara culture and denied to develop his/her culture. What you have been fed and made to believe is the wrong history of Amharas.

Let Eritreans stew in their own grease. What you should be concerned is your motherland Ethiopia but not the people who chose their slave name, “Eritreans.” There was no Eritrean nation until the Italians came to inslave them during the scramble for Africa. Moreover, no Ethiopian should forget the treachery of Eritreans during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia.

You should not apologize or ask forgiveness. Eritreans and all those who hate Ethiopia should do that.

Girma

with all due respect, i must disagree with the above statement. it does not mean i hate Eritreans or i don’t want peace between the two countries but its not the truth. i don’t believe the Eritreans fought or helped Menelik during Adwa. If i am wrong please correct me, but its part of history that they fought along side the Italians, they were called ‘Askaris’, the Italians used Eritrean soldiers in Libya & Somalia as well.

Ethiopians were UNITED against the foreign enemy, people from north to south, from east to west, marched side by side & sacrificed their lives. As a result, on March 1 1896, ‘united’ Ethiopia decisively defeated the Italian invaders. October 16, 1896, the Italians agreed to ‘The Peace Treaty of Addis Ababa’, which nullified the Treaty of Wuchale and recognized the absolute independence of Ethiopia.We are all indebted to them, so lets not disgrace their memory, lets honor them!

Menelik deserves credit because he displayed great foresight in developing his military strength, it took strategic planning and preparing for the war, importing large amounts of arms from France and Russia…mobilizing the country… finally expressing his disapproval of the Treaty of ‘Wuchale’ (detected by his wife, Empress Taitu) and Italy’s fallacious claim, he informed the European powers that “Ethiopia has need of no one, she stretches her hand unto God.”

“Enemies have now come upon us to ruin our country and to change our religion. Our enemies have begun the affair by advancing and digging into the country like moles. With the help of God I will not deliver my country to them. Today, you who are strong, give me your strength, and you who are weak, help me by prayer.”

—Menelik II, Mobilization Proclamation

Then I went back to read the blog and I’m glad I did. Quite inspirational.

I too believe in the dream of the United Nations of Africa, where the global intelligentsia will flock one day to share and borrow brilliant ideas, where Africans will have graduated from subsistence farming and begging for foreign grain to growing food for the global masses, where new ideas are welcomed with open minds, not decapitated at birth.

I still stand by my previous statement that Eritreans did not fight by the side of Ethiopians to vanquish the Italians – most fought with the Italians against the Ethiopians having already been seduced by the promise of a better life and fortune by the colonizing Italians. That’s the history and both sides must acknowledge it and remember it, before we are asked to move past it.

Thank you for the inspirational words and the eloquent reminder of why The Battle of Adwa is such an important part of African history. Perhaps one day, Adwa could be a pan-African celebration.

As for comments I have read here and following the article “Yikirta,” there seems to be a propensity to always blame the Amara for ethnic disrespect towards other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The fact of the matter is that all ethnic groups think that they are superior to the other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The only reason we are always able to point our fingers at the Amara is because AmariNa is the Lingua Franca in Ethiopia and everyone has become familiar with the derogatory remarks in AmariNa towards other ethnic groups. Still, we seem to ignore that there are some pretty harsh derogatory words assigned to the Amara also, by the other ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

For the record, I am not Amara or Oromo or Tigré or Guragé, or whatever. I’m a pure-blood Ethiopian whose father’s side comes from the South and whose mother’s side comes from the North. I bear no allegiance except to Ethiopia.

I do not hate the Eritreans, but I do believe that a large majority of Eritreans hate Ethiopia and Ethiopians. It is time for Ethiopians to stop being such apologists. Eritrea is a proudly independent country now. Their national affairs are theirs (until it is time for Ethiopia to reclaim M’Siwa) so I do not see any need for a dialogue to bring us back together when the fact of the matter is that we never were together.

To the person who claims that Ethiopia became Ethiopia only 100 years ago – Ethiopia is mentioned by name in the Bible. As in: “Ethiopia will stretch her hands unto God,” or something to that effect. Forgive me, I do not know which chapter or verse, but Ethiopia is mentioned no less than 22 times in the Bible and last I checked, the Bible was a little bit more than 100 years old.

Also, Menghistu was not Amara and his reign in Ethiopia was marked by killings across ALL ethnic lines, not just the Tigré or non-Amara. ATSE Haile Selassie was a mix of Gurageé, Tigré and Amara as are many members of the royal family, and I cannot recollect a single Ethiopian Nigus of Eritrean blood, but difficult to do that since Eritrea is made up of several ethnic groups, many of whom claimed allegiance with Ethiopia. There was no “Amara” King until Minilik – they were all from Tigrai, etc. etc.

So, before we disseminate misinformation in an effort to heal wounds between two countries, wounds that are still gaping wide, please, let us inform and educate ourselves about our own history so that if/when we reach out and someone tries to fight us with misinformation and revisionist history that unfairly puts Ethiopia or certain ethnic groups in Ethiopia in a bad light, we can educate them with the truth.

Yes, I too would like to Kumbaya and give the world a coke and make everyone smile and live happily ever after in Bennetton land, but that’s just childish dreams. Humanity is not built like that. Best thing we can do is focus on Ethiopia and Ethiopians and let the Eritreans focus on Eritrea and Eritreans. When both countries are able to prosper on their own and there is no in-fighting amongst their own ethnic groups, then perhaps we can raise our heads and reach out a friendly hand across the border. But we are far, far, far away from that day.

I appreciate what EAC is trying to do, but I think that there is more than a little bit of naivete in this effort. I would like to see more focus in trying to educate young Ethiopians about Ethiopian history, then and now, and not try to force the “Eritreans are our brothers and sisters” down our still sore throats just yet.