There are those who are drunk on Amara-Oromo-etc politics, the provincial ones. All they think about is their ward, their little jurisdiction. Their focus is micro-issues. Oromo-Amara-Gurage-Welkait…
We are discussing about a nation and geo-politics. They don’t have the capacity to address this issue. Their view-point, their know-how, their interest don’t make them capable to discuss this. All they are capable of is ward-issues. And I don’t want to answer them.
The second group are those who see themselves as liberal, enlightened, progressive. They want to be perceived as such. They want to be perceived as more knowledgeable than Tamrat about international law. They want to strengthen intra-people relations. These, to me, are like a married man, father of 3 children, with an ailing mom and hosting a brother or sister-in-law. But he spends all his time and money at the brew-house. He ignores the education of his own children and family members, but sends the child of the brew-house owner to private school. These people are like the man I just mentioned. They are weak.
First, know what is in your nation’s best interest before you talk about international law. International law is written to protect world order, while accommodating the nature of States. Let alone a country like Ethiopia with its own historical ports, these are States who have plundered other people’s ports and are protected by international law. There is no economy that is not based on plundering resources. Why is China here? How about the US in Iran and Iraq? What were the Brits and French doing and what are they doing now? What is France doing in Africa? What is Little Rwanda doing in the Congo? Did Rwanda acquire wealth and development by working or by plundering Congo? What about South Africa? When the Arabs and Saudis come here to grow rice…what are they doing? When they send us Al Amoudi, what are they doing? They must know these fundamental things and stop being naive.
The others…those who are tuned in Asmara, those who compete on who can sell the country first.. There are those who are breast-fed on the tits of EPLF. With those, history will be their arbiter. We can’t give an answer to these type. As I said, they are tuned in Asmara, and what they talk about now is what was tuned in Asmara. You can’t tell them to be cured or heal themselves. History will be what we will use to debate with them.
Ethiopia and Eritrea as a model. There is a cost to not having a port. If those who own the ports are not hostile to you, for example the case of Austria and Switzerland… but
Eritrea’s national identity is based on hatred of Ethiopia.
They have inferiority complex and see Ethiopia as colonizing power…
their imagination is very limited and the Austria-Switzerland model can’t work. That’s first. If the Eritrean nationalists understood this and,
at the bare minimum, gave Asab to Ethiopia, we could have a discussion.
Secondly, people don’t understand what a port and its benefits are. This is because the TPLF has conducted an extensive indoctrination via its media, education policy, and its “let them use it [Asab] as watering holes for camels” propaganda. But in reality, it is precious: everything we import includes a port cost. If you have your own port, there would be a cost reduction of, at minimum, 25%. Secondly, you lack options in transportation and services.
Something else many, including those viewing this station, don’t understand:
how the Internet works. How does Ethiopia get access to the Internet? We are getting it via Djibouti and Port Sudan via cables that we paid for. We could have gotten it from Asab, 60 kilometers away from mainland Ethiopia. This is submarine cable. 99% of the internet is carried via this cable. This is what you are deprived from. Right now we are connected via Djibouti and Port Sudan, at cables installed at our cost.
Our internet is based on the goodwill of these two countries. Any problem and they can turn the switch off. They can also see every information you are communicating. How can I explain how grave this issue is and how dangerous it is.
Moreover, the Ethiopian Airlines we are proud of? Because you have no port, your air traffic is based on the good will of your neighbors. If you have no port, you have no airline route without the permission of those who have ports. In peaceful times, all appears normal. But what if some country is angry with you or is at war? Why don’t we think about that? Every Ethiopian has a duty to think about this.
Leaving aside those who can’t think beyond their wards, the national parties, including the Prosperity Party, must be asked about this issue. What is their agenda? Because,
for a nation, this is not just a matter of economy, but survival. Those who say we can live without ports,
your obligation is not just to survive. But to give a future generation a more secure country. People save money, why? Similarly,
owning a port is about national survival.
You have 110 million people, and you want to be industrialized and you don’t have a port? When investors go to a country they evaluate three things: I mean major investors not oil factories. I am talking about major, transformative investment. Something that can create jobs for 100 to 200 thousand people. You want that? You have to have a port.
And if you can’t do that,
maybe you don’t survive as a nation. This generation must ask this question of survival. Past generations have paid the utmost to answer it. And this generation must pay the price.
You create an Eritrea that can’t pose political, economic, diplomatic threat and give it to them 
