What now?
Ethiopia’s recent military strike against rebel-controlled outposts inside Eritrea sent a signal of yet another full-blown war in the making. All things can happen but that, says Tsedale Lemma
For the leaders of two countries who embraced war as their best resort to get desperately needed power there is nothing as tickly as dragging on indefinitely in a state of no peace-no war for more than a decade. And when each leader accuses the other of cunning political games to destabilize his country, slowly but surely things tend to get tough.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and his former brother-in-arms President Isaias Afeworki of Eritrea know this all too well. After they have successfully battled a common enemy, the two countries fell out half a dozen years later over the border town of Badme, and fought a costly war between 1998 and 2000.
