Ring of Power

I was looking around a bit for a supposed article about the current Eritrean Dictator.. er, I mean President, in Newsweek about the world's top dictators (he came in 15th, not bad eh?). When I eventually tried searching Newsweek's website. To make a long story short, I started reading an article about how current (evangelical) Christians in the U.S. should avoid politics at least for two years. Specifically the article was an interview with a former White House worker, David Kuo, who wrote a memoirs about his experience. He apparently talked a lot about the White House's Faith Based Initiatives, and there evils (more or less). Anyway, none of this in anyway surprises me... this is politics after all, but it was one answer in particular that brought me around to the current problem here in Eritrea.

Just a little (and hopefully quick) background. I'll give it to you in point form... that should be fun. (btw, if you know this skip it).

-1800s Italy colonises Eritrea

-1935/6? (or somewhere around there, before WW2) Italy invades Ethiopia (the only African country not colonized by Europeans)

-1941 to 1945 (I'm not doing fact checks here, so I'll do approximates) the British liberal both countries

-1952 - after much debate - Ethiopia asked for Eritrea to be part of the country, Eritrea resists, but with U.S. pressure (after a promise of a military base in Ethiopia) the U.N. confederates the two states; with one provision, that Eritrean rights would be protected by the U.N. itself.

-1961 - Hailee Selassie, the Ethiopian Emperor, annexes the state of Eritrea, gets rid of it's legislature (killings here) and Eritrea is not even a province (if I remember right, but it might have been a province) --- so Civil War starts.

-1971 - My mom meets the Emperor Hailee Selassie, my mom claims here life went bad after that (she doesn't like him much)

-1972 - The Derg, a communist "party", kills the Emperor, dumps his body somewhere unknown, and takes over the country. Of course, the ties to the U.S. are broken, but fresh, new ones to the other super-corrupting power U.S.S.R. opens up

-197x something, my mum and dad meet

-1976 - the 'deed' happens
-1977 ... and 40 weeks, 10 pounds later on Saturday between Friday the 13th and mother's day... me happens.

-1991 - The Civil War ends, the Provisional Government of Eritrea is born.

-1993 May - the definitive Referendum (as some call it) occurs. Voter turn out: 98.5% (in a country where 80% live in hard to reach areas). Results: 99.8% in favor of Independence. (side note: this may seem high to some, but it seem a bit low to me, I've never met a single Eritrea who wasn't in Favor)

-1995/6 Constitution drawn up, some things in there include: the max a person can serve as president is 2 terms of 4 years (alla U.S.A.), freedom of religion, free speech etc.

-1998 -border war with Ethiopia, ending in about 2001.

Finally

2001 to present - still in a state of Emergency (that's from 1991 till the present time).

What does that all mean?

Well you see, since about 1979ish or somewhere around there (I'm ball parking here), the current president, as been first the leader of the EPLF (the fighters who fought the war), then once Eritrea formed, the Interim President. What is he now?

Well, he's still the Interim President... for 15 years!!! Why? Cause it's a "State of Emergency", that's why.

So it bring me to my (long awaited) point: He's holding onto power. Let me quote David Kuo:

Are Christian leaders being naïve in their dealings with the White House or do they understand the nature of the exchange?
It's a little bit of both. In some ways White House power is like [ J.R.R.] Tolkien's ring of power. When you put it on, it feels good and it's dazzling. But after a while it begins to consume you in ways you don't realize. That's the nature of White House power. I have no doubt that Christian political leaders have gotten involved for all the right reasons. I just think over time it becomes harder and harder to stand up against that ring of power and the White House, to say no and walk away.

The Christian political leaders have been seduced. If you look at their comments that they know what they're doing, I'm not quite sure how to read that—is it wonderful or a little troubling? That's one of the reasons I call for this fast from politics.

This is of course the problem. If you look at history, no one fights hard then those about to lose power. Look at Iraq, the Sunni, the minority will lose power. Rwanda; the slaughter/genocide happened, so that those who were about to lose power (also a population minority) would be the majority, and so could keep power. Much like the ring in Lord of the Rings. The allure of power seems to be too great for most people. Although the current regime has been given the benefit of doubt, it's becoming increasingly clear that the current governments just wants to stay in control.

And if history is any indication, it seems that it's going to have to be pried away from the President's hand. Either by God or people. But I don't anticipate that he is going to give it up. A bad way to end a fruitful career.