Yonas Biru, PhD
This short piece is triggered by Jawar’s interview with Tedros Tsegaye of Reyot Media. It is not common for Ethiopian politicians to appear on what they consider to be an adversarial media outlet. Obviously, Jawar was uncomfortable and too guarded through the course of the interview. Nonetheless, I raise my hat to him for agreeing to grant one of his ardent critics to interview him.
Tedros was well prepared with facts both from Jawar’s political track record and his newly released book. Unfortunately, Jawar was not ready to respond with honesty. NOR WAS HE able to spin himself out of Tedros’ methodical questions and follow-ups.
I will address just a few of the issues Jawar fumbled or outright fell flat on his face. Let us start on the question why and how he supported the involvement of Eritrea in the war in Tigray.
His response was Eritrea and Ethiopia are economically integrated. He suggested it would be wrong to consider the Eritrean force as a foreign force in the traditional sense. That is utter nonsense. Over the last quarter of a century, Kenya and Djibouti are far more integrated with Ethiopia economically than Eritrea.
If he was honest, the answer is simple. TPLF was a threat not only to the Ethiopian government but also to the Eritrean government. Before the war started, the TPLF was bragging about its military power that it believed was more powerful than all East African forces combined.
This threat was elevated significantly after TPLF launched a surprise attack against the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and confiscated over 80% of the nation’s military equipment including high-power weapons, tanks, rocket and missiles.
The Ethiopian and Eritrean governments were justified to join forces in self-defense. As I have written during the war, both the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments and the TPLF/TDF must be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war.
Jawar’s answer showed either he is ignorant of the facts, or he did not want to answer the question truthfully. I believe the latter is the case.
Another area that Jawar fell flat on his face is his denial that his political views are consistent and that he has not changed. This is beyond utter nonsense. The Amharic word for it is ግግምና – willfully lying, knowing fully well that he is lying, and his audience knows he is lying. Tedros gave him examples after examples showing him substantial inconsistencies in his political views both in form and substance. Sadly, Jawar’s attitude was I have made up my mind to lie. Please do not badger me with evidence.
This is full-tank and high-octane ግግምና. I do not know what he gained from it. His cult followers may devour whatever he says like a sermon, but if his appearance on Reyot media was to get a wider acceptance, his ግግምና was self-defeating.
Another important question Tedros asked him was: “Do you have a road map to get Ethiopia out of the existential crisis?” Jawar’s response was that he has a road map, but he is not ready to share it.
In a nutshell, a political roadmap in the Ethiopian context includes vision, clear objective, ideological and political framework, and critical steps necessary to achieve the stated goal. If he is not ready to share how he is going to save Ethiopia, why should Ethiopian’s follow and support him. Given his track record of actively working to deconstruct Ethiopia and build Oromia, his expectation that non-Oromos is akin to believing Ethiopians are primed to join his cult following.
Another odd time in the interview was Jawar’s reluctance to answer if he is a secular politician. This was of course a loaded question that has its root in Jawar’s politicization of religion in the past. The question was simple, but it took several rounds of back and forth before Jawar said he is a secular politician.
As he stands now, Jawar is not ready for a prime time. At worst, his transformation may lead to Oromo Winter rather than to Ethiopian spring.
I do not wish him prison time for a second-round quiet time for introspection, but I advise him to take some quiet time to reassess his transformation and next steps. There is no way of a political comeback as an Ethiopia without repentance of his past and redemption. Redemption requires honesty and a clear road map.
