dañew's opposition letter to meles

(as the transitional government lead by weyané was partitioning the regions of ethiopia, amongst the ethiopians who revealed their opposition was mr. dañew welde’silasé. here, we have presented the letter of opposition by mr. dañew, alongside mr. fithaye asegu.)

the voice of the patriots

the honorable mr. dañew welde’silasé

hidar 11, 1984 in the year of mercy (or november 20, 1991 in the year of our lord)

to the honorable mr. meles zénawee

president of ethiopia’s transitional government

adees abeba

honorable president,

beginning before the founding of aksum, the people of tigray and gwender: in seed (race), in language, in culture, in marriage, in name, in religion, in the feeling of love of country, in geography, in economics, writ large in history, in way of living, tied in culture, publicly drinking from the water of the tekezé (river), without demolishing the border, inheriting their archaic ancestral history and heritage with respect and support of one another in way of life, having made ethiopia wealthy with many thousands of years of history, accords aside, they are one people that traceably came out of one great-grandparent.

in fact, the people of gwender and tigray should have been seen as and counted as one nation-of-people rather than two. It has never been their culture to embarrass and look down upon one another, rather when one is comfortable and satisfied they encourage and support the other.

because of looking down upon and haughtily ruling over (others), the government of mengistu hayle’maryam, which had massive armies, has been seen to easily (and) falteringly fall.

tigray and gwender, in these past 17 years (have been in) an era of darkness in a person’s life, sacrifice and the side of economic ruin, nonstop and elevated public damage has come to them. in getting up and struggling together, freeing ethiopia from harsh rule, they were able get her to the present political freedom / democracy and a glimmering gate of economic hope.