Hunger
“The enemy could attack at any time.” -- Ibrahim Osman, Eritrean hotel manager
The words above were spoken in response to the Ethiopian troop movement that threatened Eritrea. Despite sharing 620 miles of common border, these two countries are making war upon one another, with Ethiopia being the more aggressive. What an absurd waste of energies.
Hundreds of men, women and children are dying of starvation everyday in both countries. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's May 20 issue, “The able-bodied lined up to help unload trucks of wheat from the United States, dates from Saudi Arabia and milk powder from the Netherlands, while others washed clothes and stretched them over bushes to dry under the glaring sun.”
Babies starve to death because their mothers' breasts are as empty as their stomachs. Nevertheless, there is enough money for the purchase of “trucks carrying missile launchers, tanks, heavy artillery and mobile radar units”.
The entire region is suffering from a three-year drought. During the drought of 1984, more than 1 million people died. Surely, military leaders remember 1984! If I could have the ear of both countries, I would say:
How dare you!
Just who do you think you are?
Waging war while hunger kills anew!
Have you no memory of 1984's scar?
How dare you!
One million of you died, near and far
Eritreans are just as guilty too
Join forces now, so hunger will be barred
I Dare you!
To Ibrahim Osman, whose words head this space, I would declare: “The enemy -- the real enemy -- is not troops. It is hunger.”
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email <BrandonAstorJones@hotmail.com>. You can visit the author's web site at <http://www.BrandonAstorJones.com>.]
