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Sana’a Cooperation Forum’s solidarity
with Yemen
The
Sana’a Cooperation Forum has expressed its sympathy and
full solidarity with the Government and people of the Republic
of Yemen over its problems with the Al-Houthi rebels in the
Malahidh area near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia. The
members of the Sana’a Forum are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia,
Sudan and Yemen. A delegation of the Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia
(Mr. Seyoum Mesfin), Somalia (Mr. Ali Ahmed Jama), and Djibouti
(Mr. Mohamud Yusuf, who is also Minister of International Cooperation),
and Mr. Mustafa Osman, Advisor to the President of Sudan, representing
the member countries of the Forum and its leaders delivered
a message of support and solidarity to President Ali Abdellah
Saleh. The delegation called for the avoidance of any foreign
intervention that did not serve the interests of the Government
and people of the Republic of Yemen. Lack of peace and stability
in Yemen directly affects the neighboring countries, including
the members of the Sana’a Cooperation Forum. Foreign Minister
Seyoum, who led the delegation, also carried a message from
Prime Minister Meles, in his capacity as Chairman of IGAD, to
President Ali Abdellah Saleh, underlining IGAD’s concern
and its support for peace and security in Yemen which he said
was vital for the whole region. The ministerial delegation expressed
their interest in the maintenance of security and stability
in Yemen and emphasized their governments' firm position on
Yemen’s unity and territorial integrity, rejecting any
acts of violence carried out with the help of external forces.
The ministers made it clear they objected to the involvement
of any outside forces in the internal affairs of the Republic
of Yemen and expressed their understanding that such acts had
a negative effect on the Government’s peace efforts. Specifically
citing the Eritrean government which has been accused of sending
arms to the Al-Houthi, the ministers called upon all those concerned
to urgently stop any such activities. Two weeks ago, the Saudi
Arabian Government implemented a naval blockade off the North
Yemen coast aimed to stop arms being smuggled to the Al-Houthi
rebels from across the Red Sea. Yemen says that its navy intercepted
an arms shipment in the Red Sea at the end of October. There
are claims that some countries which have warships in the area
on anti-piracy patrols is also using a longer route to send
arms to the Al-Houthi rebels, starting from the Eritrean port
of Assab and sending the arms via the Gulf of Aden to Yemen’s
southern coast, and then overland to the Saada mountains where
the Al-Houthi are based.
In
reply to the delegation, President Ali Abdellah Saleh welcomed
the message of sympathy and solidarity from his colleagues in
the Sana’a Cooperation Forum member states. He briefed
the ministerial delegation on the causes of the conflict, on
current prevailing developments and in particular the situation
in both North and South of Yemen. He detailed the Government’s
Five Point Peace Policy initiative for reconciliation, and explained
how this had turned out to be an error as the rebels had mistakenly
taken the policy as an illustration of government weaknesses.
President Ali Abdellah Saleh detailed the implications of foreign
involvement in Yemen’s domestic affairs and the role of
regional countries. In conclusion he underlined the importance
of enhancing cooperation, partnership and solidarity among the
member countries of the Sana’a Forum as the basis for
security and stability in the Horn of Africa and the southern
Red Sea region. In the spirit of the Sana’a Cooperation
Forum, the ministers in joint press releases affirmed their
countries' support to the Republic of Yemen and to its security,
stability and unity. They made it clear Yemen's security and
stability were inseparable from their own and from that of the
region. They expressed their confidence in the ability of President
Ali Abdellah Saleh to overcome the challenges presently facing
the Republic of Yemen, and reiterated their rejection of any
intervention in Yemen's internal affairs by external forces.
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The Second Korea-Africa Forum meets in Seoul
The
second Korea-Africa Forum was held from 23 to 25 November, in
Seoul, Korea with the Ministerial meeting preceded by a meeting
of senior officials. The meeting was attended by fifteen African
countries, representing the African Union, NEPAD and the eight
Regional Economic Communities of Africa. Ethiopia was one of
the countries participating and the Ethiopian delegation was
led by Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin who co-chaired the Forum,
representing Africa, with Mr. Yu Myung-Hwan, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Trade for the Republic of Korea. Mr. Chung Woonchan,
Prime Minister of Korea, Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, President of the
Republic of Senegal, Mr. Yu Myung-Hwan, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Trade of Korea, and Dr. Jean Ping Chairperson of
the AU Commission addressed the Forum at its opening ceremony,
underlining the importance of the Korea-Africa partnership.
In his opening address, Minister Seyoum said that Africa could
learn a lot from Korea's enormous strides in dealing with poverty
and improving the living standards of its citizens. He further
expressed his hope that this rejuvenated partnership of the
two sides would serve the interests of the people of Africa
and Korea. He emphasized that "Korea's advanced technology,
efficient and affective management expertise and extensive experience
in fostering human resource development [could] create tremendous
synergies when combined with the huge human and natural resources
of Africa".
The
meeting discussed ways to achieve economic development while
protecting the environment through, among others, increasing
trade and promoting Korean investment in Africa. It also discussed
infrastructure and sustainable natural resource development;
information and communication technology; human resources development;
agricultural and rural development as well as green growth partnership
and the sharing of Korea's development experience. At the end
of its meeting the Forum adopted the Seoul Declaration and the
Framework for Korea-Africa Development Cooperation as well as
the Korea-Africa Green Growth Initiative. In the Seoul Declaration,
Korea committed itself to double development assistance to Africa
between 2008 and 2012 - last year it provided US$ 107 million
to Africa in ODA. As part of the Declaration, the two parties
reaffirmed their support for an expanded United Nations role
in a more globalized world and their backing for international
efforts to counter terrorism. Korea pledged to increase the
number of trainees from Africa to 5,000 and Korean volunteers
to Africa to more than 1,000 by 2012.
Under
the Korea-Africa Green Growth Initiative 2009-2012, the two
sides agreed to expand bilateral and multilateral dialogue to
strengthen their partnership for low-carbon, environmentally
friendly growth. The two parties agreed to cooperate in exploring
clean development projects and share more adaptable policies
and technologies for climate change. The Forum discussed the
need to strengthen cooperation to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). In his keynote address on the issue of climate
change, Minister Seyoum indicated that significant economic
progress has been made in many African countries in recent years.
Some, including Ethiopia, had even achieved double-digit economic
growth. But, he said, the impact of climate change had already
started threatening these advances. Africa's development aspirations
were therefore at stake unless urgent steps were taken to address
the problem of climate change. Ato Seyoum highlighted Korea's
impressive environmentally friendly and sustainable economic
development to overcome the myriad challenges of poverty. He
emphasized that the Korea-Africa Green Growth Initiative could
be considered as a continuation of Korea's unique development
paradigm from which Africa could draw lessons. He said the Copenhagen
summit was an opportunity for Africa to secure benefits from
stepped-up action on climate change, action that would contribute
to both poverty eradication and sustainable development. Minster
Seyoum called on the international community to ensure that
the rise in global temperature does not go beyond the 2 degree
centigrade mark and that global emissions peak by 2020 at the
latest. This, he underlined, was necessary to deal with the
negative impacts of global warming on Africa's development.
As
a follow-up mechanism, the two sides agreed to hold the forum
every three years so that it could function as the comprehensive
channel of cooperation between the two sides – the first
Forum was held in 2006. The two sides plan to hold an expert-level
meeting next year and a senior official-level meeting in the
second year to review the progress of cooperation projects.
The meeting agreed to hold the third Korea-Africa Forum in 2012
in a venue to be decided after consultation. After the formal
meetings the ministers and delegates traveled to the Gyeongsangbuk-do
province where they paid visits to industrial and cultural sites
including a visit to the museum of the "Seamaul Undong
Movement", a rural development program which contributed
to Korea's economic growth, to the SAMSUNG electronic company
and the Youngdo Velvet Textile Company.
On
the sidelines of the Forum, Minister Seyoum held talks with
Mr. Yu Myung-hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of
Korea and with Mr. Kim Yang, Minister of Patriots and Veterans
Affairs. In discussions with his counterpart, Ato Seyoum explained
Ethiopia’s on-going socio-economic transformation. He
called upon the Korean government to engage in a meaningful
partnership in carrying out various projects in Ethiopia and
invited the Korean private sector to participate in the various
attractive investment opportunities currently available to them.
Mr. Yu expressed his country's readiness to assist, and said
Korea would increase its ODA assistance to Ethiopia by up to
US$ 20 million in the next few years. In the meeting with the
Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister, the two ministers discussed
the historic bond created between the two countries as a result
of Ethiopia's participation in the Korean War under the auspices
of the UN. Ato Seyoum also held discussions with senior representatives
of the Keangnam Enterprise Ltd. and with Daewoo on investment
opportunities and partnership schemes in Ethiopia.
In
general, the Forum provided a unique opportunity for Africa
and Korea to exchange views and experiences on issues of mutual
interest and explore further ways of strengthening economic
cooperation and sharing in many areas in which Korea has a comparative
advantage. It also offered a great opportunity to create a more
dynamic synergy between economic growth and environmental issues
with the adoption of the paradigm of “green growth”.
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Ethiopia’s
Human Rights Reports presented to the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights
Ethiopia
presented its Human Rights Reports under the African Charter
of Human and Peoples’ Rights during the 46th Session of
the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The
session was held November 11-25, in Banjul, the Gambia where
the Commission has its headquarters. The African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by the Charter
of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
in 1981 within the African Union to promote human and peoples’
rights and ensure their protection. The Commission consists
of eleven members drawn from African personalities of high competence,
integrity and reputation in matters of human and peoples’
rights from a list of persons nominated by the State Parties
to the Charter. Ethiopia became a State Party to the Charter
in 1998. State Parties have the obligation under Article 62
of the Charter to submit a report every two years on legislative
and other measures taken in respect to giving effect to the
rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed by the Charter.
The dialogue that takes place between the Commission and the
State on the implementation of the provision of the Charter
during presentation of State Reports is constructive and not
investigative in nature. The combined report Ethiopia submitted
to the Commission constitutes the initial and periodic reports
that have been due since 2000. The report followed the Guidelines
and Supplementary Guidelines for National Periodic Reports under
the African Charter and describes the various legislative and
other measures taken by Ethiopia towards the realization of
the fundamental human and peoples’ rights and freedoms
incorporated in the Charter.
Ethiopia’s
State Report was considered on the 13th of November. After an
introductory statement of its executive summary by Ambassador
Fisseha Yimer, Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
the Commissioners forwarded more than 80 general and specific
questions covering the judiciary, the rights of women, health
care, education, prisons, freedom of press, freedom of expression,
elections, human rights defenders, pastoralists and the status
of regional treaties. The Ethiopian delegation, which included
Ethiopia’s ambassador to Senegal, Ambassador Hassen Abdulkadir,
presented its reply the next day. In a concluding statement,
the Commissioner in Charge of the human rights situation in
Ethiopia, Mrs. Atoke Dupi, observed that the report was quite
comprehensive and adhered to the reporting guidelines of the
Commission. She congratulated the Government of Ethiopia for
complying with its reporting obligations under the Charter.
The Commissioner acknowledged the possible challenges to the
promotion and protection of human rights in Ethiopia. She commended
the initiative to establish a Human Rights Center in the Ministry
of Justice. She also praised the practice of Ethiopia in incorporating
the international treaties to which it is party into its legal
system.
On
the whole the report was well received by the Commissioners.
The Commissioners praised the format, the detailed treatment
of each issue in the report and the seriousness with which the
report was prepared. Among the questions raised was the extent
of consultations with civil society in the preparation of the
report. As the response noted, formal invitations were sent
to a number of organizations with a particular interest in human
rights to obtain the views of stake holders, several of which
accepted and participated in the preparation of the report.
In view of the length of the report and the number of questions
raised by the Commissioners, the delegation promised to submit
written replies to those questions requiring facts and figures.
The delegation was encouraged by the treatment given to the
report by the Commission especially since this was the first
report produced since Ethiopia became a party to the Charter.
We look forward to the concluding observations by the Commission
which will be forwarded to the Government following its full
consideration of the report. Botswana and the Republic of Congo
also presented their State Reports during the same session of
the Commission.
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Puntland shocked by statement from a US Congressional
office
On
Friday last week, the office of Congressman Donald Payne, Chairman
of the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa and
Global Health, issued a press statement sharply attacking the
Government and President of Puntland for what the statement
called abusive and dictatorial behavior. The statement referred
to the arrest of five men in October by the Puntland authorities
and said one had been handed over to Ethiopia and another killed
in prison. It claimed this wasn’t the first time the Puntland
authorities had “harassed, tortured, killed and handed
over” people from the Ogaden region. The statement said
Congressman Payne had discussed the handing over of Ogadenis
to Ethiopian authorities with President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud
“Farole” when he had invited him to testify to his
Sub-committee on Somalia in June this year. It also said the
Congressman had contacted President Abdirahman on two occasions
to urge him to release the five arrested in October. Nothing,
however, had been done, and the statement complained that the
Puntland authorities were now issuing threats against ‘non-Puntland’
individuals. The press statement concluded by demanding that
those responsible for the killing of the prisoner, and for the
intimidation of Ogadenis, be held accountable, including any
senior officials who might have authorized such measures. The
statement threatened that “any failure to act quickly
on this matter will have serious consequences”, though
it does not specify what action is proposed if the Puntland
Government ignored these warnings.
Whoever
was responsible for the statement, which was issued without
any stamp, it cannot be helpful to security in the sub-region.
It appears designed to try and inflame feelings. In fact, Ethiopia
and Puntland have good relations which support peace and security
and promote human rights in the region. Not surprisingly, the
Government of Puntland has strongly rejected the statement describing
is as “misrepresentation”, and “focused on
threats and baseless accusations” without any basis whatever.
Puntland Good Governance and State Minister, Mohammed Farah
Isse Gashan, suggested that the statement must be the work of
other people using the Congressman’s office. The Minister
pointed out that the meeting between the President of Puntland
and Congressman Payne in mid November in Nairobi had ended without
any misunderstanding. Puntland, the Minister stressed, was not
a dictatorial regime and its leaders were democratically elected;
it was now moving towards the formation of political parties.
He emphasized that Puntland had a duty to protect its security
and noted that “anyone found to be in violation of the
law will be arrested and charged.” The Minister said Ethiopia
and Puntland had agreements on cooperation over security but
he dismissed reports that Puntland had handed over people to
Ethiopia. He said that it was true the authorities in Puntland
had arrested a number of people from the Somali region of Ethiopia,
but they were currently held in prison in Bosasso and would
soon be brought to court and charged. One, he said, had died
of natural causes.
It
might be noted that this press statement from Congressman Payne’s
office comes at a time when Puntland has been making efforts
to secure assistance from the US and European countries to deal
with its major current concerns - the menace of piracy and of
Al-Shabaab terrorist activity. A number of attacks by pirates
have originated from Puntland harbors, and the Puntland authorities
have been looking for assistance in taking action against these
pirates and in assisting the international community in helping
to end the scourge of piracy. In recent weeks, Puntland has
been hit by a number of terrorist assassinations and bombings
which have intensified the Government’s concerns over
the threat of Al-Shabaab activity in Puntland. Al-Shabaab recently
accused the authorities in Puntland of being “un-Islamic”
and of suppressing the population of Puntland. A spokesman for
Al-Shabaab in Kismayo claimed the Puntland Government did not
implement Shari’a law. The comments followed the assassination
of two senior Puntland officials two weeks ago, a lawmaker and
a judge, and a bomb explosion in Galkayo. The judge had presided
over trials of people suspected of involvement in piracy and
of membership of Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab was accused of responsibility
for these terrorist actions, though an Al-Shabaab spokesman
attributed them to what he called the growing insecurity in
the Puntland due to the lack of Islamic rule: “Any place
where there is no Islamic rule, you will see insecurity”,
he threatened. Puntland doesn’t need any additional threats.
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Hopeful signs in Mogadishu?
The
African Development Bank has given a two million dollar grant
to the TFG to support its financial sector. The resumption of
formal links between the Somali Government and the ADB is encouraging.
Finance Minister Hassan Cheikh Issak said Somalia has been an
active member of the ADB in the past, and it was exciting to
be back in business. The TFG also appears to be gaining revenues
from the operations of the port of Mogadishu, one of the areas
guarded by AMISOM troops. This week, Hizbul Islam’s chairman,
Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys’, said Hizbul Islam was
re-opening El Man port to the north of Mogadishu in an apparent
attempt to divert traffic away from Mogadishu port. Sheikh ‘Aweys’
called on all Somalis to use El Man rather than Mogadishu port
which he said was providing revenues for the Government and
was therefore providing for the “continuation of civil
war in Somalia”.
At
the beginning of the week, President Sheikh Sharif attended
the graduation ceremony of 900 TFG police trainees at AMISOM
headquarters. The trainees are expected to be deployed in Mogadishu
shortly. The occasion appears to have spurred Al-Shabaab on
to try and disrupt the ceremony as it launched attacks against
TFG and AMISOM forces. AMISOM has also been in action when Hizbul
Islam attacked its forces and Government troops. Despite these
clashes, the overall trend of violence has been down, with increasing
numbers of people showing their weariness with the continued
attacks launched by extremists. Indications are that local support
for Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu has dropped significantly. It remains
particularly important that the international community should
provide consistent and meaningful support to the TFG, and continue
the training of security forces as urgently as possible. Some
progress has been made, and another 350 Somali troops finished
their training by French forces in Djibouti last week, but the
sense of urgency still appears to be lacking. The European Union
has announced that it is planning to send a 100 strong training
unit to Uganda to train Somali government forces. The mission
is likely to be led by Spain which will take over the EU Presidency
in January, and France, Britain, Slovenia, Hungary and Greece
may also contribute. The aim is to train 2000 Somali soldiers,
complementing other training missions and bringing the number
of trained Somali troops to 6000. The training, however, is
unlikely to start for some months.
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Now is the time to insist on changes of
policy by Eritrea
Early
this week, the Permanent Representative of Eritrea to the United
Nations wrote to the President of the Security Council to denounce
the draft resolution tabled in the Security Council last week.
The resolution called for sanctions on Eritrea following its
open support of extremist and terrorist opposition to the TFG
in Somalia and its wider activities in the region of the Horn
of Africa. This resolution was referred to experts for further
analysis and has yet to come up for a vote.
Ambassador
Araya’s letter took the expected line of suggesting that
Eritrea’s interest and involvement in Somalia had been
misunderstood. He claimed Eritrea did not favor or support a
military solution in Somalia, did not support one party as opposed
to another, nor work with one against others. Eritrea holds
that any solution needs participation of all key Somali actors
in an inclusive political process. The Ambassador also claimed
that Eritrea has been attempting to organize such a process
by engaging with various countries in the region to encourage
an inclusive process. All this might sound persuasive but the
Ambassador’s letter makes no mention of a number of undeniable
facts:
- Eritrea
has consistently and publicly denied the legality of the
TFG in Mogadishu, thus denying the inclusivity of a majority
of Somali political figures, and calling for its overthrow;
- It
has repeatedly backed minority extremist elements, starting
with the ICU in 2006, and among these have been Sheikh
Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys’, who was provided with
a base in Eritrea for over two years, and then in May
2009 was given sufficient quantities of arms to attempt
the overthrow of the internationally recognized Somali
Government in conjunction with the terrorist organization,
Al-Shabaab;
- It
has consistently supported Hizbul Islam, the organization
of Sheikh ‘Aweys’, and encouraged his connections
with Al-Shabaab, and both, according to UN Monitoring
Reports, have been the recipient of Eritrean arms;
- Fighters
from both Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab, who have been captured
or who have defected in Mogadishu, have made no secret
of the fact they have received training in Eritrea;
- Members
of the terrorist Ogaden National Liberation Front that
has been operating in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional
State have confirmed Eritrean support and training;
- Last
year, Eritrean troops crossed the border into Djibouti,
and they remain there despite UN Resolutions and international
calls for their withdrawal;
- There
are currently plausible allegations today that Eritrea
has been supplying arms to rebels in Yemen, as it has
been doing for several anti-government elements involved
in armed struggle in Ethiopia, and for rebels in several
other parts of the region.
Eritrea, in fact, far from assisting in trying to resolve the problems
in Somalia has been encouraging the differences between political
organizations there and actively supporting two of the most extreme
factions, both identified as terrorist organizations. It has consistently,
since its invasion of Ethiopia in 1998, worked for the destabilization
of the Horn of Africa. It has never responded positively to any
reasonable approaches as Ethiopia knows only too well with all its
efforts to open dialogue and normalize relations since 2000 being
aggressively rejected. Asmara and its President have consistently
made it clear that prudence and negotiations are to be seen as a
sign of weakness. Flexibility is seen as a sign of compliance with
“the enemy”, and the enemy is apparently the rest of
the world.
Nevertheless, however, as we noted last week, the Eritrean Government
is prepared to abandon its normal intransigence and stubbornness
on (rare) occasions, if only under duress and temporarily. It has
been a regime following the logic of war since 1998, and even earlier;
it is a regime driven by violence, and it only responds to overwhelming
pressure as it did, albeit briefly in February 1999 and May 2000,
when it acted in the same predictable manner. Demonstrating a complete
inability to consider any reasonable course of action, it remained
intransigent until the last minute and then succumbing under duress.
Equally, it returned to its implacable immovability as soon as possible
subsequently. It finds any departure from this, even with a gimmick
such as the Ambassador’s letter, extremely difficult. Indeed,
this is demonstrated by Ambassador Araya’s letter. Despite
his supposed moderation, the Ambassador berates the Security Council
for acts “contrary to the principles and purposes of the Charter
of the United Nations”, repeating a number of attacks the
Eritrean Government has made against the Security Council in the
last two or three years. He even insists on raising the issue of
the Eritrean Ethiopia border, continuing to claim this is at the
heart of what he calls the turbulent situation in the region, and
suggests it lies behind the conflicts in the region. As Ethiopia
has consistently pointed out, and indeed as Eritrea does not deny,
it has been Eritrea which has been behind many of the problems of
the region. To put down Eritrea’s invasion of Djibouti or
its support for terrorism in Somalia to “frustration”
with Ethiopia and the UN is carrying absurdity a step too far. To
then claim, as senior Eritrean figures do, that this also explains
the Eritrean Government’s refusal to implement its constitution,
to allow elections or political parties, to close down its independent
media, to hold an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 political prisoners,
to refuse to allow demobilization of its hundreds of thousands of
national service conscripts, is carrying the argument to the ludicrous.
Certainly,
the Eritrean Government should now be able to read the writing on
the wall. Faced by the real threat of international sanctions over
its behavior, it is not surprising that it is opting for the appearance
of moderation. However, on past record, this is not the moment to
modify the pressure. As the Ambassador’s letter demonstrates,
Eritrea has made no more than a slight change of language and has
shown no indication of any real change of heart, nor indeed of policy.
It has shown no indication of any change of policies over Somalia,
over Djibouti, over its support for armed struggle in other states
and regional destabilization. Indeed, if the reports from Yemen
are true, it is actually intensifying its actions, whether at the
behest of its paymasters or on its own account. That Eritrean officials
speaking from Asmara and New York are not sincere can easily be
seen by comparing notes of what EU/Eritrean interlocutors have been
told in Asmara and what the Eritrean Ambassador in New York has
informed the Security Council in writing. We are changing and entering
a new phase, says a top Eritrean official in Asmara, adding tantalizing
hints about how things might change in the future. He talked about
the re-ordering of Eritrea’s priorities, even suggesting that
the exclusive pre-occupation with boundary matters might for the
moment be left in the background. Within a few days or less, the
Ambassador in New York was saying the opposite, confirming that
prudence and commonsense advise that Eritrean statements must be
treated with considerable skepticism.
Even
in Asmara itself, depending to whom one talks, one can get diametrically
opposed renditions of what Eritrea may be up to. Interviews with
the President over the last few days make it all too apparent
that what the EU Ambassadors and other EU delegations have been
told by other officials contain no truth. They are designed to
confuse and are no more that thinly designed prevarication. Indeed,
the President was yesterday quoted as threatening the international
community which he said would regret moves to impose sanctions
on Eritrea. Eritrea has consistently made it clear it only responds
to overwhelming pressure, and this is what must be applied. Clear
changes of policy and active implementation of acceptance of UN
Security Council Resolutions should be the first indication of
compliance. It is only this which will help bring back the region
towards the rule of law and the goals of defeating poverty and
keeping extremism at bay.
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