What is Eritrea Saying about IGASOM?

Recently we are witnessing a turn on Eritrea's policy regarding the deployment of the IGAD Peace Support Mission (IGASOM) for Somalia.  IGAD in its meeting in Abuja, Nigeria at a summit level and in its consecutive policy organs meetings had decided on deploying a peace support mission in support of the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia. 

Eritrea, as a member of IGAD, had participated in these meetings and was party to the consensus of these meetings and decisions.  

Eritrea also attended the meeting of the Defense staff of IGAD held on 17th August 2006 in Nairobi and its representative had signed on the report of the meeting.  In that meeting Eritrea took one of the senior posts, Chief Administrative Officer, and one of junior posts, Political Officer, to realize the deployment effort. 

Now Eritrea all of a sudden is in the media campaign opposing that deployment.  The Eritrean government web site, Shabait.com in its editorial entitled "Deploying Peace Keeping Mission in Somali: for what purpose?" not only rejected the deployment effort spearheaded by IGAD, to which Eritrea all along was a party to, but also ridiculed it by calling it intentions to obstruct the peace and reconciliation momentum in Somalia.  The editorial calls on all IGAD member nations to take measures against this effort.  The Eritrean government is saying that deploying a so-called peace keeping mission is most certainly not a solution. 

Well, Eritrea's position is both contradictory and inconsistent.  First and foremost Eritrea was party to this effort all along and never littered opposition to it.  It even went further by taking posts within the deployment arrangement.  So it is very difficult to understand how Eritrea took this position 'out of the blue.' 

Eritrea nowadays is not only opposing the deployment effort, but also is trying to influence those IGAD members who are preparing them selves to send peace keeping mission to Somalia.  The Eritrean Agriculture Minister who traveled to Kampala with his president's message was literally telling Uganda not to send its forces.  When the Ugandan government refused to accept this proposal, Eritrea, through its client in Somalia, the UIC, is threatening to take hostile action on Ugandan members of the contingent who are going to be deployed in Somalia. 

These Eritrean actions epitomize characters of a rogue state.  Whenever Isaias dreams something, all of a sudden he changes course and moves to draw attention.  One wonders as to why Isaias is so obsessed with such ill-advised acts that will never serve the interest of the people in the region.