Q A with President Isaias Afwerki

[Jacaylbaro]

 

 

The Eritrean president sat down recently with the Los Angeles Times to share his views about U.S. relations, a long-simmering border dispute with Ethiopia and progress in Africa toward democracy and human rights.

 

U.S.-Eritrea relations are at an all-time low. Four years ago, the U.S. was considering putting a military base on the Eritrean coast and Eritrea joined the U.S.-led coalition supporting the Iraq invasion. Now there's a diplomatic tit-for-tat and the U.S. is threatening to put Eritrea on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. How did the relationship sour?

 

 

Eritrean president

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Eritrea at a glance

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That leads us to one of the major issues, and that is the border. [A 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea killed at least 70,000.] We know there was a heavy-handed involvement by the U.S. in the conflict. The U.S. has come out to openly say that they were on the side of Ethiopia against Eritrea. . . . We believe the U.S. deliberately complicated the process [to demarcate the border in accordance with a 2002 independent ruling that gave the disputed Badme region to Eritrea] to delay it and find some opportune moment for reversal. These five years of complications have not come from the regime in Addis. It's come from Washington.

 

Why would the U.S. want to do that?

 

That's the question. Why do they have to support Ethiopia? Wouldn't it be better for the U.S. to work with countries of this region for a safe and stable environment? It's evident that the U.S. wants to manage sub-regions everywhere in the world, particularly in Africa, by proxy. I call it an agent who promotes the U.S. interest at the expense of the collective interest of that region.

 

The U.S. State Department accuses Eritrea of supporting terrorism by arming Somalia's Islamic Courts Union, which was ousted last year from Mogadishu amid U.S. claims that it has links to Al Qaeda.

 

It's a deliberate distortion of fact. Why would one categorize the courts as terrorists? The Islamic courts are a product of the political process in Somalia for the last 15 years. A product of 15 years of chaos, 15 years of warlords, 15 years of neglect by the international community. Despite our disagreement with their ideology, it was the beginning of a process that could have led Somalia to be more stable and sovereign.

 

Did Eritrea support the courts with weapons, as alleged recently by the U.S. and the U.N. Monitoring Group?

 

I still would like to know what is behind this allegation. Nobody is convinced. What are the accusations?

 

That there were about 13 flights over a one-month period, leaving from Asmara and Massawa and arriving in Mogadishu. Most of the flights were in November and December of 2006.

 

Before the occupation of Somalia?

 

Yes.

 

What does that mean to the situation now and the issue of terrorism or the support of terrorism? We were told after the invasion of Somalia that the Islamic courts were finished. If anything went to the Islamic courts before their ousting, why would it be an issue? This is history. We recognized the Islamic courts as part and parcel of the political process in Somalia. We believe the courts have to be recognized.

 

I haven't heard you deny the allegation. Is your position that if you did send arms last year, that it would not have been improper because the courts were legitimate?

 

There are no facts or evidence. For me to deny or not deny, first I'd have to ask about the evidence. The main objective of this accusation is misleading by distorting the facts.

 

Are you worried about ending up on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism?

 

The message might have missed its target. Was it meant to intimidate us and prevent us from playing a role in some sort of political process in Somalia that could contribute to peace? Would we be intimidated and refrain from doing our duty in the region? It was mainly aimed at intimidating us.

 

Eritrea has become increasingly isolated over the past 10 years. Why?

 

It's a perception of those who would like to see Eritrea isolated. Facts on the ground will tell you that we are more and more joining the region and friends all over the world.

 

But there's very little foreign trade or importing/exporting. Diplomatic relations are strained with several countries. Many foreign aid groups have left or been kicked out.

 

 

Source

[Seekknowledge]

ICU leader Afwerki

TGF leader Zenawi

 

What is wrong with the somali people?

[Jacaylbaro]

Bal adba ............ and the two are die-hard Orthodox

[rudy-Diiriye]

and they are cousins too! Afwerki was hiding khartoum, zenawi in mogdishu, they toasted 70k of their own ppl.

 

now somalis are copying these 2 morans.