Eritrea Seems determined to extend its Isolation

By MoFA
May 30 2009

Two recent important developments have once again focused attention on the character and nature of the regime in Asmara. The first of these was the adoption by the Council of Ministers of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia of a measure concerning the property and interests of Eritrean nationals expelled from Ethiopia during the conflict in 1998-2000 for reasons of national security. This move by the Government seeks to provide a legal framework for the resolution of issues that have been pending on this matter for several years. The directive does not create new entitlements or rights but provides the legal basis so that persistent and legitimate concerns can now be handled. Ethiopia in fact is taking a legal and peaceful measure that will have a lasting impact in improving people-to-people relations. This may be something of a surprise to some as it does not match actions being taken by the regime in Asmara. Some people have wondered why Ethiopia should take actions that address pending issues with a particular group of Eritrean nationals with no direct association with the Eritrean regime or its security apparatus at a time when Eritrea has been intensifying deliberate acts of destabilization against Ethiopia and coordinating the actions of international terrorist groups in the region. In fact, of course, Ethiopia’s actions cannot be evaluated nor examined in the light of what Asmara may or may not do. Ethiopia’s actions are not reciprocal. They deal with matters in Ethiopia that need to be addressed on the basis of the right principles upheld under Ethiopia's Constitution. Such commitment to the rule of law is inconceivable in Eritrea which does not even have a constitution. Any comparison with a country so brutally controlled by the personal whims of its leader is highly inappropriate.

The second significant development recently has been the bold action taken by regional bodies against the regime in Eritrea. First, IGAD unanimously voted to call for sanctions against Eritrea. This was followed by the African Union Peace and Security Council asking the United Nations Security Council to adopt punitive measures against Eritrea for its active involvement in support of terrorist elements in Somalia against the TFG and the African Union Peacekeeping force, AMISOM. For any objective observer this has been long in coming although Eritrea, while acting surprised, continues to play its spoiling role. Now it is up to the United Nations Security Council to deliver a remedy which might take the first step in curing a malaise that began to affect Eritrea almost immediately after its hard won de jure independence sixteen years ago.

This call by the regional bodies against one of their own is unprecedented. It is a clear demonstration that both IGAD and the African Union have exhausted their patience and lost hope that Eritrea might return to peaceful ways of its own accord. The United Nations Security Council should be equally well placed to understand this situation as it has had to deal with similar transgressions by Eritrea against UNMEE, and more recently, against Djibouti. The call by the three top international envoys, involved in the Somali peace process, the UN envoy to Somalia, his AU counterpart and the facilitator of IGAD on Wednesday May 27 in Nairobi, expressing their joint support for the position taken on the sanctions against Eritrea by IGAD ministers and the Peace and Security Council of the AU show how seriously Eritrea's destabilizing role is taken by the region and by Africa in general. The world will now be expecting strong, effective and unambiguously punitive measures to be taken by the Council against the leadership in Eritrea. Indeed, the Security Council can hardly afford to fail these regional organizations or the entire people of the region yet again.

Eritrea's response to the criticisms has been, as usual, defiant. On Tuesday this week, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the AU’s statement “outrageous”, “illegal and utterly irresponsible”, an “irresponsible and cynical flouting of the rule of law”, and a “deplorable act …. symptomatic of the fundamental structural malaise that has gripped the African Union right from its inception.” In fact, far from being “made on the basis of groundless accusations” or being “irresponsible”, the statement, unanimously agreed by the AU’s Peace and Security Council, was based on extensive and detailed evidence provided by Somali ministers as well as UN and other sources. One of these sources is actually one of the main opposition leaders in Somalia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys’, now the leader of Hizbul Islam, Al Shabaab’s main ally in the extremist attacks on the TFG. Sheikh 'Aweys', has openly admitted that the opposition is being helped by Eritrea, and, of course, Sheikh ‘Aweys’ himself was in Asmara for over two years until he was sent down to Mogadishu last month, and followed shortly afterwards by several plane loads of arms supplies. Against such evidence, Eritrean denials of assisting Al-Shabaab and Sheikh ‘Aweys’ look increasingly threadbare.