U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto to visit Horn of Africa

Tigrai Online, April 22, 2018

The dream of bringing back the country of Eritrea back to Ethiopia is still alive in some people, we wonder if this desire is from love to the Eritrean people or love of something else?

According to the United States Department of State website, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will visit the Horn of African countries of Eritrea, Djibouti, and Ethiopia this week.

The brief statement by the U.S. Department of State said, “Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will travel to Eritrea from April 22-24 for bilateral consultations with Eritrean government officials, to meet with the diplomatic community, and to visit the Embassy’s staff based in Asmara.”

Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will then lead the U.S. delegation to the U.S.- Djibouti Binational Forum in Djibouti, which will take place from April 24-25,  on annual dialogue on matters of political, economic, assistance, and security cooperation between the two countries.

On April 26 Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will travel to Ethiopia. As stated by the U.S. Department of State website Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will meet with Ethiopian government officials to discuss shared interests and concerns.

Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto has an intimate knowledge of the Horn of Africa and the three countries he is visiting this week. Ambassador Yamamoto served as a U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti from 2000 to 2003 and he was the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia from 2006 to 2009, and he was also U.S. Ambassador to Eritrea chargé d'affaires ad interim from 1997-1998.

There is a speculation that the United States of America might be involved in a secret diplomatic process to bring Eritrea and Ethiopia to sit down for talks. Recently the ruling party in Ethiopia EPRDF has gone through some internal rearrangements including electing a new prime minister. Also the Ethiopian government has done some ministerial cabinet reshuffling. The above minor changes in the EPRDF internal affairs will not trigger a U.S. diplomatic move between Ethiopia and Eritrea, because the Ethiopian policy towards Eritrea didn’t change and will not change despite the cosmetic changes in EPRDF.

Background

Ethiopia and Eritrea has been on a state of war for the past 20 years because the expansionist edging president of Eritrea decided to invade northern Ethiopia. Then he expelled the United Nations Peace Keepers from his country in violation of the peace agreement between the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia signed on December 12, 2000, at Algiers, Algeria. The breach of the internationally recognized peace accord by the Eritrean government constituted the Algiers Agreement null and void.

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Since the transgression of the Eritrean government to the Algiers Agreement, Eritrea has become an outcast in the world. Even then the president of the pariah state didn’t stop his destructive actions against Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. He is recruiting, training, and arming rebel and terrorist groups from Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and many others.

There is a huge push by people on both sides of the border to find a final solution to the Ethio-Eritrean conflict. Majority of the people in the border area didn’t want war, but there might be forces in Ethiopia and outside of Ethiopia who would like to see the military conflict to reignite. If war breaks out between the two countries now the local population on both sides will be devastated, but the beneficiaries will be those whose ultimate goal is to control or reach the Red Sea.

The only solution at this point is to go back to the previous border, to the time before the Eritrean independence and if there is any claims let the local people settle it peacefully. No one knows better than the local people, which plot of land, valley, hill and steam of small river belongs to which farmer. The people in the border happens to be the same people and they have been there for thousands of years they don’t need interference from foreigners or neighboring people with ulterior motives to  come meddling around.

If in fact the American top diplomat is traveling to the Horn of Africa for shuttle diplomacy, there should not be any formal documents to be signed or the so called UN present. His mission should be to avoid the ignition of war and start dialog between the local people and both governments.

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U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto to visit Horn of Africa