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| Flag Of Eritrea. Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
By Sophia
Tesfamariam
The Somalia
Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) kept expanding its allegations against Eritrea,
exposing its true motives and objectives-to first get “stand alone sanctions”
against the State of Eritrea and then use all kinds of gimmicks and ploys to
perpetuate the illegal sanctions against Eritrea, presumably to weaken Eritrea,
and to somehow (through the media and propaganda), or legal attrition, give
Ethiopia the moral and legal high ground to pursue its agendas vis a vis
Eritrea. Knowing full well the extent of Ethiopia’s violations against the
State of Eritrea and its people, its 12-year long brazen destabilization
efforts and Ethiopia’s decade long occupation of sovereign Eritrean
territories, the SEMG, in its latest report had the audacity to accuse Eritrea
of attempting to destabilize Ethiopia.
The SEMG knows
well that it is the minority regime in Ethiopia and its dead leader Meles Zenawi,
that have boisterously expressed dreams of changing the government in Asmara
and installing a puppet regime amenable to Ethiopia’s whims. It is the regime
in Ethiopia that has armed and harbored groups and individuals that have
committed terrorist acts against the State of Eritrea. It is the minority
regime that is taking refugees out of UNHCR camps and forcing them to
participate in its anti-Eritrea activities. On several occasions, the regime,
as the record will show, has also openly and clearly spelled out its
destabilization agendas against the State of Eritrea to several US officials,
including Donald Yamamoto, Deputy US Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs, Jendayi E. Frazer, former US Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs and Karl Wyckoff, Bureau of African Affairs at the US State Department
and with UN Ambassador Susan E. Rice, Meles Zenawi’s friend and confidante.
These myopic
and vindictive members of the incompetent Bureau of African Affairs and the US
Mission at the UN sought to punish Eritrea because Eritrea did not support all
of Washington’s policies in the region. Members of the UN Mission sought to
punish Eritrea for standing up to the Security Council. For not remaining
silent as the Security Council ignored Ethiopia’s violations of international
law and Eritrea’s sovereignty. For some, like the junior diplomats who make up
the Bureau of African Affairs, Eritrea was to be punished for not going along
with Ethiopia’s plans for Somalia, for having the temerity to sponsor peace
talks for Somalis in Asmara, the Eritrean capital. That was a big no-no for
myopic diplomats like Jendayi E. Frazer, who wrongly believe that only US’
fingerprints and “AU sponsored talks” bring legitimacy to a peace process.
According to US diplomats, Africans don’t have the capacity to think, cannot
make sound analysis of their own situations, and are too stupid to know what is
good or bad for their people and neighborhood.
Insulting the
intelligence of the Ethiopian people and their just and gallant struggles
against the minority regime in Ethiopia, today, the SEMG is accusing Eritrea of
attempting to “destabilize” Ethiopia. It is accusing Eritrea of
supporting the various armed opposition groups that are struggling to liberate
the people of Ethiopia from the Ethiopian dictatorship. This is not only a
desperate and rather stupid accusation; it is a deliberate and futile attempt
to stifle the struggles of the Ethiopian people and undermine the contribution
of the vast Ethiopian Diaspora.
For example,
the SEMG presents the Ogaden National Liberation Front as a creation of Eritrea
to be used against the minority regime in Ethiopia. Today, in cities across
Africa, Europe and the United States, supporters of the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) are organizing events to celebrate the founding of the
ONLF on 15 August 1984. The ONLF has offices around the world including the
United States and its officials frequently come to the US for fundraising
activities and to meet with US lawmakers. Despite what the minority regime in
Ethiopia claims, its views are not shared by all, not even its handlers.
According to a
US Embassy cable authored by Donald Yamamoto:
“…While the GoE [Government of Ethiopia] considers the ONLF a terrorist
group, the USG {US Government] views them as a nationalist movement that has
predominantly targeted GoE and Ethiopian military entities in response to the
marginalization of the Ogadeni people…”
The US-backed
Ethiopian invasion of Somalia was for the most part, a pretext aimed at
destroying Ethiopian opposition groups in neighboring states. Meles
Zenawi’s deceptive regime has perfected the propaganda tactic known as “accusations
in a mirror”. In order to hide its illegal activities from the Ethiopian
people, and to cover up its lawless behaviors, it usually accuses others of
doing what it itself. By now, Ethiopians must know that anytime the regime
accuses others of something, it is a signal that, that is what the regime
intends to do.
If they accuse someone of rejecting an
agreement, it is because they intend to reject that agreement. If they accuse
the opposition of violence, it is because they have planned genocide, violence
and chaos. When they accused the Ethiopian opposition of cheating in the 2005
elections, it is because they had decided to rob the elections. When they
accused Somalia of declaring war, they did so because that is what they were
planning to do. When they accused Somalia and the Union of Islamic Courts of
violating Ethiopia’s sovereignty, they did so because they intended to violate
Somalia’s, and when they accuse Eritrea of destabilizing Ethiopia, it si
because they want to justify what they are doing themselves. In addition
to its chronic inferiority complex and mentality, Kenneth L. Marcus’s
explanation of “Accusation in a
Mirror”, will provide us with a clear definition for the
propaganda tactic that the SEMG seems to have borrowed from the regime in
Ethiopia. Marcus wrote:
“…The
basic idea of AiM [Accusations in the Mirror] is deceptively simple: propagandists must “impute to enemies exactly
what they and their own party are planning to do.” In other words, AiM is a
rhetorical practice in which one falsely accuses one’s enemies of conducting,
plotting, or desiring to commit precisely the same transgressions that one
plans to commit against them…It is similar to a false anticipatory to quoque:
before one’s enemies accuse one truthfully, one accuses them falsely of the
same misdeed…A typical tu quoque involves
charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather
than refuting the truth of the accusation…”
There are numerous other propaganda tactics
that the regime in Ethiopia and its handlers have employed in the past to
advance the regime’s domestic and foreign policy agendas. Today we will take a
look at the latest accusation by the SEMG and Ethiopia and allow the reader to
judge for him/her self.
With the help of its western handlers, the
minority regime in Ethiopia has left no stone unturned to vilify Eritrea, to
foment ethnic and religious strife, to weaken Eritrea’s economy and isolate
Eritrea diplomatically and politically. While that is not new or surprising to
the people of the region in general and the people of Eritrea in particular,
what is surprising is the SEMG’s shameless regurgitation of the regime’s vile
lies and the SEMG’s attempt to mislead the Security Council and the Sanctions
Committee with its reports which can be easily refuted since the Ethiopian
regime’s destabilization agendas vis a vis Eritrea are well documented.
A 2007 US Embassy cable defines Ethiopia’s
agendas clearly and succinctly.
The 30 October
2007 secret cable from the US Embassy in Ethiopia[1] details a meeting held between the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia
and Eritrea (UNMEE) Head of Addis Ababa Office Joseph Stephanides and Yohannes
Gebremeskel, the Ethiopian regime’s military liaison officer. According to
cable, the Ethiopian cadre “outlined a potential scenario for an Ethiopian
overthrow of the Isaias government” [Eritrean Government]. It said:
“…the Ethiopians would conduct a swift military action within a
five-phased plan. In phase 1, Ethiopia would promote instability inside Eritrea
leading to phase 2 where the Eritrean people would invite the Ethiopians to
help them, at which time the Ethiopian military would enter Eritrea
and depose Isaias. In phases 3 and 4 the Ethiopians would free the political
prisoners and bring in the Eritrean political opposition allowing them to
establish a transition government, and in phase 5 the Ethiopian military would
withdraw…”
Promoting
instability in Eritrea was listed as its primary objective and as this paper
will endeavor to show, the regime in Ethiopia and its handlers have sought to
implement its stated objectives and the illegal, unfair and unjust US
engineered sanctions can be seen within this context.
The Ethiopian
Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn told Reuters in 2011 how the Ethiopian
regime intended to carry out its agenda vis a vis Eritrea. Reuters reported:
"….This
regime change is not by invading Eritrea but by supporting the Eritrean people
and groups which want to dismantle the regime. We are fully engaged in doing
so," Hailemariam said….Hailemariam did not disclose the extent of Addis
Ababa's support, but a few Eritrean groups already operate from northern
Ethiopia and have staged sporadic hit-and-run attacks inside Eritrea in the
past…”
Professor
Gérard Prunier for the Center for International Peace Operations, Berlin,
Germany seems to have in depth knowledge of the minority regime’s
destabilization activities against the State of Eritrea. According to Prunier:
“…the Ethiopians have managed to create a kind
of “federation” (National Alliance of Eritrean Forces or NAEF) composed of
about fourteen different opposition movements which include the Eritrean
Islamic Reform Movement (EIRM) and the Eritrea Democratic Alliance (EDA). But
this “federation” is of extremely dubious efficiency which is why the
Ethiopians have created on the side another organization, the Eritrean
Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERDF) which is in fact a big sounding name for
a kind of fighting commando…”
Prunier gives
further detail about the two organizations and their differences. He writes:
“…NAEF can be considered as a political movement while ERDF is a military
one. NAEF is kind of “official” and its leaders are known. But they have no
fighting strength. The ERDF is the opposite: it as an almost secret
organization with no known leaders and it is more an Eritrean Foreign Legion of
the Ethiopian Army than a real political movement. It is just
supposed to give a kind of “political local cover” for the Ethiopians the day
they would have to fight Eritrea , more or less the way Kabila’s Allied
Democratic Forces for a Liberation of Kongo-Zaire (ADFL) gave a local Congolese
cover to the Rwandese Army in 1996…”
The Eritrea
Ethiopia border conflict in 1998-2000 saw the emergence of the Eritrean
Quislings League (EQL), a dubious alliance of the jilted and scorned and those
who abandoned the people of Eritrea in pursuit of other personal agendas. This
assortment of like-minded defectors, disgruntled runaway diplomats, pedophiles,
rapists, self-professed “intellectuals and professionals”, deceitful
counterfeiters, information launderers and an assortment of shameless
scandalous opportunists have made it their forte to slander and malign the
Eritrean people, especially the Eritrean Diaspora, by creating defunct cyber
political parties with no constituents to speak of (except family members).
With fanciful names, various “human rights” and “democracy” groups [over 47 at
last count] have mushroomed in cyberspace to regurgitate and disseminate
rehearsed spills provided to them by their sponsors.
The timing of the
emergence of such groups in cyberspace suggests that it was aimed at
distracting attention from the minority regime in Ethiopia and its incessant
attempts to revisit revise and if possible, annul the final and binding Eritrea
Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s (EEBC) delimitation and demarcation decisions.
Judging from campaigns and the joint programs conducted with the minority
regime in Ethiopia, the Eritrean Quislings League, have played a major role in
Meles Zenawi’s 12-year long effort to destabilize Eritrea. Contrary to the
picture that the SEMG is trying portray, the regime’s record and those of its
surrogates are well documented. They are not merely “accusations from Asmara”.
Ethiopia’s intentions have been spelled out
clearly by David Shinn, former US Ambassador to Ethiopia and an avid supporter
and apologist for the Ethiopian regime. David Shinn speaking to the Voice of
America on 19 March 2012 said:
“…On the
other side of the fence, one should point out that Ethiopia also has a record
of being supportive of Eritreans who oppose the regime in Asmara…Shinn notes
that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stated in parliament last April that
his government would actively support groups trying to overthrow Eritrean
President Isaias Afwerki…David Shinn recalls a similar cross-border incursion
when he was U.S. envoy to Ethiopia in 1997. He says that incident was
among those cited by Eritrea the following year when war broke out…”
If David Shinn knows, the US State Department
also knows, the US Mission knows and so does the SEMG. Furthermore, judging
from the Wikileak documents, the regime in Ethiopia has coordinated all its
activities with the US Embassy in Addis and Washington, and they in turn have
shared their findings with the P-5 Ambassadors, who are notified of its
intentions long before the public announcement and propaganda begin.
At the height of the 1998-2000 Eritrea
Ethiopia border conflict, the regime in Ethiopia rounded up individuals and
groups that it believed could support its anti-Eritrea propaganda campaign.
Patrick Gilkes, UK Citizen and Strategic Planning Advisor to the Foreign
Ministry of Ethiopia reported the following in a 1999 BBC report
[2]:
“…Ethiopia
has hosted meetings of various factions of the Eritrean Liberation Front,
trying to bring the ELF-Revolutionary Council and the ELF of Abdullah Idris
together…It has offered support to three small Eritrean Marxist opposition
parties, and to an opposition Kunama party, and has recently set up an Afar Red
Sea Democratic Organisation to try and build up Afar resistance to the Eritrean
government…
The Global Terrorism Database has recorded the
following terrorist acts committed by the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization
(RSADO) and Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunamas
(DMLEK), the two groups that were organized, financed, harbored and supported
by the minority regime in Ethiopia.
·
02/15/2010: On Monday, in Asmara, Maekel, Eritrea, rebels of the Red Sea
Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) attacked the 28th Sub-division military
camp. It was unknown if the attack caused any damage. Seventeen intelligence
agents were killed and 20 others were injured in the attack. The 28th
sub-division military camp in Asmara, Eritrea was targeted in this attack.
·
6/01/2008: On Sunday, a military vehicle ferrying food rations was blown
up after Red Sea AfarsDemocratic Organization members attacked soldiers in
Morad, Eritrea. No casualties were reported. A military truck carrying food
rations was targeted.
·
06/01/2008: On Sunday, four Eritrean soldiers, including a senior
commander, were killed and more than 10 others wounded when Red Sea Afars
Democratic Organization members attacked them in Morad, Eritrea. Eritrean
soldiers were targeted.
·
11/05/2007: The Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean
Kunamas (DMLEK) destroyed the office of the Shembeko town administration with
an RPG in Western Eritrea. No casualties were reported.
·
11/05/2007: Militants using firearms from the Democratic Movement for
the Liberation of the EritreanKunamas (DMLEK) attacked government soldiers,
killing or wounding fifteen of them in Mlzay, Eritrea.
·
02/25/2009: On Wednesday, in Haykota, Gash-Barka, Eritrea, a bomb killed
two civilians and injured eight others at a restaurant in the semi-urban
centre. The restaurant was damaged in the attack. No group claimed
responsibility. A restaurant was targeted in Haykota, Gash-Barka, Eritrea.
·
In 2003, British geologist Timothy Nutt was slain as he worked in
Eritrea, by the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, one of the groups financed, harbored
and supported by the regime in Ethiopia.
·
Groups financed, harbored and supported by Ethiopia detonated a bomb in
Barentu, Eritrea during the 2004 Independence Day celebrations killing 5 people
and wounding 88.
·
A 30 July 2009 Press Release entitled
“Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) and RSF (Eritrean Salvation
Front) have joined forces to strike At the Eritrean Regime in Asmara” said the
following:
“…In the past six months the
afar rebel group have carried out more than five attacks, causing significant
blow to Afwerki’s regime, last November it has destroyed a military radar
system and attacked military camp killing 285 soldiers in a place called
Sanafi at the heart of Akale Guzay, with co-ordinated and
simultaneous commando type operation which killed 13 Eritrean
soldiers. They have also collected 9 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 1 RPG weapon,
1 Heavy Machine Gun and 3 mobile phones. The combined forces have also captured
five elite soldiers and brought them back in to Ethiopia…”
·
Emboldened by the adoption of UN Security
Council Resolution, the minority regime in Ethiopia began its destabilization
agenda against Eritrea almost immediately. On 29 December 2009, just days after
the Security Council adopted the illegal, unjust and unfair Resolution 1907
(2009), a group financed, harbored and supported by the minority regime in
Ethiopia boasted of attacks against sovereign Eritrean territories. Sudan
Tribune reported[5]:
“…An Eritrean opposition
group said prepared to attack the government army as the United Nations decided
to impose sanction on Asmara last week. DMLEK is a member of the Ethiopia based
coalition Eritrean Democratic Alliance, of which two other groups have also
waged a nascent armed struggle often staging hit-and-run attacks…The chairman
of the Sena’a Cooperation Forum and representative of the Ethiopian government,
Mr. Hubur Gebrekidan, in remarks delivered at the opening sitting of the
meeting, praised the merger of the three groups and pledged the support of the
Ethiopian government and the regional forum to the meeting…”
·
The Sudan Tribune reported the following
in its 3 January 2010 report. This time it was reporting on another group,
RSADO, a group financed, harbored and supported by Meles Zenawi’s minority
regime in Ethiopia:
“…An Eritrean rebel group,
Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO), has vowed to step up military
attacks this year to overthrow the east African nation’s government. RSADO
Chairman IbrahimHaron said that the military measures will undertaken jointly
with other rebel forces” Some eight political groups have built a joint
military front to depose the tyrannical Eritrean government” said
Ethiopia-based Ibrahim. He said the coalition “will collectively launch massive
military attacks in 2011 and we expect major victories along the year”…The
group says it has killed and wounded hundreds of government soldiers in attacks
inside Eritrea since early 2009…″
·
Tigray Online posted a Press Release
about another attack on Eritrea, by RSADO, a group harbored, financed and
supported by Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in Ethiopia. Here is what the 17
February 2010 Press Release said:
“…On Feb 15, 2010, at 5:00
am (RSADO) Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization carried out yet another
successful operation on FURI military base, in Central-Dankaliya, Inflicting
heavy damage to the military as well as personnel. RSADO’s insurgency group has
killed 17 enemy soldiers, wounded 20 soldiers, seized caches of ammunitions and
varieties of enemy guns just this passed New Year’s Eve, RSADO, in
collaboration with our partnering pastoral societies from ENSF have carried out
a massive of operations outside Dankaliya including Sanafee, Akale Guzay, and
Area”
·
On 23 April 2010 Reuters reported of
another terrorist attack against Eritrea by the Red Sea Afar
DemocraticOrganisation (RSADO) and the Eritrean National Salvation Front (ENSF)
– groups financed, harbored and supported by Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in
Ethiopia. Here is an excerpt from that report:
“…Two Eritrean rebel groups
said they killed 11 government soldiers and wounded some 20 others in a
coordinated attack on military camps in southern Eritrea. Both of the rebel
groups are members of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), a coalition of 11
Eritrean political organisations, who say they are increasingly working
together and coordinating their attacks”
·
According to a document carrying a list
of terrorist acts carried out by the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization
(RSADO) compiled from RSADO statements and news releases between 1999 and 2010,
there have been about 27 attacks against Eritrea causing a
total of 958 casualties-448 killed, 501 wounded and 9 captured.
·
On 1 January 2010, there was another armed attack on Eritrea emanating
from Ethiopia. The regime denied any responsibility and made public statements
to that effect. Despite Ethiopia’s public denials, a 12 January 2010 cable,
“Ethiopia Denies Involvement In Skirmish On Eritrea Border”
[6]
reports on what the regime’s cadres were saying in private. According to the
cable:
“…Privately, the GoE has been more candid about the likely source of the
attacks. On January 8, Tesfaye Yilma, Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(MFA) Director General for Europe and the Americas, suggested to A/DCM that the
two Eritrean opposition groups that claimed responsibility for attacking
Eritrean military installations and killing 25 Eritrean troops,
the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) and the Eritrean National
Salvation Front (ENSF), had probably done so…”
The Cable goes on to
state the following:
“…In a January 8 meeting with A/DCM, opposition Oromo People's Congress
(OPC) and Forum leader Merera Gudina offered two possible explanations for the
incident: 1) The GoE ordered Ethiopian National Defense Forces to attack
Eritrea to test the international community's reaction in light of recent
sanctions; or 2) Eritrean opposition groups operating out of Ethiopia and
funded by the GoE carried out the attacks with GoE approval…”
·
In addition, the Global Terrorism
Database[7]
recorded the following terrorist acts committed by RSADO and DMLEK, groups financed,
harbored and supported by Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in Ethiopia.
o
02/15/2010: On Monday, in Asmara, Maekel,
Eritrea, rebels of the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) attacked the
28th Sub-division military camp. It was unknown if the attack caused any
damage. Seventeen intelligence agents were killed and 20 others were injured in
the attack. The 28th sub-division military camp in Asmara, Eritrea was targeted
in this attack.
o
6/01/2008: On Sunday, a military vehicle
ferrying food rations was blown up after Red Sea AfarsDemocratic Organization
members attacked soldiers in Morad, Eritrea. No casualties were reported. A
military truck carrying food rations was targeted.
o
06/01/2008: On Sunday, four Eritrean
soldiers, including a senior commander, were killed and more than 10 others
wounded when Red Sea Afars Democratic Organization members attacked them in
Morad, Eritrea. Eritrean soldiers were targeted.
o
11/05/2007: The Democratic Movement for
the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunamas (DMLEK) destroyed the office of the
Shembeko town administration with an RPG in Western Eritrea. No casualties were
reported.
o
11/05/2007: Militants using firearms from
the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the EritreanKunamas (DMLEK)
attacked government soldiers, killing or wounding fifteen of them in Mlzay,
Eritrea.
o
02/25/2009: On Wednesday, in Haykota,
Gash-Barka, Eritrea, a bomb killed two civilians and injured eight others at a
restaurant in the semi-urban centre. The restaurant was damaged in the attack.
No group claimed responsibility. A restaurant was targeted in Haykota,
Gash-Barka, Eritrea.
Ethiopia’s
efforts to destabilize Eritrea have also been recorded by various media
outlets.
·
In its 19 May 1999 article, “Ethiopia’s
war strategy”[8], the BBC reported the following:
“…It certainly hopes that it can break the
strength of the Eritrean army, and an admission, once the war ends, of the
serious Eritrean casualty figures, will put pressure on the Eritrean
regime…Ethiopia has given support to the opposition Alliance of Eritrean
National Forces (AENF), now based in Ethiopia. It anticipates that this will be
able to mobilise former Eritrean Liberation Front supporters, and Muslim
critics of the present government…It is, however, under no illusions about the
AENF's strength, nor its effectiveness…It knows any change of government in
Eritrea will have to come from within the ruling and single party, the People's
Front for Democracy and Justice…”
·
In a May 2000 Patrick Gilkes, UK Citizen
and Strategic Planning Advisor to the Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia wrote the
following in a 23 May 2000 BBC article[9], “Free rein for Eritrean opposition”:
“…Ethiopia appears to be
leaving, deliberately, the western provinces to the opposition Alliance of
Eritrean National Forces (AENF)…. Ethiopia appreciates the possibilities of the
Alliance for weakening the government in Asmara, but is taking considerable care
not to provide any overt sign of support which would be widely resented.
Instead, Ethiopia and Sudan are leaving the Alliance to respond in its own way
to the opportunity created by Ethiopian military successes…Alliance leaders are
now trying to mobilise their support in areas once controlled by the Eritrean
Liberation Front (ELF) factions which make up most of the Alliance…The Alliance
already claims it is widely operating in rural areas…working to organise and
build up its support as fast as possible to take advantage of the vacuum...”
·
In another BBC report, “New rebel force
in Eritrea”[10], the BBC reported on a meeting sponsored by the Ethiopian government
for Eritrean groups and individuals held in the Ethiopian capital. The report
also said:
“…An alliance of 13 Eritrean
opposition groups says it is setting up a military wing to topple President
Isaias Afewerki…The Eritrean National Alliance's general secretary, Hiruy Tedla
Bairu, told the BBC that the military wing would attack strategic targets such
as television and radio centres…Mr Hiruy said the military wing would not
attack the Eritrean army, which he hoped could be won over by the opposition… Mr Hiruy also said that the
alliance would not seek to target President Isaias because "the problems
[assassinations] produce later are too big to handle"… He was speaking in
neighbouring Ethiopia, which he said was one of three countries that had
offered his alliance "material support"… He said the others were
Sudan and Yemen but denied that the ENA were Ethiopian stooges…”
·
In 2001, the ELF-RC, another group financed, harbored and supported by
the Ethiopian government held its 5th congress in Gondar, Ethiopia
·
The Ethiopian Government also supported the establishment of an
“opposition” radio that broadcast from Ethiopia and according to news reports
[11]:
“…The Broad cast which has been on trial
since January is based in northern Ethiopia Tigray region’s Mekelle city… Currently the radio station airs programs to Ethiopia , Eritrea
and partly to Arab nations…”
It is preposterous for the SEMG to point its
fingers at Eritrea and it is an insult to the people of Eritrea, Ethiopia and
the entire region to present the lawless reckless and belligerent entrenched
regime in Ethiopia as a victim and Eritrea as the villain. The record speaks
for itself. But let’s go on , there is more.
Ethiopia got
help from its handlers and according to the Embassy cable, on 3 October 2007,
US officials in Ethiopia met and held talks with the Eritrean National
Salvation Front (ENSF) Chairman Abdella Adem and ENSF Foreign Relations
Director Beyene Kidane. This is not the first meeting between US officials and
runaway Eritrean defectors and draft dodgers and they were very cler as to who
was sponsoring and directing their anti-Eritrea activities. The Wikileak cable[12] ERITREAN OPPOSITION GROUP SEEKING NEW OPPOSITION
ALLIANCE, states:
“…When queried about military training camps, Abdella replied that the
EDA had closed their training camps in Sudan at the request of the Sudanese
Government and moved them into Ethiopia… Abdella said the EDA groups
now received instruction from Ethiopian military personnel in two military
training camps in Tigray located in close proximity to Ethiopian military
camps. The ENSF, Eritrean Revolutionary Democratic Front, and an Afar group
trained at a camp in eastern Tigray near Adigrat, while a number of other
groups trained at a camp in western Tigray near Adi Hageray…”
According to
the US Embassy cable, Abdela Adem also told the American officials that:
“ … on the political front
the government of Ethiopia served as an advisor to the Eritrean
opposition…Abdella commented that Meles had given the EDA access to one radio
station in Ethiopia that broadcast into Eritrea and divided the airtime between
opposition groups… Abdella
stated he had met with Meles for more than two hours on October 2…”
Another US
Embassy cable[13] details
a meeting held by US officials with Eritrean groups financed, harbored and
supported by Ethiopia. The cable said:
“…The May 5-11, 2008 Eritrean political opposition congress in Addis
Ababa reformed and expanded the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) to serve as
the umbrella organization for all Eritrean opposition groups. Embassy officers
spoke with more than a dozen opposition leaders and civil society
representatives before, during, and after the conference… The conference was attended
by 43 representatives from 13 different Eritrean opposition groups and 33
observers…EDA leaders were sensitive to criticism that they were a puppet of
Ethiopia and would prefer to hold future conferences elsewhere if given
sufficient funding. Lastly, three of the EDA organizations are descendants of
the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, and Post would appreciate guidance from Washington,
in consultation with Embassy Asmara, on how to deal with this sensitive issue…”
A US
Embassy cable[14] reports
on a 26 February 2008 meeting between Joseph Stephanides, the United Nations
Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) Head of Addis Ababa Office and visiting
members of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). It said:
“…Stephanides disclosed that the Russian DCM to Ethiopia, who he said
often exceeded Moscow's instructions, told Stephanides that the Ethiopian
government was attempting to set up an Eritrean government in exile with the
Eritrean opposition. The Russian told Stephanides that once established, the
government in exile could openly call for Ethiopian assistance and give
Ethiopia international justification for removing Eritrean President Isaias.
(Note: A counselor at the Russian Embassy here separately told Embassy officers
the same thing.)…”
Meles Zenawi openly
talked about his destabilization project with several US officials on various
occasions and on one such occasion he shared his ideas with Deputy
Assistant Secretary Karl Wycoff
[15]. This is also the meeting
during which he assured the reckless Prime Minister of Susan Rice’s support in
getting the “stand alone sanctions” against Eritrea. The Embassy cable said:
“…Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles told visiting AF/DAS Wycoff and CDA on
November 19 that he wanted to give the USG a "heads up" that Ethiopia
was considering actively supporting armed Eritrean opposition groups if the
international community fails to take action to isolate Asmara… Pressed by Wycoff to
describe the "pro-active" measures being considered, Meles said one
option would be to directly support opposition groups that are capable of
sending "armed propaganda units" into Eritrea Meles said that the
groups with the most capability to operate inside Eritrea are those "that
you don't like from the lowlands, like the Keru" who he said would be
"much better able to survive in Eritrea." (NOTE. The Keru are a
primarily Muslim ethnic group most of whose members live in Eritrea, although a
minority live in Ethiopia. END NOTE.)…”
3 March 2012,
Meles Zenawi openly threatened Eritrea when he invited members of the Eritrean
Quislings League. He said:
“…We will work towards changing Eritrea’s policies
or its government. This could be done diplomatically, politically or through
other means…”
Today, in violation of UN rules and
regulations and the principles enshrined in the UN Charter the SEMG is serving
anti-Eritrea agendas using the UN as a cover, but there are also others. One
such individual is Haile Menkerios, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's special
envoy, who participated in a meeting organized by the Ethiopian regime in
Awassa, Ethiopia. It took place around the time of Meles Zenawi’s death. For
those who do not know this person, he is the former Eritrean Ambassador to the
United Nations, one of the architects of the anti-Eritrea vilification and
defamation campaigns that began in 2000. He abandoned the Eritrean people and
was given a UN post by Kofi Annan, the then UN Secretary General at the behest
of the US. Today, he is working with the Ethiopian regime to undermine
Eritrea’s sovereignty and weaken Eritrea diplomatically, politically and
economically.
The lawless
leader of the frightened minority regime in Ethiopia has spelled it out in
black and white. Considering these and other evil and bloody activities of the
regime in Ethiopia against the people and government of Eritrea, it is a shame
and intellectually deceptive and dishonest for the SEMG to try to portray
Eritrea in such as negative light.
The UN Security Council must shoulder its
moral and legal obligations and call for the unconditional removal of
Ethiopia’s forces from sovereign Eritrean territories. The Security Council
should also annul and repeal the ill-advised, ill-gotten, illegal, unfair and
unjust sanctions against the State of Eritrea and its people.
