QATAR

Doha, January 22 – QNA reports that HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani held a session of official talks at the Emiri Diwan this afternoon with Eritrea”s President HE Isaias Afwerki.

Talks during the session dealt with bilateral ties between the two countries and means of promoting them in various fields besides a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The session was attended by a number of Their Excellencies the Ministers, while it was attended on the Eritrean side by Their Excellencies the members of the accompanying official delegation.

HH the Emir hosted a luncheon banquet in honor of HE the Eritrean President and the accompanying delegation.

/CE

Foreign Office

London: The Foreign Office said on Friday that Dr Amanda Susannah Tanfield has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the State of Eritrea.

She will succeed Mrs Sandra Tyler-Haywood who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Dr Tanfield will take up her appointment during April 2012.

Dr Tanfield joined the FCO in 1998 after ten years as a scientist in the Ministry of Defence. Her career to date has focused on multilateral security issues such as arms control and drugs and crime, including in a regional context.

On her appointment as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the State of Eritrea, Dr Tanfield has said:

“I am honoured and delighted to have been chosen as Britain’s next Ambassador to Eritrea, which is a beautiful country, though not without its challenges. I look forward to developing the UK’s bilateral relationship with Eritrea and to getting to know its people and culture.”

Curriculum vitae

A new island has emerged in the Red Sea following an underwater volcanic eruption. Fishermen first spotted the phenomenon, which is caused by lava fountains, earlier in December in a remote part of the sea close to the Yemen coast.

The fountains are reported to have reached more than 30 metres (90 feet) in height. Nasa repositioned their satellite cameras to capture the event, resulting in some amazing shots of the volcanic explosion breaking the water.

Scientists are unsure whether the island will be permanent. According to a Nasa spokesman the Advanced Land Imager on Nasa’s Earth Observing-1 satellite captured the explosion.

“The image from December 2011 shows an apparent island where there had previously been an unbroken water surface,” he said.

“A thick plume rises from the island, dark near the bottom and light near the top, perhaps a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapour.”

The eruption occurred in a region of the Red Sea where the tectonic plates of Africa and Arabia meet, close to the Zubair Group of islands. Due to constant tectonic shifts, new ocean crust regularly forms along the rift.

For more visit: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76801

Eritrea-Russia

Shabait, Asmara, 17 December 2011- President Isaias Afwerki received and held talks in the morning hours today at the Denden Hall with the special envoy of President Dimitry Medviedev of the Russian Federation headed by Mr. Mikhail Margelov.

During the meeting, President Isaias commended the initiatives taken by the Russian Federation to send its special envoy to Africa for constructive engagement and said that the uni-polar balance of force created in the wake of the end of the Cold War has entailed negative consequences in ensuring international peace and economic growth.

The President further added that the erroneous policies pursued by the US in the Horn region of Africa in particular have spawned regional instability as well as the obstruction of justice and the rule of law.

President Isaias pointed out that although the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) that was established in accordance to the Algiers Agreement drawn-up by the US, the EU and the UN, has officially closed its doors completing its task of demarcation and delimitation of the border between both countries, and despite the fact that it submitted its ruling to both nations as well as to the United Nations, the implementation of the final and binding arbitral award has not been realized to-date because of the direct acts of hostility and obstructions imposed by the US Administration. “This has become a root cause of instability in the Horn region of Africa” – the President underlined.

President Isaias also indicated that all allegations made against Eritrea are fabricated lies in their totally and also fail to present concrete evidence whatsoever in support to the charges made. “The sanctions resolution of December 2009 and the recent sanction resolution adopted on December 5, 2011 are therefore an extension of US instigated misguided polices against Eritrea” – the President emphasized. He also pointed out that Russia, in view of the fact that it is an influential country and a member of the Security Council, has a vital role to play in the execution of justice and fairness in the world in general and the Horn region in particular.

During the meeting both sides agreed on the need to enhance in folds the already initiated and gradually developing educational and technical cooperation between both nations, giving impetus to investments and exports, as well as creating opportune grounds to work together in enhancing overall cooperation between Eritrea and the Russian Federation.

Moreover, President Isaias Afwerki and the special envoy of the Russian Federation held extensive talks on current regional as well as international developments.

In a statement to ERINA following the meeting, Mr. MiKhail Margielov said that the discussions he held with H.E. President Isaias Afwerki have been indeed helpful and that Eritrea and Russia hold similar views on the matters of importance raised.

In regards to the sanctions resolution adopted against Eritrea on December 5, Mr. MiKhail said “Russia maintains that issues should be resolved through discussions and understandings and does not believe in sanctions”. He also reiterated that Eritrea and Russia are on the same side of the fence in regards the matter.

The special envoy of the Russian Federation Mr. MiKhail Margielov is Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.

By Amanuel Biedemariam

The Russians know the history of Somalia well because Somalia was an ally of the Soviet Union. Somalia became independent in 1960 and shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union was Somalia’s key ally. To counter US presence in the Horn, the Soviets eyed Somalia and provided comprehensive military assistance and training. In exchange, the Soviets built Berbera Port and used it as a staging ground as well as missile storage facility. This continued until the situation in Ethiopia changed in 1974 changing US and Ethiopian relationship and in turn, changed the dynamics in the region.

In 1977, the US started to warm to Somalia because by then the Soviets established ties with the Marxist Mengistu regime in Ethiopia opening a door for the US to come into Somalia. The US then signed an agreement with Somalia, started providing military assistance, and gained access to facilities in Somalia.

Central to all the geopolitical-juxtaposition was the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia that attracted many players. Egypt saw Somalia as a destabilizing factor against Ethiopia and assisted Somalia. The Arabs also assisted Somalia for religious reasons. Italy was key arms supplier. In the late 1980s, China was also a player until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 which changed the dynamics in the region one more time.

In 1991, Siad Barre’s reign ended while at the same time the current regime in Ethiopia came to power. The US then resumed its relations with her traditional ally Ethiopia and started to take incremental moves to regain access into Somalia using Ethiopia and some of the countries in the region including Eritrea a new nation then. In addition, in 2003, the US tried to enter Somalia under a humanitarian cover using the armed forces and was repulsed.

Ethiopia having always seen Somalia as a threat started to arm various factions and reignited a new era of internal conflicts in Somalia. Ethiopia is the number one destabilizing factor in Somalia.

Whilst Somalia was always a weak nation dependent on foreign assistance for defense and humanitarian needs, prior to the civil war, all the actors knew Somalia as a nation.

The above is a snapshot-background of Somalia and its relations with the US and other members of the Security Council. Additionally, Great Britain as well as Italy was in parts of Somalia during the colonial era.

Somalia was always prone to interference but it retained its sovereign identity until the Bush Administration started to focus on Africa. The Bush Administration used the war on terror to infiltrate Somalia. Moreover, in December of 2006 Ethiopia the archenemy of Somalia, and the US collaborated to invade the sovereign nation of Somalia in violation of international laws and Security Council resolutions that governed the situation in Somalia. Ethiopia is archenemy of the people of Somalia and a party to the conflict yet, at that time none of the Security Council members objected to the breach of international laws on behalf of the Somali people.

The people of Somalia fought the US Ethiopian invasion hard and it led to untold death and suffering. This was done openly in brazen disregard to the wishes of the people of Somalia. Furthermore, the US openly flouted the idea of recognizing Somaliland, Puntland and Jubaland while at the same time recognizing one Somalia Transitional Federal Government after the other by imposing leaders that are unaccountable to the people of Somalia. But what is significant here is the fact that the Transitional Governments are flaunted as leaders of Somalia. These are leaders, at one time considered terrorists or affiliated with labeled organizations. These leaders are nails, that the hammer, meaning the US and Ethiopia use to seal the coffin that is Somalia.

In the backdrop, as the Wikileaks cable after cable revealed, the minority regime in Ethiopia has basically owned Somalia and used it, for monetary gains from the US and others in the name of fighting terrorism; for diplomatic advantage in the name of bringing peace in Somalia; for military support from the US and other Western nations; to suppress the people of Ethiopia in the Ogaden and Oromo regions in the name of fighting terrorism and to suppress any dissent in the name of fighting terrorism. While at the same time using Eritrea as a scapegoat in an effort to weaken and isolate Eritrea using the US at the Security Council and, achieving key strategic objective of weakening Somalia for good.

Since 2006, the bloodletting in Somalia has continued with impunity. Any hope of resuscitating Somalia to viability kept being hammered by Ethiopia, Ugandan, and Burundian troops in the name of African Union with US taking a leading role. The US in the mean time kept trying to force government after failed government to ensure US interest disregarding the interests the people of Somalia. Those that opposed the US intervention in Somalia whether they are Somalis in the Diaspora or inside Somalia are deemed terrorists or threatened to be labeled as one and silenced. Those nations that opposed the imposition on the Somali people or spoke out against US policies in the region face sever reprimand. Furthermore, in order to cover up and distract the world from the atrocities being committed, they have consistently used Eritrea as a scapegoat.

Eritrea is on the US blacklist for a regime change hence no lies are spared to label Eritrea the spoiler, destabilizing agent etc… whilst US, Ethiopia, Kenya and others physically perpetrate the spoiling and destabilizing. They even managed to push a UNSC resolution to sanction Eritrea based on fabrications and they are still targeting Eritrea to impose harsher sanctions designed to dissolve the nation from existence, all based on fabrications.

While that is at play, the ambitions of the US expanded and at present, we are witnessing another violation of Somalia’s sovereignty by Kenya. This time US drones, French aerial support accompanied Kenya to occupy Jubalnd in Southern Somalia.

Kenya’s incursion into Somalia is like an atomic bomb dropped onto the area. Millions of Somalis and Kenyans will suffer as the result. The conflict will expand into areas of Kenya and beyond. It will affect Kenya’s economy severely due to the instabilities that will ensue as a result. In 2007, the civil unrest that broke out in Kenya brought Uganda’s economy to a complete halt because as a landlocked country Uganda depends on Port Mombasa Kenya for its imports.

Not surprisingly, like Ethiopia, Kenya is using Eritrea to divert attention and scapegoat it by claiming Eritrea is flying-in military support into Somalia while Kenya is the perpetrating the violation. This is an area and airspace actively monitored by French and US troops. It is absurd to see Kenya openly fabricate accusation against Eritrea while Kenya is in violation of international law by invading Somalia to pursue a “Jubaland Initiative” that has been in the works for a long time. This is taking place while Ambassador Susan Rice of the US is actively pushing for sanctions against Eritrea by fabricating claims that Eritrea is destabilizing Somalia as an African initiative. This is perfect “Wag the Dog” approach to hit two birds with one stone. In one hand, the US pursues Jubaland Initiative while diverting attention by making Eritrea the bogeyman and, punishes Eritrea with sanctions; however, this is a nuclear option.

This raises many questions about the UN body, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) key organ tasked to facilitate peace and security in the world. The situation described above will lead to more bloodshed. There is no end game because what is happening here is not geared to bring peace and lasting solutions for the region. Its design is to dismantle the area into pieces to benefit the powers to be at the expense of the people. Furthermore, if any conflict arises in the region which is likely, then the entire region will be up in flames beyond control. Thence, why is the UNSC, a body comprised of handful veto wielding countries allowing this genocidal holocaust to take place?

Why is Kenya, not held to account for the violation? Why is the US, not being questioned by the members’ UNSC for flying drones openly? Why are the rights of the people of Somalia not in consideration? The UN just reported the number of “children being caught on attack and crossfire is increasing.” Why not assign responsibilities? Why are the rights of these people trampled by the Security Council? What is even worse, why so much complacency and disregard to such hardship, death and suffering? Why is the Security Council not looking for real solutions instead of interest based geopolitical conflicts that is destroying life? The questions are endless.

Conclusion

The world is denied peace to accommodate the interest of the powers particularly the five members in the Security Council. There are no checks, balances, and repercussions for wrongdoing. Nearly all the problems the world faces is directly attributable to it. It is about time to say, “Enough is enough”! It is time to speak out and act against this world madness.

Please spread the message to all peace loving people to avoid further bloodshed.

Awetnayu@hotmail.com

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Eritrea’s ambassador to Kenya says his country isn’t able to fly three planeloads of weapons to al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia.

Kenya last week said that three planeloads of weapons had been flown into southern Somalia to arm al-Shabab militants being pursued by Kenyan troops. Kenya’s foreign minister summoned Eritrea’s ambassador and “raised concern” over the possibility Eritrea was behind it.

Eritrean Ambassador Beyene Russom told The Associated Press on Friday that there is no evidence to support the accusations.

Russom says the accusations fit into a pattern of misinformation against his country, which he blamed on Ethiopia, Eritrea’s longtime enemy.

(AP)  The Associated Press.

Amanuel Biedemariam

As a lead diplomat for the Clinton Administration for Africa, Ambassador Rice failed the people of Africa and particularly Rwanda in the most negligent of ways imaginable. Of course, no one will accuse Ambassador Rice for creating the genocide but she is responsible in many ways. As a point woman, one of her responsibilities was to identify threats to civilians and she failed in that regard. She could have used US power to minimize the slaughter; could have done more to attract international attention to minimize the damages and she failed. In other words, she could have done more to minimize the scope, duration and magnitude of the genocide but failed miserably and allowed genocide of a biblical proportion to take place on her watch with indifference. That is undeniable historical fact!

Before she became the UN ambassador for the Obama Administration, Susan Rice gave many interviews to promote her bid for the position. During those interviews, she expressed regret after regret for watching the Rwandan Genocide unfold as a bystander. However, the regrets are not to repent mistakes she made; rather, it was to absolve herself from direct responsibilities by assigning the blame on US policies and directives. In an interview with Michele Norris of NPR Ambassador Rice said,

“No policymakers in Washington or on Capitol Hill or any editorial boards, for that matter, were advocating U.S. military intervention in Rwanda. It wasn’t an option that was ever credibly contemplated, whether or not that would have been the right option.”

This statement is nothing but a skillful diversion of responsibilities laced with a devious sales pitch for a new aggressive policy. However, it is unfortunate that Michele Norris and other US media outlets served as a PR tool to-a-failed diplomat that affected humanity in the most negative way imaginable by passively accepting her comments without any challenges, denying Americans an opportunity to make educated choice. They failed to question statements Ambassador Rice made admitting to the colossal failure when she said that she, “Learned that policymakers have to put all of the options, conceivable and inconceivable, before ourselves and before senior leadership so that we’re not in a position of saying that we didn’t give it full enough or ample enough consideration.”

She did not “put all of the options” or “give-it-full enough consideration” because she failed to anticipate the possibilities. That is an admission of failure. The Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges stated how very “un-helpful” Susan Rice was when Des Forges was trying to mobilize action and raise the alarm in the early days of the Rwandan genocide.

But what I found troubling was her disingenuous crocodile tears and the fact that Rice used the genocide as a platform for her hawkish agendas. According to the New York Times, the Obama Administration appointed Susan Rice, “To send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years.”

The Obama Administration did not have to select an individual with such a record. It is also unfortunate Ambassador Rice used the Rwanda genocide as a reason to forward the agenda of force as a primary option to impose change on countries of interest. Her primary tool of achieving US interests is force or credible threat of force. Ambassador Rice is not an advocate of peace, cooperation, the prevalence of the rule of law, diplomacy and welfare of the good of the people of the world and particularly Africa.

Ambassador Susan Rice was a miserable failure as a US point woman in Africa. In her watch, the Eritrea and Ethiopia peace process was botched leading to a war that took the lives of over 150,000 youth, with millions displaced and thousands-more maimed as a result. Somalia’s slide and mistrust for US policies goes back to her tenure. Yet, she is able to use these and other failures to lever her to a much higher cabinet level position. In fact, Rice advertised how she intended to accomplish her objectives by saying, “I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.”

As a result, the US has a brazen, aggressive UN Ambassador. She is unbalanced on her approaches, unprincipled, hypocritical, and unashamed to make outlandish claims. Most importantly, her views, approaches and actions are damaging to US interests long term. She is intent to pass a robust and open-ended UNSC decisions to help launch full-scale attacks as in Libya.

It renders the average person even more helpless when failed-diplomats rise to a level of UN ambassadorship after a colossal failure such as Rwanda. The hypocrisy is even glaringly more apparent when one compares the scolding and rebukes the Captain of the ship Exxon Valdez (rightfully) received for creating environmental disaster after wrecking the tanker compared to the holocaust that Ambassador Rice bared witness as a bystander without any accountability.

The Alarm

Ambassador Susan Rice is pursuing reckless policies particularly in the Horn of Africa. As an American, I am deeply disturbed and concerned by the way she is pushing policies that will lead to uncontrolled bloodshed and genocides in Africa. No one expected what took place in Rwanda could have actually happened, but it did. There could have been warning signs, ignored signs. This time however, the world will have no excuse to plead ignorance. The responsibility befalls on all involved since the threats and warnings are real and based on substantive evidence.

Dr. Gregory Stanton, President and founder of Genocide Watch warned; ultimately, the people of Tigray will end up paying the price for the crimes the genocides Meles regime is perpetrating. He stated, “My job is to identify trends that could cause genocides and what I am witnessing in Ethiopia is a great deal of concern for the people of Tigray because the regime is committing these crimes on their names.”

Dr. Stanton did not express an isolated observation of warning. The Human rights Watch (an organization that pushes US agendas) and major humanitarian organizations have detailed genocides Meles Zenawi committed in Somalia, the Ogaden, and other parts of Ethiopia and warned successive US Administrations about the prevailing humanitarian crisis. Moreover, in 1st of October 2007, Human Rights Watch briefed The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, subcommittee on Africa and Global Health and (concerned about how US interests could be impacted adversely)warned,

“Human Rights Watch would like to focus on the conduct of the Ethiopian military, not only because the Ethiopian government’s military forces have systematically committed atrocities and violated the basic laws of war, but because Ethiopia is a key ally and partner of the United States in the Horn of Africa. The crimes committed by Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden and in Somalia are not unique, on the contrary they add to a mounting toll of abuses that have made Ethiopian security forces among the most abusive on the continent. Human Rights Watch has previously documented crimes against humanity by Ethiopian military forces in Gambella, and serious abuses in Oromia, Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia.”

Human Rights Watch and others have reported genocides the Meles regime committed evidenced by satellite photos of torched villages and systemic suffocation of large populations in various parts of Ethiopia. But what arouses the current concern is the fact that the actions and decisions Ambassador Rice is pursuing will unhinge the entire region and create a human calamity that can potentially dwarf the genocide of Rwanda.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report authored by Terence Lyons in June of 2011 called, “Ethiopia, Assessing Risks to Stability” highlighting the “brittle” nature of Ethiopia’s stability. The report detailed the faultiness and triggers to instability. According to the report, Ethiopia is a powder-cake with many challenges that in time will erupt when the risk factors coalesce. A powerful party that buys loyalty with economic incentives rules Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a country led by an ethnic Tigrayan minority that represents only 6% of 90 million populations. Ethiopia is a country divided ethnically with the ethnic groups having some autonomy but in time will demand more. Ethiopia faces insurrections in Oromia with the OLF, Ogaden ONLF, in Tigray TPDM and Afar etc… The ruling party is, resented throughout the entire nation. The country has a one party system that Ethiopians rejected in the 2005 elections. The army may be representative of the different ethnic groups but the leadership core is almost entirely from Tigray. Ethiopia is under a firm grip of a tyrant and when challenged could spell disaster for the nation. These threats represent internal threats only. The report outlines Ethiopia is susceptible to outside threats Somalia and Eritrea. In addition, instability and conflicts in the region can affect Ethiopia. For example, instability in South Sudan or other countries can easily spill over. The study hesitates to give a time-frame but stated when all these forces come together it will definitely lead to instability in Ethiopia.

The report is modest, conservative and minimizes the true dangers facing Ethiopia. The report however, is deadly accurate when it concluded that Ethiopia is given a pass on all its human rights violations because it is a vital ally of the US and Western interests. Ethiopia receives the highest development and security aid from the US, UK and other Western countries. According to USAID, Ethiopia is the highest recipient of bilateral aid in Africa. From 2008 to 2011, Ethiopia received 969,916,533 and 583 million US Dollars. From the Department for International Development’s (DFID) in 2009/2010 Ethiopia received a total of £214.3 aid from the UK and has chosen Ethiopia to be its biggest recipient $2 billion in British development total during the next four years. This is just a sample representative of the humanitarian, development, economic and security aid Ethiopia receives. Ethiopia receives these aid with a condition to, in effect, work as a subcontractor of Western security interest in the region. Ethiopian troops are active in peacekeeping missions in sensitive areas when Western troop presence could look like an occupation. They are in Darfur and recently, in the contested Abiye region in Sudan. They are doing countless missions in Somalia and elsewhere in Africa.

What this demonstrates clearly is Ethiopia’s dependence on Western powers for sustenance. As the report indicated inadvertently, Ethiopia has a mercenary army lead by Tigrayan Generals operating as hired guns for the West. Ethiopia is the most important country in the region because it serves as a linchpin in a strategic area of the world. And Ethiopia is a perfect candidate for that because Ethiopia has leaders that are warmongers and willing to do the dirty job and importantly, the regimes survivability depends upon the funds it generates from these activities. Absent of the funds the regime will collapse instantly.

The reason Ethiopia is important is that it allows the West to direct their activities from Ethiopia the headquarters of the African Union. US and Western interests in the region include, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda amongst others. Ethiopia as an anchor State allows US, to quarterback activities. These advantages, Westerners believe cannot afford to lose; therefore, they allow Ethiopia to get away with all the human rights and international laws violations with impunity. The West is also determined to accommodate Ethiopia’s wishes by providing political cover and support as Ethiopia pursues its interests. The regime in Ethiopia is emboldened as a result.

However, the US is pursuing a dangerous policy that could backfire and bring about significant setback to US interests in the region. The US is also playing Russian roulettes with the lives of millions and risking its influence and reach in the region. Instability in Ethiopia will affect the region negatively politically and economically. It will contribute to instabilities in South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. In the aftermath of the 2007 election violence in Kenya, Uganda’s economy froze because Uganda imports all the goods it needs through the ports in Mombasa Kenya as a result the risks to instability in Uganda was high. This illustrates the region is interlinked at many levels and in many ways.

Ambassador Susan Rice is currently pursuing to impose additional sanctions on Eritrea for the second time under the pretext of “African Initiative.” This is a strategy the US is uses to avoid appearance of direct involvement. By using a regional grouping such as IGAD, Arab League etc…, the US has replaced the burden of proof or, legal process with un-provable slanderous allegations that can make a PR case against any nation in order to pass punitive measures. This strategy has proven its effectiveness. If the likes of the Arab league or African Union accuse a nation of malice there is no burden of proof required for the US to punish in order to pursue interest in this case Eritrea. Ambassador Rice will go to any length to ensure the development of the language she needs to achieve her objectives.

Recent leaks show how Ambassador Rice collaborated with Ethiopia to design the sanction against Eritrea. The cables show how Charge d’ affairs of Ethiopia Fesseha Tessema and Rice collaborated to forward the sanction measure to UNSC based on deception. Ambassador Rice is one more time pushing this agenda by using Gabon as she did with Uganda.

The problem with the resolution being-pursued is multi pronged. Firstly, as evidenced, the Ethiopian regime is driving the agenda. Ethiopia and Eritrea have been engaged in prolonged hostility where the US has sided with Ethiopia because Ethiopia is its strategic partner. Secondly, it is because the charges are baseless and unjustifiable. The accusing parties namely Ethiopia and the US are the destabilizing actors in Somalia parties that are culpable. The US and Ethiopia are the parties that invaded Somalia in December of 2006 and uprooted the only hope to stability the Somali’s created in nearly 20 years with Islamic Court Union (ICU) which was headed by the current TFG leader, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, whom the US detained after the invasion of Somalia. If it was not for the US and Ethiopia, there was a good chance Somalia could have reconstituted. But they concluded, it is a possible threat to US and Ethiopian interests and they forcibly disbanded them leading to the current holocaust the world is witnessing in horror. Thirdly, the resolution being-thought; was hatched in Ethiopia by the genocidal regime in Ethiopia. Fourthly and most importantly, Eritrea does not have access to effectively prove or disprove the charges and, to challenge a system that the US controls armed with a veto power. The Somali Monitoring Group tasked to look at these matters was set-up by Dr. Jendayi Frazer to pursue punitive measures against Eritrea. It is not a legal body with a process to stand. It is not a court of law where the plaintiff, the defendant and witnesses stand in front a of the judge to litigate; it is not an investigative body that has the ability to conduct its own investigation and present evidences; it is not an elected body beholden to any constituency; it is PR tool whose directives come from the State Department designed to legitimize illegal UN actions on nations that have no representation or voice. The world must stop this dangerous international precedent.

The above agenda’s design is to decapitate Eritrea; and place it under the control of the genocidal regime in Ethiopia. The first sanction Ambassador Rice passed was an arms embargo to tie the hands of the people of Eritrea while Ethiopia is occupying Eritrean territories in violation of international laws. This time, she is seeking to tighten the sanction to render the nation non-viable by using yet another African nation, Gabon. The question is what is Eritrea’s answer is going to be to the slow death-sentence Ambassador Rice decided upon it? Will Eritrea allow the hawkish Rice and the genocidal regime to collaborate and destroy Eritrean independence earned with the lives of thousands and over 50 years of colonial agony? The answer to that is Eritrea will do what is in the best interest of Eritrea whatever that may be!

Conclusion

The cumulative result of years of US and Western support of a tyrant that is unaccountable to Ethiopians and the needs of the people in the region has reached a critical stage as highlighted by Genocide Watch and others. The institutional and governance vacuum that it created in the region is evidenced by the holocaust we are witnessing in Somalia. The situation in Ethiopia is not any better. In addition to all the instability indicators, the CSIS outlined; on August 17, 2011, The Telegraph reported, “Ethiopia famine dwarfs Somalia’s tragedy in scale.” The US has provided all the resources and political cover Ethiopia needed to pursue US interests. In the process, the potential for one of the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is ever closer to becoming a reality. The population in the region, namely Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, South Sudan and Eritrea is about 250 million. Another conflict in the region will set off events that Ambassador Susan Rice could not foresee.

Any future war in the region will have no end game other than a complete annihilation. The region has no reason to fight other than to pursue devious agendas based on irresponsible interests. And that will be bloody beyond imagination. But one thing for certain, Ethiopia and the region will never be the same.

The blood will-be shed as a direct result of policies Ambassador Rice pursued. Ethiopia could be, fragmented by region and ethnicity. And worse, there will be a religious conflict because the leadership in Ethiopia waved the holy-cross to invade an Islamic nation in Somalia. There are also populations and regions like Tigray that will face genocide as retribution because that is the home of the ruling party. Afar and the Amhara regions surround Tigray and they may-not have a warm feeling because of the hardship they endured due to a group that leads Ethiopia in the name of Tigray. Hence, any action by Ambassador Rice will be to light a fire and set off uncontrollable calamitous events that will destroy the lives of millions in the region. It will put the region in a permanent state of chaos.

This is a warning that all peace loving people need to take seriously because once events are set in motion it will be irreversible. The world must stop Ambassador Rice from passing decisions based on fabrications. The region suffers a great deal as a direct result of US involvement that does not consider the wellbeing of the people and long-term viability of the region. In other words, in order to achieve US interests the region is, denied the right to exist. That is unjustifiable and major crime against humanity. The people in the region have no recourse and ways they can address their grievances. Hence, it is incumbent upon all to stop it by campaigning against this evil design and stop Ambassador Susan Rice from triggering events that will lead to Rwanda like genocides in the Horn of Africa. This is what the “Is” is in the Horn of Africa today and tell President Obama it must not be.

Please spread the message to deter genocide.

Awetnayu@hotmail.com

The fifteenth Summit of the COMESA Authority of Heads of State and Government opened in Lilongwe, Malawi this morning Friday 14th October 2011 at the new State House. His Excellency Professor Bingu wa Mutharika welcomed His Majesty King Mswati III and other Heads of State to Malawi at the historic Summit.

Other Presidents who have jetted in for the Summit are Omar al Bashir of Sudan, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers from Zambia, Kenya, Union of Comoros, Rwanda, Djibouti and Seychelles have also arrived for the Summit. More Heads of State are expected to arrive this morning.

Malawi is widely regarded as the birth place of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) because it was in Lilongwe that the then PTA was transformed to COMESA in 1994. During that time, President Bingu wa Muthrika was the Secretary General of the Preferential Trade Area (PTA). The Malawian leader is credited for being the architect of the COMESA treaty and is also regarded as the brains behind regional integration in eastern and southern Africa.

At today’s Summit, His Majesty King Mswati III will be handing over power of Chairmanship of COMESA to President Mutharika. The King has been at the helm of COMESA for one year from August 2010.

Under his chairmanship, Swaziland steered COMESA to deeper regional integration levels. COMESA’s intra-trade levels increased by about US$5 billion from a low of US$12.7 billion to US$17.4 billion.

This quick recovery from the financial crisis has been attributed to various factors, including the macroeconomic stability of the COMESA region and the existence of the COMESA Free Trade Area, together with the support from key COMESA institutions such as the PTA Bank and the African Trade Insurance.

The EU and China have been the leading export markets for COMESA member States as a whole, with COMESA coming third ahead of the United States. However, COMESA continued to be a leading export market for some member states notably Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Under Swaziland’s leadership, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have made strides to join the Free Trade Area.

COMESA region will now focus on the Customs Union whose transition period ends in June 2012. The COMESA Customs Union was launched in 2009 but a transition period was immediately put in place to allow member states to align their policies to allow for the full implementation of the Customs Union.

The Summit in Malawi is expected to review progress that has been made by the nineteen member states in this regard.

The issue of the tripartite grand Free Trade Area by COMESA, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community is expected to be high on the COMESA agenda. Deserving journalists from the COMESA region will also be awarded during the Summit. These are journalists who submitted entries to the annual COMESA media award competition. The award recognizes excellence in economic reporting in the region.

The Summit will also discuss issues of democracy, human rights, peace and security, investment and sustainable development in the region.

Shabait – Asmara, 21 September 2011 – President Isaias Afwerki held talks in New York on September 20 with the Presidents of Guinea and Senegal as well as the Chinese Foreign Minister.

In his meeting with President Alpha Conde of Guinea, President Isaias and the Guinean leader agreed to work together towards enabling Africa to solve its own issues, play due role at international forums taking into account the number of the people and resources, as well as strengthening cooperation among African countries and reinforcing the AU. They also agreed on Eritrean-Guinean collaboration in essential development sectors.

Likewise, in his talks with President Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal, which focused on developments in Africa, President Isaias and the Senegalese leader agreed to work together in strengthening the African Union.

In his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Yang Jiechi, President Isaias expressed Eritrea’s expectation that China, which is registering all-round progress, to make major contribution to Africa in its endeavors to ensure the wellbeing of its people. The Chinese Foreign Minister on his part elaborated that his country will do its level best to promote Africa’s development.

Moreover, reporters of the Ministry of Information indicated that the two sides pointed out that Eritrean-Chinese relations is both exemplary and productive, besides reaching understanding that the two countries to work together so as to enhance cooperation, particularly in trade and investment.

President Isaias

Shabait: Asmara, 17 September 2011- President Isaias Afwerki today left for New York to attend the 66th session of the UN General Assembly.

During his stay, the President would conduct discussion with various bodies, besides meeting with Eritrean nationals residing in North America.

Shabait – President Isaias Afwerki today left for Equatorial Guinea on a four-day visit at the invitation of President Teodoro Obiang Mbasog.

He was accorded warm welcome by President Teodoro Obiang Mbasog and senior government officials on arrival in Malabo, the capital city of Equatorial Guinea, accompanied with a guard of honor.

In addition, citizens of the country and members of the diplomatic corps were present at the welcoming ceremony in which the national anthems of both countries and cultural show featured. The two leaders then proceeded to the national palace, during which they conducted meeting.

In the course of the visit, Presidents Isaias and Teodoro Obiang Mbasog will hold talks on bilateral relations and regional issues of mutual interest. The President will also visit various places and institutions of the country.

President Teodoro Obiang Mbasog is Current Chairman of the African Union (AU).

Eritrea

By: Berhane Woldu

On August 10 th 2011, Susan Rice U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations stated that Eritrea is a destabilizing force in the region. Furthermore, that there is a famine in Eritrea and that the government of Eritrea has denied the UN agencies and NGO’s from delivering food aid (dead aid) and the people are left to starve.

Yet she is working on additional economic sanction on Eritrea. The statement that there is famine in Eritrea is far from the truth, in Eritrea there is abundance of food. The truth of the matter is that there is famine in Ethiopia 4.2 million of its population is starving a country that is allied and nurtured by the USA. Why not help Ethiopia eradicate hunger.

Mrs. Rice has failed to listen to Eritrean diplomats who repeatedly stated that Eritrea does not hold any ill will to any of the African Nations and has never worked to destabilize its neighbors. Maybe Mrs. Rice needs to hear a new voice. The song “Your Embrace” (Kedeinkna) By Wedi Tekabo with his modern jazzy voice is my selection. The lyrics are so true and articulate in describing the misery that the people of the African Continent face due to the failure of their leadership and neo-colonialist force. “Your Embrace” in my humble opinion should have been one of the top ten songs of the year 2011. It did not, sad as it is living the judgment to the professional’s let me return to the lyrics and the story the song tells.

The lyric says “ululate mothers of Eritrea; ululate ladies of Eritrea mothers of virtue ululate as brighter days have come. Where others have failed, you have become victories.

Those East, West, North and South of Eritrea are rich. They have gold and diamond. Their leaders have chosen to become wolves they have divided the people using religion and ethnicity. Instead of sharing the wealth with their own people, they have chosen to collaborate in the grand larceny with foreigners”.

In Africa Grand Larceny, using the apparatus supremacy leadership has developed into Africa’s most stylish and money-spinning industry. The story of Black Diamond and The Prime minister of the Minority Government of Ethiopia who has been in power for only 20 years and amassed billions of dollars in foreign banks are some of the prime example. It involves group of actors businesses set as legitimate based inside the country and their agents scattered in places like USA and Europe (where it is believed that the Prime Minster of Ethiopia Melese Zenawe has been buying property). These facilitators come with different profession some are lawyers, accountants’ investors and bankers. There are others born with a silver spoon in their mouth “fixers” with political and business connections in the passageway of power in the western countries. These are people that collaborate with the Dictators in Africa help them making fortunes disappear from Africa only to reappear in America and Europe (remember Mobutu of Congo). A foreign partner speed flawlessly and undetectably through an impenetrable net work of accounts in several countries then reaches its destination as a high-value possession at choice locations around the world. The African regimes are ruling through fear and violence. They with the help of their Western backers have developed sophisticated and horrific instruments to cow their population and rob the National treasure chest. The First ladies of these countries have also become the most successful businesspersons of the Country. Case in point; Azeb Mesfin of Ethiopia in the last 20 years has become the richest woman in Ethiopia. The way of doing business is simple and with no risk of failure. The first ladies simply seize shares as high as 50% of successful companies then just sit back and milk the “cash cow”. Governmental power is the ultimate as it is a license to print money. The process of Grand Larceny necessitates a huge number of powerful people and big businesses in the Western democracies; it is hardly surprising that the whole issue is shrouded in secrecy. The elite and powerful in Africa immersed in the obscenely pretentious and ultimately disgraceful luxury of the palaces and fortress they had built for themselves around the world, they had lost all touch with or sympathy for the people they had been duty-bound to care, for they have become wolves.

“Your Embrace” goes on “Mother you who shade no ill will; you promote unity the nine nationalities live in harmony. While our neighbors kill each other and become the laughing stock of the west. You Mother that prays in church and mosque Scared, as you are nothing evil converges. During the war of liberation with all the challenges, hardship and the ground on fire, you marched forward with genuineness like a caterpillar.

Your enemies bragging as if they had destroyed you; as if you were an easy foe. With all that deep pain you shouldered you have bear freedom and offered us peace. You have emerged from eternity to be free like a butterfly bringing the flag with olive tree. The days have become bright with sunshine realizing our potential to live rewarding life”.

Not long ago there were symposiums given by different ministries and regional administrators in different region of Eritrea. The ministers and governors gave in-depth analysis of the achievements of the last 20 years and the five-year development plan.

The different symposiums avowed food security has been the priority in the national drive for development. Hence, Agro-Macro policy was devised, Irrigation based agriculture was introduced to increase output and create surplus in cereal corps, vegetables, fruits, and livestock. Dams, micro-dams and water diversion schemes were constructed. Since 1991 in Gash Barka region alone 67,754 hectares of land has been cultivated 35,500 hectares by irrigation, 20,980-splash irrigation 2,257 hectares uses spray irrigation and 1,100 hectares use drip irrigation. Agro-industries have also been put in place case in point; Aligider cotton farm, Elabered agro-industry, Mersanni, Afhimbole, Gerset, the Fancos and Ad Omer agro-industry. In the Northern red sea region with the focus on agriculture, over 90,000 hectares have been utilized and a number of agricultural infrastructure programs have been implemented which increase domestic consumption. The Red Sea coastline is rich in fish, lobster, shrimp, crab and anchovies. Annually 80,000 tones of fish and 50,000 tones of Anchovies and Sardines can be harvested for export. In-addition there is abundant of fresh water fish for domestic consumption. Poultry farm, honey farms and animal husbandry are new industry. The animal husbandry at Alebu is one set to export meat and hide. The North, Central and the Anseba regions all have large farms. One can drive from Asmara to Adi-Begiou near the border with Ethiopia on the Northern side crossing the Menguda National reserve coming down hill to reach Shiketi. The farmland starts from Shiketi until your reach Adi-Begiou. In-addition, the Hazemo, Halai, Kohaito plains and Saho settlements are all farmlands. The land is reach and looks as if one is crossing the wheat fields of the Mid-West in America. There are 50,000 hectares of land available for farming in the Northern region alone, 138 dams, and 256 ponds that hold 50 million meter Quebec water. In the last 15 years, the Eritrean Agriculture has emerged from subsistence farming to a modern agro-business.

It is human to be concerned and assist the less fortunate the 4.2 million starving Ethiopians the 200,000 homeless that sleep on the street of Addis Ababa and the many more East African countries need help. Eritrea on the other hand as avowed in the aforementioned paragraphs has leaped forward into agro-industry, has become a nation of self-reliance, and does not need food handouts.

Mrs. Ambassador; The Eritrean people want nothing more than to make their own choices, live according to their own values and to do so without relying on others. Self-reliance treasured in Eritrean traditional custom and highly cherished has been the national asset and not food handouts NGOs or UN. For once, think as a mother and not as a diplomat. A nation and people that is working hard as ever to capitalize on its water resources toiling its land to ensure food security does not deserve to be sanctioned.