Biddho.com Eritrea - Rising To The Challenges! - Eritrea & U.S. Rescue of its Puppet in the Region, Ethiopia

Home

News

Eritrea & U.S. Rescue of its Puppet in the Region, Ethiopia

Written by Sam B.

Sunday, 28 October 2007

On August 17, 2007, U.S. administration threatened to place the Government of Eritrea (GoE) on its State Sponsors of Terrorist List and warned that if it followed thru it will put severe sanctions on Eritrea - political and economic sanctions that included denying Eritrea's ability to collect taxes from its citizens in the U.S. and deny Eritrean Americans from sending remittance to their relatives in Eritrea.

Since then many Eritreans have been vocal and invective in their denouncement of Jendayi E. Frazer, U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, the messenger that delivered the administrations threat, for her lies, incompetence and whatever real or perceived deficiency the ‘lady’ may have.

Some fringe minority elements within the atrociously ineffective and barely existent Eritrean opposition group, and of course the minority TPLF regime in Ethiopia, have also denounced Eritrea for bringing these actions onto itself by its involvement in Somalia, as well as, allowing the Somalia opposition group to gather for their peaceful conference in Eritrea.

These two groups are lead astray in their judgment by the narrow perspective they have adapted, these misguided views, if unintentional, can possibly be rectified by considering a proper contextual perspective.

It helps to recollect the historical U.S. Department of State (USDS) hostility toward Eritrea's independence, as well as, U.S. attempt to place Eritrea in economic and political difficulty. This is not new nor is it the brainchild of Jendayi Frazer. Jendayi Frazer is a minion that is new to the seen and will only hold her position in USDS temporarily. She is nothing but another cog in the Imperial machine just like all her predecessors, including Susan Rice. It is best not to confuse the role of these minions and messengers play with the overall institutional imperative that drives the neo-liberal and hegemonic policies of the self declared single sovereign of the world. The minions hardly have any influence on the overall policy they are at best facilitators.

An example will suffice to show both groups, the one's that denounce Jendayi Frazer and the inept opponents GoE, that they miss the mark is to show that current GoE Somalia policy has little to do with U.S. administration’s threats to sanction the GoE. To prove that one has to show that current U.S. threats/polices are not new and predate present excuse to sanction Eritrea.

Those that say that September 11, 2001 has changed the world and US policies are driven accordingly and Eritreans ought not to have fraternized with their Somali brethren should consider the fact that these same threats were made against Eritrea by previous U.S. administrations prior to September 11, 2001 under different pretexts. As a matter of fact it can safely be said that the only time these U.S. threats/polices against Eritrea rear their ugly head is only when the U.S. puppet in the region, Ethiopia, finds itself in a precarious position as a result of its miscalculation and warmongering. Then and only then are these policies advanced in order to protect the genocidal regime that is engaged in multiple wars within and outside its borders. The design is to buy time for the weak regime, as has already happened in the 1998-2000 Eritrea Ethiopia border war. At that time when the Eritrea military had the upper hand the U.S. administration felt it needed to pull the same threats on Eritrea in order to buy its puppet some time to reorganize and re-arm.

Thus these threats are nothing new, and may have been expected by Eritrea. For instance Susan Rice in her on May 25, 1999 testimony before the House Committee on International Relations Africa Subcommittee attempted to associate Eritrea with terrorism, she stated:

"We are very concerned by credible reports that Eritrea has delivered large quantities of weapons and munitions to self-proclaimed Somalia President Hussein Aideed for the use of a violent faction of the Oromo Liberation Front. The terrorist organization Al-Ittihad may also be an indirect recipient of these arms."

Incidentally the U.S. administration at the same time also attempted place "severe sanctions" on Eritrea as it is doing now. The New York Times, in its May 2000 report titled, "U.S. Did Little to Deter Buildup as Ethiopia and Eritrea Prepared for War, " stated that:

"As the Ethiopians step up their assault by bombing targets near Eritrean Red Sea ports, the diplomats say they are still talking to both sides. But they are also considering more severe sanctions, like limiting the ability of the Eritreans to collect remittances from friends and relatives in the United States ...In an interview, Ms. Rice said 'different sanctions' were considered at different points."

That was 1999, no September 11 excuse needed. Given that in 1998 U.S. Department of State economic assessment of Eritrea was that "worker remittances from abroad currently contribute 40%-50% of GDP" it is obvious how badly the U.S. administration wanted to undermine Eritrea’s ability for self defense in favour of Ethiopia. One Eritrean at the time commented as follows:

“One particularly heartless measure that the Clinton Administration considered taking, at one point, was to prohibit Eritreans and Ethiopians who live in the U.S. from remitting money to their relatives back home. This is not a product of the rumor mill! It came straight out of the 'horse's mouth': Clinton's 'point woman' on African/Horn affairs, Susan Rice. Now, everyone knows (and the Clinton Administration more so than anyone else), that Eritrea was the one that stood to get hurt the most by such a move. That is because of the critical importance of remittances, not only to individual Eritrean families, but also at a national level. For Ethiopia, it is an altogether different story. At a national level, remittances from Ethiopians to their country would hardly be missed, if they dried up completely. "

These policies are not the result of Jendayi Frazer lies and/or incompetence; it predates her appointment. More importantly it indicates the inflexible continuity of hostility against Eritrea, it only changes pretext and never its aim to weaken Eritrea. The policies have nothing to do with actual Eritrean connection with shady organizations. These policies are not as a result of September 11, 2001 and the new pretext of terrorist threat. As demonstrate by the above examples it predates it. These policies in fact stretch as far back as the 1950’s with special intensification in the 1970’s. The only consistency of these threats/policies is that it appears when successive U.S. puppet regimes in the region, Ethiopia, finds itself in much precarious position and requires its master to rescue it. It is the best indicator of the TPLF regime desperation.

This time is no different, TPLF mired in several quagmires both inside and outside its borders, ONLF in Ogaden, OLF in Oromia and an assortment of other groups both in the North and South of the country, as well as, been stuck in Somalia while facing Africa’s largest and most disciplined army in its border dispute with Eritrea, TPLF is feeling the bells toll for its dying regime. It needs its master now more than ever to defuse some of the pressures at least if not to save its neck. Unfortunately for TPLF this time it does not appear to work.

Those that are looking at individual officials role and/or at Eritrea’s Foreign Policy for explanation into U.S. actions, threats and policies in the region they would be misguided in their approach. It would be best to focus on the historic precedent of consistent meddling by big powers in the region directly and/or through their puppets.

SAM B.

Comments

Add New

RSS

samuel - exquse me who told u that erit

| 196.0.0.xxx | 2008-01-23 13:53:28

we dont wonna wor we just wonna peace peace is good just u too eritrea and etthopa we are the same but coz of land many ppl dying

Only registered users can write comments!

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 October 2007 )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

>> Download MP3 Song - "Egermenalo" by Wedi Tikabo

For The Record

Ethiopia rejects the Eritrean imaginary claim of sovereign territory occupied by Ethiopia

United States causes or lengthens crises worldwide

STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR. OSMAN SALEH
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE STATE OF ERITREA
AT THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 63rd SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY NEW YORK, 29 SEPTEMBER 2008

Osman Mohammed Saleh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Eritrea: Report of Speech at the UN General Assembly

German Finance Minister says US will no longer be the financial Superpower

Bailout talks stall as Bush meets with Congressional leaders and Presidential candidates. German Finance Minister says US will no longer be the financial Superpower. French President Sarkozy says the days when "the all powerful market is always right are over". The Real News Network spoke to economist and historian Dr. Michael Hudson who says that it's not a "bailout" but a "giveaway" and will create a new kleptocracy of billionaires.

Watch Video: