14 December 2012 | awate.com
Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki has asked Qatar to mediate his
long-standing feud with “arch-rival” Ethiopia. This message was
communicated to the new Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalgn,
by Qatar, while the Ethiopian prime minister was conducting a state
visit.
Isaias Afwerki has offered to attend mediation talks without any pre-conditions.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hailemariam Desalegn told his
interviewer that he would be willing to travel to Eritrea to hold
face-to-face talks with Isaias Afwerki and that this was a long-standing
Ethiopian policy: “My predecessor Meles Zenawi had asked for more than 50 times even to go to Asmara and negotiate with Mister Isaias Afwerki,” he said.
Qatar, which is showing greater interest in the region, is weary of
the growing Turkish influence in the Horn of Africa. Recently, the Turkish foreign minister visited Asmara
at the invitation of Isaias Afwerki, who wanted him to mediate between
the new Somali regime and the Eritrean regime. But while in Asmara,
Isaias also informed the Turkish foreign minister that he is working to
normalize relations with Ethiopia and that he had asked Qatar to
mediate.
Isaias Afwerki is facing internal crisis represented by acute
shortage of electricity, water and basic food items including milk
throughout Eritrea. This has exacerbated the crisis within the military
where morale has hit rock bottom due to the confusing command and
control hierarchy–where Isaias bypasses his direct reports to
communicate directly with more junior officers–mass desertion which has
hollowed out the forces, inadequate salaries and rampant corruption
within the officer class.
To head off revolt within the armed forces, Isaias Afwerki has
started to arm the entire civilian population and to structure them in
what is known as Hzbawi Serawit, or People’s Army, modeled
after Communist China, where Isaias Afwerki received his first
revolutionary indoctrination in the 1960s.
In the streets of Eritrea, old men and women carrying AK-47s is a
common sight. It is not unusual to witness women carrying AK-47s while
holding their babies and farmers as old as sixty plough their land while
carrying their guns.
Isaias Afwerki is on record, repeatedly, for stating that he would
never enter into negotiations with Ethiopia other than to discuss the
mechanism for strict implementation of the ruling of Eritrea-Ethiopian
Boundary Commission (EEBC.) While a separate body, the Eritrea Ethiopia
Claims Commission (EECC) largely put the blame on Eritrea for starting
the war, the symbolic flashpoint of the border war, Badme, was awarded
to Eritrea by the EEBC. The Boundary Commission ended up conducting
“virtual demarcation” after being frustrated by Ethiopia’s refusal to
strictly abide by the ruling and demanding dialogue on implementing the
ruling purportedly to avoid disrupting the lives of Ethiopian citizens.
Isaias Afwerki also has a history of acting in way diametrically
opposed to his loud and frequent assertions, but only after he has been
penalized for his intransigence. For one thing, after repeatedly
telling the United Nations that he had no dispute with Djibouti and
therefore nothing to resolve, he agreed to mediation (Djibouti Eritrea Mediation Agreement) without acknowledging to his people that he had done so. However, in the interim, the UN had imposed sanctions (S/Res/1907(2009))
on Eritrea in no small part due to Isaias’s refusal to admit that he
went to war with Djibouti, that he is holding Djibouti prisoners of war,
and that he should admit this and seek resolution.
The mediator for the Eritrea-Djbouti dispute is also Qatar, which has
stationed its armed forces in a buffer zone between Eritrea and
Djibouti.
awate.com
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