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Eritreans are happy about peace and wary of Isaias’ promises | Ethiopia

by Zelalem
written by Zelalem

Ever since Ethiopia announced in early June that it will fully accept the terms of a 2000 peace agreement with neighbouring Eritrea, the pace of normalisation of relations between the two countries has been truly stunning.

First, a high-level Eritrean delegation made a visit to Addis Ababa on June 26 and kickstarted the talks on ending the decades-long conflict. Only a couple of weeks later, Ethiopia’s reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made a landmark visit to Asmara and met the Eritrean president face-to-face. 

As the convoy carrying Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki – who personally greeted his guest at the Asmara airport – travelled across the city, people waved the twinned flags of Ethiopia and Eritrea and threw flowers and corn. Portraits of Abiy and large Ethiopian flags could be seen on public buildings around the city.

At a state dinner Isaias hosted in honour of Abiy, the two leaders took turns in praising each other. In a televised speech, Isaias said he was “grateful” for the peace efforts of the Ethiopian prime minister. He said that the two countries have already made up for most of what was lost in the past 20 years of conflict.

Abiy, who gave a speech in both Tigrinya and Amharic, similarly expressed his unyielding appreciation to Isaias, the Eritrean leadership and the religious leaders who are expected to take a leading role in the normalisation of relations. 

Only a day after the start of the landmark summit, the two leaders signed a “joint declaration of peace and friendship”, officially ending the conflict between the two nations.

On Sunday, direct international telephone lines between Ethiopia and Eritrea were restored for the first time in two decades. Soon the embassies will reopen and the airlines of the two countries will start operating flights between Asmara and Addis Ababa. These are important developments that will undoubtedly help both the Eritrean and Ethiopian people to return to a state of normalcy. 

These displays of peace and brotherhood between the two nations are unprecedented in recent history. After all, for the last 20 years, the Ethiopian flags in Eritrea could only be seen in state-sponsored films demonising and ridiculing the neighbouring nation and its leaders.

An acquaintance from Asmara described the atmosphere in the city after Abiy’s arrival as jubilant and welcoming. “It was a genuine welcome,” he told me, “both a celebration and a sigh of relief. People were allowed to express their jubilation”.

Keeping Eritreans in the dark

It is not a secret that the Eritrean state media only covers news that is acceptable to the Eritrean leadership. By now, Eritreans have learned not to rely on official sources and navigate other, more reliable news sources to find out – at least partially – what is going on in their country. But it is still very hard for ordinary Eritreans to access these alternative news sources.

While the Eritrean leadership did indeed welcome Ethiopia’s efforts to normalise relations, it did not take any steps to ease its tight grip on the media. When Isaias announced his decision to dispatch a high-level delegation to Eritrea, the state media did not explain the reasons behind the president’s decision, or what actually happened during the visit. They only announced the departure and return of the delegation.

Moreover, until the morning of Abiy’s arrival in Asmara, the details of the visit were still unclear.

During the visit, the state media made sure the Eritrean leader got credit for the unexpected rapprochement, praising him for his endurance and long-sightedness. Reporters on state TV channels read quotes from his past speeches in an attempt to show the nation that the developments of the past month did not come as a surprise to their leader and he actually planned for all this to happen for a very long time.

But beyond these formal pronouncements, ordinary Eritreans have largely been kept in the dark, as usual. Such levels of secrecy and censorship are putting the long-awaited peace process at risk.

If the state media does not start to adequately inform Eritreans about what is really going on, they will soon start to lose any remaining trust they have in their leadership and, even more importantly, in the possibility of peace.

As they are being kept in the dark about the negotiations with Ethiopia, some Eritreans are becoming increasingly cynical about them. Some are questioning Isaias’ motivations for supporting the peace process. The mood outside Eritrea is even worse. Some in the Eritrean diaspora already believe that Isaias is collaborating with Abiy only to prolong his time in power.

Eritreans are sceptical about any promises of peace and prosperity coming from Isaias for a good reason. The Eritrean president previously promised that the booming mining industry would transform Eritrea into a modern state. Yet, living standards have only deteriorated in the past few years.

Back in 2014, Isaias promised to draft another constitution, limiting the duration of the compulsory military service, but such a document has not materialised to this day.

These are just two examples of Isaias’ long track record of distorting the truth and breaking his promises. Because of this history, some Eritreans now question his sincerity about normalisation efforts.

However, it is too early to speculate whether he is viewing the peace efforts as yet another opportunity to buy more time in power.

For these historic efforts to come to fruition and sustainable peace to be built between the two nations, Isaias will need to convince his people that for once he is going to keep his promise and put their needs before his own. Eritreans are eagerly waiting for their leader to do so.  

They are also desperately waiting for the normalisation of trade, the opening of the land borders, immediate demilitarisation, wide-range amnesty, national reconciliation, and overall restoration of human dignity.

If Isaias fails to take these steps, his and the Ethiopian prime minister’s hopeful and self-congratulatory speeches will be nothing but footnotes in history.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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Ethiopia/Eritrea – The Great Illusion : Part VI Isaias Afwerki’s Colonial Question

by Zelalem
written by Zelalem

Ethiopia/Eritrea – The Great Illusion : Part VI Isaias Afwerki’s Colonial Question

By Worku Aberra

Fictional stories serve useful purposes. Ethiopians tell teret, parables to convey a moral message; and Isaias, the EPLF, and its supporters have been telling the fiction that “Eritrea was a colony of Ethiopia” to sanction independence. Today, other ethnic fundamentalist groups, including the TPLF in the past, are doing the same.

Isaias told the two interviewers that the struggle in Eritrea was an anti-colonial struggle. Even after 25 years of Eritrea’s independence, even after having achieved his cherished dream, even after being crowned the “founding father” of Eritrea, he still repeats the false claim. It seems that the fiction has become an article of faith, almost a dogma, for him and for members of the EPLF.

A Colonial Question or a National Question

The question of whether Eritrea was a colony of Ethiopia or not had been exhaustively discussed in the Ethiopian student movement in the 1970s (and more recently, here); today the debate is moot. The theoretical discussion has been settled by the reality of Eritrea’s independence. Largely thanks to the missteps of the Haile Selassie government and the atrocities of the Derg, Eritrea has become an independent country.

Despite the false hopes that Isaias has been raising since 1991 about the possibility of federation, confederation, or some kind of “economic arrangement” between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Eritrea’s independence is irreversible. We should accept this fact.

Eritrea’s Independence is Irreversible

Eritreans oppose the dictator intensely, but they also treasure their independence immensely. Like Ethiopians, they too want to build a democratic and prosperous nation of their own; they want to salute their own flag, sing their own national anthem, celebrate their own independence day; in short, make their own history. We should respect that.

Opposing Isaias’ Dictatorship

One should not confuse the opposition of the Eritrean people to Isaias’ dictatorship with a longing to re-unite with Ethiopia. That is not the case. At the same time, the emotional attachment of Ethiopians to Eritrea has considerably subsided over the last 25 years, although their yearning to re-integrate Assab remains strong. Most Ethiopians have accepted Eritrea’s independence, with the exception of the status of Assab. (I will discuss the issue in a series of commentaries in the future).

My intention in addressing “Ethiopian colonialism” is not to rehash the old debates, but to expose its logical inconsistencies. My commentary is not concerned with the theoretical intricacies, subtleties, and nuances of “Ethiopian colonialism”, but rather with its political motivations, ramifications, and repercussions for national unity. (In the next piece, I will attempt to demonstrate these).

The Need to Debate the Issue

Since Isaias has insisted on the fiction of “Ethiopian colonialism” and since other ethnic fundamentalist organizations have also adopted it as a political weapon, a potentially lethal one at that, the fiction must be addressed squarely, logically, and publicly. But rejecting the validity of “Ethiopian colonialism” is not justifying the brutalities of the Derg in the past or that of the TPLF-controlled regime today. One can take a principled position of rebuking “Ethiopian colonialism” while simultaneously condemning the atrocities of the regime, as I do. I condemn the crimes committed by the regime’s security forces against innocent people of the Ogaden.

Logical Inconsistencies of “Ethiopian Colonialism”

Let’s accept the assertion that “Eritrea was a colony of Ethiopia”, as if it were true. The EPLF and its supporters declare that when the federation was dissolved in 1962, Ethiopia colonized Eritrea. There are a number of logical problems with this equation of dissolving the federal arrangement with colonialism.

“Ethiopian Colonialism”: Logical Inconsistencies

When the EPLF invokes the word “colonialism”, it is not referring to a kingdom conquering a region as in ancient times, for example the Axumite kingdom conquering the region what is known as Yemen today.

What the EPLF is referring to is the colonialism that emerged in 19th century Europe as a result of the development of industrial capitalism. The search for raw materials and larger markets to meet the demands of industrial capitalism brought about European colonialism. Of course, it would be absurd to argue that Ethiopia needed a colony for its industrial production, as there was hardly any. The EPLF does not make such a claim; actually,
it makes the opposite claim.

“Advanced” Eritrea and “Backward” Ethiopia

The EPLF has consistently argued that Eritrea was economically “advanced” and Ethiopia was “backward” when Ethiopia “colonized” Eritrea in 1962. If this assertion is correct, then manufactured goods and capital should have flown from “industrialized” Eritrea to “backward” Ethiopia. And if that is the case, the logical question is: which country was the colony and which was the colonizer? So, the EPLF’s claim that “advanced Eritrea” became a colony of “backward” Ethiopia is logically contradictory, economically speaking. It makes no sense at all.

Shared Culture, History, and Values

Second, despite Isaias’ denial in the past, today he recognizes that the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia share the same culture, history, and values, but colonies, especially African colonies, and their colonizers don’t share the same history, culture, and values, at any rate not before they became colonies. The Kikuyus have nothing in common with the English or the Ibos with the Scots. At a social level, leaders of the anti-colonial struggle were not descendants of colonizers. Robert Mugabe’s ancestors were not British, but Isaias’ parents were Ethiopian because of the strong cultural and social integration between Ethiopians and Eritreans.

The Suggestion for Economic Union with Ethiopia

Third, formers colonies don’t appeal for an economic union with their former colonizers because the union could result in a neocolonial relationship. Kenya has not pleaded for an economic union with Britain; it may have requested preferential duties for its exports. But Isaias and the EPLF have been calling for an economic union with Ethiopia since 1991. If Ethiopia was the colonizer, why would Eritrea want to revive the colonial relationship?

“The Sanctity of Colonial Borders “

Forth, Isaias argues that Eritrea’s colonial borders must be sacrosanct, they must be respected, consistent with the charter of the African Union, but when discussing the border war of 1998-2000, he dismisses the borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea by saying that “… borders are meaningless… a border that never existed … the border is a distortion of reality, of history…” He asks the question: “… why do we need borders in the first place?”
These statements are baffling. For someone who claims that he waged an “anti-colonial” war for 25 years and who upholds the sanctity of colonial borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea, to argue that there had been no borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea and to engage in a war over “non-existing borders” is mind boggling. Which of his two positions is correct, the sacrosanct colonial borders or the non-existent borders? The latter claim invalidates the former.

Social Integration among Ethiopians and Eritreans

Fifth, unlike European colonizers, the Ethiopian people, including the Amhara “colonizers”, have never felt ethnically superior to Eritreans; on the contrary, Ethiopians and Eritreans have always considered each other brothers and sisters of equal status. In fact, because of extensive social and cultural interactions and frequent inter-ethnic marriages, many Ethiopians are of mixed heritage. Few Ethiopians are ethnically “pure”. This interaction explains why Ethiopians are tolerant towards each other, despite the numerous attempts to create ethnic conflict by small-mined politicians.

Even the ruling elite during the era of the so-called “Ethiopian colonialism” did not harbour any “superiority complex” towards the Eritrean people. Emperor Haile Selassie married one of his granddaughters to an Eritrean, Dr. Seyoum Haregot. Can you imagine King Leopold III of Belgium marrying one of his daughters to a Congolese tribal chief? Never!!

Independence without Colonialism

It is clear that the quest for independence does not always require colonial oppression. The separation of South Sudan from the Sudan, the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan; and the break-up of former Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union did not result from colonial subjugation. But the fiction of “Ethiopian colonialism” must be retained to be used as an altar for sanctifying secessionism.

The claim of “Ethiopian colonialism”, as I have attempted to show above, is logically incoherent. It collapses under its own internal inconsistencies. The economic arguments supporting the claim are non-existent; the cultural arguments, exaggerated; and the historical arguments, shaky; yet the fiction lives on because, when mixed with the ideology of ethnic fundamentalism, it serves as a useful political instrument for raising “ethnic awareness” (tactical element # 1 in Isaias’ formula), an arsenal for dividing, weakening, and eventually dismantling Ethiopia.

The solution to the problems facing all Ethiopians, regardless of ethnicity, is not contriving a construct that divides the Ethiopian people along ethnic lines, but making the most of Ethiopia’s rich cultural, religious, and regional diversity to forge unity for the common good.

Worku Aberra (PhD) teaches economics at Dawson College in Montreal, Canada.

Ethiopia-Eritrea: The Great Illusion

By Worku Abera

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Eritrean President Says U.S. is Behind Ethiopia Attack

by yeEthiopiaforums
written by yeEthiopiaforums
  • Isaias Afeworki accuses U.S. of siding with Ethiopia

* President says aim is to divert attention from border spat

* Ethiopia has attacked rebel bases inside Eritrea

* U.S. denies involvement in attacks (Adds U.S. embassy comment in paras 8-10)

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, March 26 (Reuters) – Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki accused the United States of plotting cross-border raids by Ethiopian troops, saying the two allies were out to divert attention from a festering border spat in the volatile Horn of Africa.

Addis Ababa, Washington’s main ally in the region, said it attacked military bases used by rebels inside Eritrea e arlier this month.

The incursion followed a raid by an Eritrea-based rebel group into Ethiopia’s remote Afar region in January in which five foreign tourists were killed and two kidnapped.

Last week’s attacks were the first on Eritrean soil that Ethiopia has admitted to since the end of a 1998-2000 war that claimed 70,000 lives and left a border dispute unresolved.

Eritrea says there have been others.

Meles-zenawi-isaias-afewerki

“We have seen several attacks, not just one. We prefer not to talk about it and don’t intend to be involved in provocations,” Isaias told Eritrean state TV in an interview late on Sunday that was later broadcast on the Internet.

“The military incursions were plotted by Washington with the aim of diverting attention from implementing the boundary commission’s decision,” he said.

The U.S. embassy in the Eritrean capital of Asmara denied it had been involved in the attacks.

“The United States was not involved in the March 15 attack by Ethiopian forces inside Eritrea, contrary to media reports that have circulated in and outside of Eritrea,” the embassy said in a statement.

“The United States categorically rejects any allegations that it planned, participated in, or supported the attack.”

Ethiopian officials could not be reached for comment.

The Hague-based boundary commission awarded the border village of Badme to Eritrea in 2002, but Ethiopia has yet to conform with the ruling, insisting on further negotiations on its implementation.

The United Nations has called for restraint between the two neighbours, saying bilateral tensions risked undermining efforts to foster security and stability in the region.

MISSILES AND SANCTIONS

In Sunday’s interview, Isaias said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had “fanned up” Ethiopia’s incursion to divert global attention from the 10th anniversary of the border ruling and its implementation.

He also accused Washington of masterminding the sanctions that the U.N. Security Council imposed on Eritrea in 2009 and 2011, alleging it had provided funds and weapons to Islamist insurgents in Somalia – charges that Eritrea flatly denies.

“Proxies implement the U.S.’ misguided agenda in the region. These unjustified sanctions against Eritrea reflect this agenda,” Isaias said.

Ethiopia, a key ally in the United States’ global war on Islamist insurgents, has deployed troops inside Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked militants.

Isaias routinely claims Washington sided with Eritrea’s arch-foe during the border war for “geo-strategic reasons”.

In a leaked cable from the U.S. embassy in Asmara, former U.S. ambassador Ronald McMullen said Isaias feared the U.S. would try to kill him by firing a missile on his residence in the coastal city of Massawa.

The cable also showed that Isaias believes Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi tried to have him killed in 1996 when an aircraft that Meles offered for his travel caught fire during a flight. (Editing by James Macharia, John Stonestreet and Toby Chopra)

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Is Eritrea Ready to Reform?

by yeEthiopiaforums
written by yeEthiopiaforums

Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki concludes his three-day ”peace trip” to Uganda later on Thursday.

His visit comes at a time when Eritrea is seeking to rejoin the regional development group the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad). The country left Igad in 2007 after the body – made up of Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia – supported Ethiopia’s military intervention to back the weak government in Somalia.

But a UN monitoring report released last month accused Eritrea of funding and arming Somalia’s Islamist al-Shabab group. Eritrea has denied this, claiming it is propaganda aimed at discrediting it in the region.
Isaias-afeworki-in-uganda

Meanwhile, human rights groups say Eritrea’s regime is authoritarian and militarised with no tolerance for opposition or dissent.

Do you think Eritrea is ready to change? As analysts say Eritrea  wants to rebuild regional ties, should its neighbours be willing to build bridges? Should Eritrea be re-admitted to Igad? If you are in Eritrea, or an Eritrean abroad, what is your view? And if you are from a different African country, would you like your president to receive the Eritrean president?

Source: BBC

Put your answer in the Comment below.

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Uganda invites reclusive Eritrea leader Isaias Afewerki for visit

by yeEthiopiaforums
written by yeEthiopiaforums

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda has invited Eritrea’s leader, President Isaias Afewerki, accused by the West of stoking Somalia’s Islamist rebellion and destabilising the east African region, to a state visit next week, Uganda’s State House said.

Eritrea rejoined the East African bloc IGAD last month, four years after it walked out on the body in protest at arch-foe Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia to oust an Islamist administration the United States said had ties to al Qaeda.

“Eritrea is one of the strategically vital countries to the stability of the region, especially in the Horn of Africa and the wider global agenda,” State House said in a statement late on Thursday.


A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia and Eritrea said in late July that Asmara was bankrolling al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants in Somalia. Al Shabaab claimed they were behind a twin suicide bomb attack on the Ugandan capital, Kampala, last year.

Horn of Africa experts say that Isaias has become increasingly diplomatically isolated. Leader of one of the world’s most secretive states, Isaias makes few state visits.

The U.N. has imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea, as well as a travel ban and an asset freeze on Eritrean political and military leaders who it says are violating an arms embargo on Somalia.

Asmara denies the charges, and accuses the United States and neighbouring Ethiopia of “irresponsible interference”.

Source:Reuters

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Eritrean ambassador to Kenya Beyene Russom at his office in Nairobi during an interview.
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Eritrea : We are not the “Bad boy”

by yeEthiopiaforums
written by yeEthiopiaforums

Three events in quick succession have forced Eritrea to go on the defensive with its envoy in Nairobi declaring , “we have never been the bad boy”.

Despite the firm declaration of innocence by Asmara, the recent report by the UN Security Monitoring Group and assertions by leaders of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) provided ammunition for warring Eritrea and Ethiopia to renew their rivalry.

The two have escalated the row, with Asmara stating that the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was behind the smear campaign while Ethiopia has countered by asking its neighbour to own up and behave.

Kenya finds itself the battleground as the two protagonists fire salvos at each other. That Asmara has been boxed into a corner is not in doubt.

Security measures

President Mwai Kibaki, as the chairman of Igad, set the ball rolling when he told his counterparts in the region to enhance security measures to curb the increasing destabilisation activities associated with Eritrea.

Even before Asmara could fully digest this information, the UN Security Monitoring Group unleashed a much harsher assessment of the country’s complicity with armed groups in Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

The UN report published “documentary evidence of Eritrean payments to a number of individuals with links to al Shabaab” through its embassy in Nairobi.

The mission is accused of making routine cash payments to members of Somali armed groups, but the administration of President Isaias Afewerki has in the past officially denied that it has ever “transferred cash to armed opposition group leaders or supporters,” the UN reported.

Eritrean ambassador to Kenya Beyene Russom at his office in Nairobi during an interview.

Eritrean ambassador to Kenya Beyene Russom at his office in Nairobi during an interview.

The report also accuses Eritrea of plotting to bomb the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. Asmara responded by reactivating its Igad membership which it had frozen in December 2006.

But Eritrean ambassador to Nairobi Beyene Russom denies that his government reactivated its membership in Igad because of the looming backlash from the international community over its alleged dalliance with al Shabaab.

The decision to return to the Igad fold, he said, was necessitated by recent changes in the region, including the creation of the new state of South Sudan and the growing humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.

“Four-and-a-half years since we froze our membership, there has been the birth of a new country, South Sudan. We are very friendly with both Juba and Khartoum. We also have very good diplomatic relations with Kenya and Uganda, and we are solving the stage-managed and that never-was-border issue created as a problem with Djibouti bilaterally. We think it’s high time now to reactivate our membership, believing that we can work for the peace and security of the region inside Igad again,” the envoy said.

Kenya and Ethiopia, as are the rest of Igad members, are positive about Eritrea’s return.

In Nairobi, acting Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Patrick Wamoto told the Sunday Nation that Kenya would not oppose Eritrea’s return to the Igad bloc.

The Ethiopian embassy, too, said Addis Ababa would not object. “They are welcome. It is out of their own free will to sit in Igad,” said Fiseha Shawel, charge d’affaires at the Ethiopian mission in Nairobi.

Mr Russom told the Sunday Nation that Eritrea had been compelled to freeze its membership because Igad did not stop, or at least condemn, Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia, which was against a UN Security Council Resolution 1725 (2006).

One of the key points of Resolution 1725 was a call for an all-inclusive Somali dialogue for peace and reconciliation. At the same time, it sought to prevent frontline states from intervening militarily in Somalia.

But just two weeks after the resolution was passed, Ethiopia invaded Somalia to fight the Islamic Courts Union leader Sheikh Sharif Hassan (whose military wing was al Shabaab).

Eritrea claims that the invasion by Ethiopia had “some sort of blessing from Igad” because the regional bloc did not condemn it.

“We tabled our opposition but to no avail. So we thought that in addition to Igad’s indolence towards the Ethiopian invasion of Eritrea in 1998 and in 2000, we could not work inside Igad because it was not working for one of its holy agendas – peace and security of the region,” the envoy said.

Eritrea also vehemently denies UN and Igad allegations that it is supporting terrorism.

Smear campaign

The allegations have escalated the diplomatic row, with Asmara asserting that Addis Ababa was behind the smear campaign. Prme Minister Meles’ government countered by saying that Ethiopia was not to blame.

Addis Ababa has often been uncomfortable with Eritrea over its alleged close ties with Ethiopian rebel groups Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The two groups have been fighting the Ethiopian government.

The two neighbours have also been at loggerheads over border demarcation since signing a peace agreement in 2000.

Mr Russom wants the region and the international community to put pressure on Ethiopia to fully implement the verdict of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission that is agreed to be final and binding.

Source: DailyNation

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The bad boy of the Horn of Africa: How Eritrea’s strongman uses Kenya as a terror finance hub

by yeEthiopiaforums
written by yeEthiopiaforums

In early July, as Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki headed to Addis Ababa to chair a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), a six-country partnership formed to address issues of drought, security and development in the Horn of Africa, he sounded a stern warning to Eritrea.

For Kibaki, a president who is not known for his love of dramatic public gesture, to adopt a hostile posture against another country, there must have been more to the issue than the government was revealing to the public.

In March, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — whose country has a strong security partnership with Kenya — had also warned that his government would use “all possible means” to depose Eritrea’s 67-year old strongman Isaias Afewerki, with whom he had fought a bloody secessionist war that killed 70,000 people between 1998 and 2000.

However, with the release of the UN Monitoring Group report on Somalia and Eritrea last week, it is now becoming clearer why Afewerki has gained the reputation of the bad boy of the Horn of Africa, a pariah state under international sanctions for sponsoring terrorism in the region.
While Eritrea has in the past been repeatedly accused of supporting Somalia’s Islamist militia Al Shabaab, a charge it strenuously denies, the current report catalogues Afewerki’s growing notoriety in the world of terrorism finance, and in particular the global web through which these funds are routed, with Kenya serving as a global transaction distribution hub.

The report details the country’s activities in funding the terror group, following the money trail from its citizens in the diaspora in Europe and North America, through Dubai and the Eritrean embassy in Nairobi, and into the hands of Al Shabaab, all the while concealed in convoluted and opaque informal financial networks.

Isaias-afeworki

East Africa "Bad boy" Isaias Afeworki

The details of Eritrea’s destabilising role in the Horn of Africa are chilling, and would make good fodder for an action flick if only they were the stuff of fiction. The implications for the security of the greater East African region are deep and pertinent, so much so that the typically restrained President Kibaki came out strongly to chide Eritrea for supplying arms to Al Shabaab, calling upon Igad, which he chairs, to rein in the rogue state.

The report states that Eritrean support to armed opposition groups has routinely involved cash payments to members of rebel groups. The country only has a gross national income per capita of $360, among the lowest in the world. However, analysts say that in spite of its relative poverty, Eritrea’s ingrained siege mentality drives its foreign policy agenda relentlessly towards military activity, directing much of its revenue to armed opposition groups throughout the region, in the spirit of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend.”

Proxy war

The enemy is this case is Eritrea’s former colonial master Ethiopia. For both these countries, Somalia is merely the theatre of a raging proxy war, an extension of their longstanding border dispute, with each side supporting various rival factions and administrations since 1998. Al Shabaab is thus propped up by Eritrea’s determination to keep Ethiopia “off-kilter and overstretched,” according to British journalist Michela Wrong, writing in the Financial Times. Ms Wrong has written a bestselling book I Didn’t Do It for You, on the country’s struggle to free itself from various occupiers.

According to the report, Eritrea justifies its actions in Somalia by pointing to Ethiopia’s failure to implement the UN ruling of arbitration on the disputed border, and the continued presence of Ethiopian civilian officials and military forces on territory awarded to Eritrea.

The UN Monitoring Group indicates that cash transfers to Al Shabaab are facilitated by a vast and complex informal economy through which senior officials of the Eritrean government and ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) collect and control hundreds of millions of dollars each year in unofficial revenues, largely from taxation of Eritreans in the diaspora, and private business arrangements involving PFDJ-run companies or business partnerships abroad.
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EritreaEthiopiaNewsUncategorizedUnited States

Wikileaks: Eritrea attempts ‘charm offensive’ to woo Obama

by ocean
written by ocean

By Ethiopiaforums.com

After years of isolation, Eritrea’s government tried to re-engage with Washington after the election of President Barack Obama, with sometimes unpalatable results. Members of Eritrea’s “American Mafia,” senior party and government officials like Yemane Ghebreab and Hagos Ghebrehewit tried to loosened the diplomatic tension be inviting the ambassador to a picnic.

But the US ambassador makes plain that until Eritrea ends its support for Somali terrorists, there can be no normalization of bilateral relations.

Read the whole leaked document below

Monday, 09 February 2009, 14:53
S E C R E T ASMARA 000047
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E
EO 12958 DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS PREL, PTER, ECON, ER
SUBJECT: AN ERITREAN OVERTURE TO THE UNITED STATES
REF: ASMARA 35
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)

1. (C) SUMMARY: Senior Eritrean officials in recent weeks have signaled their interest in re-engaging with the United States in areas of mutual interest. They have done so by loosening

restrictions on Embassy Asmara (REF), by engaging in more diplomatic interaction with embassy personnel, by ending the daily anti-American diatribes in state-owned media, by sending congratulatory letters to President Obama and Secretary Clinton, and by authorizing over

$100,000 to support ongoing U.S. medical volunteer programs such as Physicians for Peace.

Senior officials invited the ambassador and his wife to spend a day on a family farm, the Defense Minister attended a representational event at the CMR, and Foreign Affairs officials tell us Isaias himself helped draft a white paper on re-engaging the United States. Post has bluntly told key

officials that Eritrean support for Somali extremists precludes a more normal bilateral relationship and warned that an al-Shabaab attack against the United States would trigger a strong and swift American reaction. END SUMMARY.

Yemane Ghebreab

"American Mafia" Yemane Ghebreab

2. (C) A PICNIC WITH THE “AMERICAN MAFIA”

—————————————–

Members of Eritrea’s “American Mafia,” senior party and government officials who speak fluent English and have lived in the United States, have taken the lead in signaling Eritrea’s interest in improved relations. On February 7, for example, the ambassador and his wife were invited to spend the day on the family farm of Hagos Ghebrehewit, the ruling party’s economic director (and architect of Eritrea’s imploding economy). Hagos, formerly a green card holder, was Eritrea’s first ambassador to the United States. Also present were the minister of health (an American citizen), the current Eritrean ambassador to the United States, and the party’s political director, Yemane Ghebreab. Lunch was served in a rocky gulch beneath a thorny acacia tree. The ambassador and his wife were treated to grilled sheep innards served with honey and chili sauce (but no silverware), washed down with a sour, semi-fermented traditional drink called, aptly, “sewa.” The other guests chided Hagos, only half jokingly, for his inability to run an economy, noting that Eritrea’s Coca-Cola plant and national brewery were both shuttered.

3. (C) THE DEFENSE MINISTER CELEBRATES GROUNDHOG DAY

——————————————— ——-

Defense Minister Sebhat Efrem attended a reception at the ambassador’s residence on February 2. This was the first Post invitation General Sebhat has accepted for almost two years. He and the ambassador discussed past military to military exchanges, training, and education. General Sebhat fondly remembers GIs from Kagnew Station who helped tutor his math and science classes as a young student; he said he hoped circumstances would permit a resumption of mil-mil relations. February 2 is also President Isaias’ birthday, yet General Sebhat chose to spend the evening celebrating Groundhog Day at the CMR.

4. (C) TOUGH TALK ON SUPPORTING TERRORISM

—————————————–

Despite the clear signals by party and government officials of their interest in exploring a less antagonistic bilateral relationship, the ambassador on three occasions in recent weeks has delivered a very straightforward and simple message: Eritrean support for Somali extremists obviates closer ties and Eritrea will be held accountable for any al-Shabaab attack on the United States. The ambassador shared unclassified information with key Eritrean authorities (including the detailed NPR report of January 28 on al-Shabaab’s recruitment and training of Minnesotans) to reinforce the seriousness and urgency of the al-Shabaab threat. One senior official acknowledged limited Eritrean contact with al-Shabaab, but claimed the contact was “infrequent and indirect.” He added, “If there was anything we could do to prevent a terrorist attack on the United States, we will do it.” The ambassador warned that Eritrea was in a very perilous situation, as its support for al-Shabaab makes Eritrea at least partially responsible for al-Shabaab’s actions, yet Eritrea does not control it. “Based on recent history, how do you think we would react to a major al-Shabaab terrorist attack against the United States?” the ambassador asked. This seems to have driven home the point to our Eritrean interlocutors.

5. (S) COMMENT

————–

Eritrea’s fundamental interest in re-engaging with the United States is to promote a “balanced” U.S. approach to its border dispute with Ethiopia. Isaias views everything through this lens. While we have delivered an unambiguously stark message on counterterrorism, we are uncertain how this will factor into Isaias’ opaque calculations. Among Eritrean and foreign observers, there is a growing consensus that Isaias is increasingly isolating himself and marginalizing all organs of government and the party. Can he and will he make a rational cost-benefit analysis on continued support for Somali extremists? Isaias might listen to the rulers of Libya and Qatar; we leave it to others to judge whether those messages would necessarily be helpful. Unlike the party, exiled opposition, or general Eritrean populace, the military’s officer corps has the wherewithal to precipitate a sudden change. We have seen no serious cracks in its loyalty, as the perceived external threat from Ethiopia trumps all else, but we will step up our efforts to cultivate cordial relations with key military leaders as circumstances permit. End Comment.

MCMULLEN

Source:Guradian

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Isaias Afeworki
EritreaEthiopiaNewsUncategorizedWikileaksWorld

Wikileaks: Eritrea’s president is ‘unhinged dictator’

by ocean
written by ocean

The US ambassador to Asmara gives a gloomy assessment of Eritrea’s future, both politically and economically, while President Isaias Afwerki remains in power. But he finds little evidence that change is coming, given traditional Eritrean stoicism and fierce patriotism. Key passage highlighted in yellow.

Thursday, 05 March 2009, 13:21
S E C R E T ASMARA 000080
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E
EO 12958 DECL: 03/04/2019
TAGS PGOV, PREL, ECON, PINR, ER
SUBJECT: IS ERITREA UNRAVELING?
REF: ADDIS ABABA 567
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)

Isaias Afeworki

Isaias Afeworki

1. (S) Summary: Young Eritreans are fleeing their country in droves, the economy appears to be in a death spiral, Eritrea’s prisons are overflowing, and the country’s unhinged dictator remains cruel and defiant. Is the country “on the brink of disaster” as posited by Eritrea’s first cousins across the border in Tigray, Ethiopia (ref)? Party leaders tell us their Leninist “war economy” will be reversed, while Asmara is abuzz with reports of multiple cabinet-level changes. However, tinkering at the margins of governance will count for naught as long as the Isaias regime remains a one-man band. Gold mining will not provide the anticipated economic panacea. Although the regime is one bullet away from implosion, Eritrea’s resilience as a country is based on 1) a strong sense of nationalism forged over four decades of war, and 2) the capacity of most Eritreans to withstand suffering and deprivation with forbearance and toughness. Any sudden change in government is likely to be initiated from within the military. End Summary.

2. (S) The Regime’s Political Capital is Tanking

——————————————— —

Isaias’ popularity stemmed from his leading role in Eritrea’s Davidic victory in the thirty-year struggle for independence. Immediately after liberation, Isaias seemed to be providing (like Mugabe) reasonably good governance to his traumatized nation. The accelerating decline into dictatorship began in 1996 with an alleged assassination attempt against Isaias by Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi, followed by the bloody 1998-2000 Border War, and the “treason” of the inner-circle critics called the G-15. Severe persecution of any potential opposition increased. With half of Eritrea’s population being born after liberation, Isaias’ Struggle credentials are less important than before; youth today face a hopeless future of open-ended National Service at survival-level wages. Hope for a better future fueled Eritrean resistance for a whole generation; the country’s reservoir of hope is now largely depleted.

3. (S) The War Economy is Failing

———————————

Hagos Ghebrehiwet, as the Economic Director of the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), is the architect of the regime’s failed economic policies. When previously asked by the ambassador if he was a Communist, Hagos replied, “No. Quite the opposite.” He explained that from 1993-98 development of the tiny private sector was a top goal, but with the outbreak of war in 1998 “national security became the economic and political imperative.” He contends that the subsequent “no peace, no war” situation with Ethiopia obligated the state to maintain the economy on a war footing, due to shortages of hard currency. Hagos told the ambassador in mid-February that the regime was reversing its war economy policies. “We are going back to the immediate post-independence approach,” he claimed. NOTE: Post has seen no indication of this. END NOTE.

4. (C) Gold To the Rescue? No

——————————

Many Eritrean businessmen and officials hope, and opposition members fear, that come 2010, gold mining will provide the economic fillip needed to rescue the economy and the regime. Mining company executives tell us these hopes and fears are grossly misplaced. Nevsun is the Canadian company leading the development of the large Bisha gold, copper, and zinc field. Nevsun employees say Bisha is like Neapolitan ice cream, with a thin layer of gold atop thicker layers of copper and zinc. Nevsun’s agreement is heavily front-loaded for cost recovery, meaning for the first two years (the life of the gold extraction) almost all revenues will accrue to Nevsun for capital and infrastructure costs. The gold will be flown from Bisha directly to Switzerland. While the government will get some revenues from taxes and royalties, it is only with the beginning of copper extraction in 2012 or 2013 and zinc five years later that the government of Eritrea will see much return on its investment. In short, there is no help on the immediate horizon for Eritrea’s faltering economy.

5. (C) No American Enemy to Blame

———————————

Prior to January 20 every bad thing in Eritrea was touted as proof of an American-led conspiracy against Eritrea. Daily anti-American diatribes peppered the regime-controlled airwaves and print media. The regime attempted to deflect all complaints by claiming America and its puppet, Ethiopia, were an immediate threat to Eritrea’s sovereignty and/or territorial integrity. Criticism of the regime was thus tantamount not only to sedition, but also to treason. Since January 20 the regime has been on what it considers a charm offensive with the U.S. in hopes that the Obama administration will for some reason reverse USG opposition to the regime’s regional meddling and domestic oppression. Without the “world’s sole superpower” being constantly blamed for all of Eritrea’s woes, Eritreans seem to be focusing more on their own government’s manifest shortcomings. Grumblings are increasingly loud and frequent, but still only in private.

6. (C) Tough, Proud, and Suffering

———————————-

Around 80% of Eritreans live on farms or in small villages. Many are only marginally involved in the monetized economy and produce part of what their families need to survive. Governmental benign neglect would be a positive and welcome change. The regime’s practice of seizing crops or forcing farmers to sell grain at below-market prices has caused families to attempt to withdraw from the monetized economy, at least in part, although the Isaias regime is very good at controlling nearly all aspects of Eritrean society. Eritrean farmers have long lived a knife-edge existence due to marginal rainfall, decades of war and brigandage, and the use of Dark Age technology. Even before last year’s dreadful harvest, UNICEF reckoned that 40% of Eritrean children were malnourished. Despite this, Eritreans remain fiercely patriotic. In the face of deprivation and oppression, the time-tested best practice is to shut up, hunker down, and pray for rain.

7. (S) Where Will Change Come From?

————————————

In hushed tones, Asmarinos are discussing reports of wholesale changes in the cabinet and other senior civilian positions. From what we understand, the exercise (septel) will be a grand round of musical chairs, with former fighters loyal to President Isaias mostly swapping ministerial portfolios. Meanwhile, the urban population remains largely cowed. The PFDJ’s Secretary General languishes in medical exile in UAE; Isaias chairs the party’s monthly meetings in his absence. Neither the government, party, nor populace seem to have the wherewithal to effect a sudden change in government. The military does. We’ve heard increasingly frequent and specific reports of mutinous behavior from within the military, sparked by growing numbers of troops deserting across the border into Sudan and even into Ethiopia. The mantle of Eritrean nationalism could conceivably pass from the shoulders of Isaias Afwerki to the Eritrean Defense Force. Defense Minister Sebhat Efrem probably has the standing to paper over the rivalries of the senior generals (at least temporarily), should the military or a faction of it suddenly find the need to step in to “save the revolution.”

MCMULLEN

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Wikileaks: Rare Meeting with Ethiopian Intelligence Chief Getachew Assefa

by ocean
written by ocean

By Ethiopiaforums.com

On the second Wikileaks US embassy document from Ethiopia it revealed the rare interview and long hours of meeting between the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) chief Getachew Assefa and Ambassador Yamamoto.

In this meeting Getachew mentioned the greater concerns of the Ethiopian ruling party, He spoke at length about former Addis Ababa Mayor-elect Berhanu Nega, VOA’s biased reporting, the dangers of former defense minister Seeye Abraha’s growing authority within the opposition, Ethiopia’s views on democracy and human rights and Eritrea’s and Isaias Afeworki role as a rogue state in the region. Getachew  Assefa is also one of main hardliner within the powerful executive committee of EPRDF

Ethiopiaforums.com

You can read the whole leaked document below

wikileaks

Ethiopia wikileaks

Monday, 08 June 2009, 12:33
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 ADDIS ABABA 001318
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 06/07/2019
TAGS PGOV, PINR, PREL, KPAO, ET
SUBJECT: UNDERSTANDING THE ETHIOPIAN HARDLINERS
Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

SUMMARY

——-

1. (S) In a rare meeting with the elusive head of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and main hardliner within the powerful executive committee of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party, Ambassador and NISS chief Getachew Assefa discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues. Getachew made clear during the four hour private meeting that Ethiopia sought greater understanding from the U.S. on national security issues vital to Ethiopia, especially Ethiopia’s concerns over domestic insurgent groups like the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). He spoke at length about former Addis Ababa Mayor-elect Berhanu Nega XXXXXXXXXXXX; VOA’s biased reporting; the dangers of former defense minister Seeye Abraha’s growing authority within the opposition; Ethiopia’s views on democracy and human rights; Eritrea’s role as a rogue state in the region; and regional issues including the importance of supporting the Transitional Federal Government and a rapprochement with Alhu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ) as the only option for Somalia’s survival; and the need for U.S. reconciliation with Sudan. End Summary.

TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING

—————————–

2. (S) Through the arrangements of former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Irv Hicks, Ambassador met with Ethiopia’s national intelligence chief, Getachew Assefa, for a four hour private meeting on June 4. Getachew, noted for his eccentric behavior and elusiveness, explained to the Ambassador that he welcomes greater dialogue with the U.S. Embassy, but underscored the importance of deeper U.S. understanding of Ethiopia’s security concerns. Characterizing the U.S. relationship as sound and expressing appreciation for the cooperation with the U.S. on special projects on counterterrorism, Getachew emphasized that Ethiopia shares U.S. views on high value targets (HVT) like Robow and al-Turki as threats to regional stability. But domestic insurgent groups, like the OLF and ONLF, should also be treated as terrorists because they have safe haven camps in extremist-held areas in Somalia and receive support and assistance from the very same HVTs that the U.S. and Ethiopia are trying to neutralize. Such support makes the ONLF and OLF accomplices with international terrorist groups, Getachew argued. Just as Ethiopia would not meet with domestic U.S. insurgent groups, referring to individuals and groups who would conduct bombings of U.S. government offices, abortion clinics and advocates of racial and gender hate, Ethiopia would not want U.S. officials to meet with Ethiopia’s domestic insurgents who bomb and kill Ethiopian officials and citizens.

3. (S) Getachew added that the GOE does conduct talks with the ONLF and OLF and there are groups, like the Ethiopian elders, who reach out to the membership in an effort to end the violence. Getachew stressed that this is an Ethiopian process by Ethiopians and should remain an Ethiopian-led, Ethiopian-directed and Ethiopian-coordinated process. Ambassador made clear that the U.S. Administration does not meet with the ONLF and that the U.S. is in close consultations with Ethiopian authorities on their views on the ONLF and OLF, and that the U.S. supports the work of the Ethiopian Elders to end the violence. Getachew noted the visit to European Capitals and Washington of ONLF senior leaders and said they met with staffers in the U.S. Vice President’s office. The Ambassador said that we had no evidence that a meeting took place with the Vice President’s staff and stressed that the State Department did not meet with the ONLF group. Further, the U.S. military no longer meets with alleged ONLF supporters in the volatile Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia because of security concerns. The Ambassador stressed that such meetings in the past was for force protection of U.S. military civil affairs team working in the dangerous Ogaden region near Somalia, but in the last few years there has been no contact. The Ambassador added that there should be closer discussion between he U.S. and Ethiopia on this issue.

U.S. GIVES EXTREMISTS A VOICE AND LEGITIMACY

——————————————–

ADDIS ABAB 00001318 002 OF 004

4. (S) Getachew complained pointedly that Voice of America (VOA) is biased and gives a platform for extremist elements. XXXXXXXXXXXX

5. (S) Getachew also discussed the VOA reports covering former State Department official Greg Stanton of Genocide Watch, who charged Prime Minister Meles of crimes against humanity as a result of Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia in 2006. Getachew complained that VOA Amharic reporting was biased and not even handed. He did note that VOA English was fine. VOA Amharic service does not interview Ethiopian officials who can refute “false assertions” espoused in the VOA interviews. Getachew praised Germany’s Deutsche Wella service for its balanced and yet hard hitting reporting. Getachew underscored that if the GOE is doing something wrong or does not have the support of the people, news services have an obligation to highlight such problems. Getachew said VOA, however, seeks to report only what is anti-government or lend support for the opposition. Getachew concluded that the U.S.G., because of VOA Amharic service is an official arm of the U.S.G., lacks neutrality in its support for the opposition and this undercuts relations between the two countries. The Ambassador replied that VOA is a very independent media and the U.S.G. does not have oversight and control over the content of the reporting.

6. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX

THE OPPOSITION

————–

7. (S) Getachew commented on Ethiopia’s opposition leadership underscoring that he wishes to see a vibrant opposition movement, but currently, the NGO community and foreign missions support the opposition blindly without critical analysis. XXXXXXXXXXXX

ADDIS ABAB 00001318 003 OF 004

8. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

————————–

9. (S) Getachew echoed common themes advocated by the ruling EPRDF party stalwarts from the Prime Minister to the party faithful. He stressed that the EPRDF supports democracy and that it is the goal for the ruling party to eventually give way to other parties of common vision in fighting poverty and a commitment to support the process of democratization. Getachew said he would support opposition parties if they have a better message to help Ethiopia overcome poverty, improve health care and education, and raise the standard of living of the Ethiopian people. He added that the U.S. and others should look at Ethiopia’s democracy efforts and human rights record as a work in progress. It will take time but Ethiopia is moving in the right direction that will make Ethiopia a democratic state.

FOREIGN POLICY: ERITREA, SOMALIA, AND SUDAN

——————————————-

10. (S) Getachew described Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki as “no martyr,” who sought to survive and establish himself as the predominate leader in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia stands in the way of Isaias’ grand design and it is his goal to divide Ethiopia and weaken it through terrorism. Getachew remarked that one of Isaias’ bodyguards was in Dubai and then defected to Ethiopia. The bodyguard remarked that Isaias was a recluse who spent his days painting and tinkering with gadgets and carpentry work. Isaias appeared to make decisions in isolation with no discussion with his advisors. It was difficult to tell how Isaias would react each day and his moods changed constantly. Getachew added that Eritrea trains over 30 rebel groups at Camp Sawa near the Sudan border and graduates are infiltrated into Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia to enhance instability and target Ethiopian interests. Getachew expressed dismay with Kenya in allowing Eritrean intel officers and military trainers who support al-Shabaab in Somalia, to bribe their way out of Kenya and return to Eritrea. He explained the activities of Abraha Kassa, Eritrea’s elusive intel chief who directs Eritrea’s Somalia operations.

11. (S) On Somalia, Getachew said the only way to support stability was through support for the ASWJ which attracts a wide range of support from all the clans, especially those groups in conflict with each other. The ASWJ has been effective in countering al-Shabaab and is ideologically committed to Sufism and the defense of Islam against the extremist salafists which form al-Shabaab. Getachew said the U.S. can best help by supporting the ASWJ and TFG to cooperate, to pay salaries of TFG troops and support the IGAD and African Union which are seeking to sanction Eritrea, implement a no fly zone, and close ports used by extremist elements.

12. (S) On Sudan, Getachew urged the U.S. to engage Bashir and the Sudanese leadership. Sudan, more than Somalia, poses the greatest threat to regional security and stability, Getachew argued. The prospects for a civil war which destabilizes the region would be devastating. The only country that would benefit would be Eritrea.

COMMENT

——-

13. (S) It is interesting that Getachew’s description of President Isaias mirrors Getachew’s own character, as well.

ADDIS ABAB 00001318 004 OF 004

Getachew avoids speaking with foreigners and few foreigners really know him. He is not well liked within his own agency for decisions he makes in isolation which, at times, make little sense and are not discussed in consensus with his staff. His apparent hot temper and reclusive habits have made it difficult for his staff to gauge his moods and understand his thought process. The Prime Minister himself and other EPRDF leaders have remarked to the Ambassador that it is difficult to talk with Getachew and to meet with him, but that his loyalty to the EPRDF is never in question. Despite his poor reputation, Getachew is regarded as a strong EPRDF hardliner and commands considerable authority and influence within the powerful EPRDF executive committee which lays down the policy for the ruling party and the government. While relations with NISS officials below Getachew’s rank are extremely cordial and, depending on the unit, very close, the Ambassador has met with Getachew only twice in the past three years, and other Embassy staff have also met with little success in engaging him. Even visiting senior U.S. intel officers have not been successful in meeting Getachew. Ambassador will pursue future meetings with Getachew but he will never be a close contact. End Comment. YAMAMOTO

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