PFDJ’s Rudderless Foreign Policy

Foreign policies can be divided into two general types:

Versus

Naturally other questions begin to pop up, ‘why do governments pursue desperate foreign policies instead of prudent ones?’  Then the question becomes,

 PIA tells us that he is holding Eritrea hostage until the border is demarcated.  The only problem with this argument is that until Ethiopia agrees to the border demarcation, no third party or the UN can or is willing to enforce the border decision.  We are told that the guarantors, or are they just “witnesses”, must pressure Ethiopia to proceed with the demarcation.  “Kab Zitsibey Bedewu Beleye!” 

Guess what, no one is pressuring Ethiopia!  What comes next?  Before proceeding with PFDJ’s rudderless foreign policy, it is again critical to put together the jigsaw puzzle …i.e. how a prospective Eritrean constitution led to Somali conflict … call it the domino effect …

PIA’s political game was supposed to be simple until what PIA keeps telling us happened to him - ‘mistakes kept compounding’,

§         Under the pretext of ‘national security threat’, imprison all Eritreans whom he felt threatened his grip to power by demanding the respect for the rule-of-law, the implementation of the 1997 Constitution and eliminating PFDJ members who demanded re-evaluation of the previous ten years and reforming PFDJ.

§         PIA figured that once he had subdued his political opponents within the following couple of years, by then, the border would be demarcated.

§         PIA hoped to take full personal credit for his perseverance in finalizing the border issue despite ‘subversive (traitors) elements’ within the Eritrean government and PFDJ.  Eritreans are so forgetful or will forget his underhanded politics and life will be dandy again.

§         After what he had hoped would be demarcation, PIA tells Eritreans that they must continue to rebuild their war devastated economy.  In the meantime, PIA intensifies the activities of his security apparatus to pacify Eritreans who may demand to be demobilized after the finalization of the border demarcation.  Just to vent some of the public’s pent up anger, PIA arrests many of the old guards [PFDJ officials and top army officers] under the pretext of corruption, crimes against the people and unleashes severe Haddas Eritrea & EriTV propaganda against Gen. Karikare, Wuchu, and some PFDJ fence sitters – Alamin, Zemhret, Yemane, etc…   Knocking off two birds with one stone, typical PIA M.O., eliminate your possible opponents while venting of some of the public’s frustrations.

§         Having revenged against the Woyanes and having eliminated internal opposition, PIA hoped to create his N. Korean or Pol Pot regime in Eritrea.

But PIA’s compounding mistakes are covered by yet more repression and tyranny.   PFDJ’s compounding mistakes has only managed to lead PFDJ to pursue rudderless foreign policy.   

This brings us to this article’s topic – PFDJ’s rudderless foreign policy.

1.      Interference in Somalia

The Somalia issue is tragic without simple answers.  Somalia is a quintessential example that politics doesn’t have a neat formula.  Somalia is possibly the only African country where the people share the same language and religion, and yet it has succumbed to the same or worse problems than many other African countries.  AWATE.com has some excellent articles on the Somali issues and thus the purpose of this article isn’t to discuss the complex Somali issue here.

PFDJ’s interference in the Somali issue is a classic example of PFDJ’s myopic foreign policy.  First of all, PFDJ’s propaganda machine is wholly based on the assumption that people can only memorize today’s headlines.  In other words, we are bunch of dummies who can’t remember yesterday’s headlines and can’t put together the jigsaw puzzle. 

Barely some three months ago, PIA and his coward ‘yes’ men masquerading as Ministers held their farce meeting to discuss almost exclusively the Somali issue.  For anyone who follows PFDJ’s farce politics, it is puzzling for a reclusive regime to publicize that Somalia was the center of its Ministerial discussion.  Few days later we notice a marked escalation of the Somali conflict.  Coincidence?  I bet not!  The purpose of publicizing the Ministerial discussion over the Somalia issue was an open warning, or a shot across the bow, to Ethiopia and the US that unless the border is demarcated that PFDJ will begin its proxy war.

It would be naïve to think to believe that PFDJ isn’t involved in Somalia.  PFDJ can’t deny that the two plane loads of armaments originated from Eritrea.  For those Higdefawiyans who still think in terms of sneaking undetectable caravans of camels loaded with armaments into another country, the movements of every plane is tracked through international aviation records.   In addition, there are satellites that can take pictures of planes at airports (one doubts if Eritrea has a hanger big enough to hide such cargo planes).

PFDJ’s rudderless Somali policy raises at least three questions:

First, PFDJ is helping out Somali groups who are strongly suspected of having the same political philosophy as Dr. Turabi’s religious party (Sudan) which we were told precipitated the breakdown of the Eritrea-Sudan diplomatic relations in 1994.  When the tragedy of September 11, 2001 unfolded, PFDJ’s regime was one of the first governments to say to the West, ‘we told you so!  We warned you that we have been fighting jihadist threats for years at our doorstep’.   Many precious fifth round (Sawa) Eritreans were lost to the Sudanese cause.   Suddenly few years later, PFDJ tells us that Eritrea must support a Somali group that may share the same philosophy as Dr. Turabi’s political party.   More precious Eritrean officers have been sent to Somalia to sacrifice themselves for PFDJ.  This is a clear manifestation of desperate PFDJ politics playing fire that may possibly engulf the entire region. 

Second, although Eritrea is currently denying its involvement in Somalia, the Islamic Court has already acknowledged PFDJ’s support for its group as ‘returning the favor’ Somalia [Siad Barre’s government] extended to Eritrean freedom fighters.  PFDJ expresses its ‘concerns’ for Somalia as if it is reciprocating the favor.   Eritrea can only return the favor to our brothers and sisters Somali people by ensuring that peace reigns in Somalia.  What PFDJ is doing in Somalia is add fuel to the fire by helping one group of Somali against another group of Somali people.  This is PFDJ’s purposeful partisan politics designed to engulf the people of Somalia with fire that will draw Ethiopia into it.  PIA is actively engaged in futile attempts to pit one group of Eritreans against another group of Eritreans, the same for Ethiopian people, and then the Sudanese people.  Now we have PFDJ pitting one group of Somali people against their own brother Somalis.   This is PFDJ’s conspicuous effort to play the Somali people as its pawn in game of destruction aimed at reaching out to America.  N. Korea’s dictator may have his nuclear weapons to threaten the West into mutually acceptable compromise, but PFDJ has the capacity to engulf the entire the region to the detriment of Western interests. 

Third, PFDJ and its fan clubs keep telling us that the rule of law of must prevail over the law of the jungle.  We will put aside the massive abuse of human rights in Eritrea, and focus on international politics alone for now.  It is questionable if the Algiers agreement was prepared by fully qualified lawyers but by lawyer equivalent of bare foot doctors we call ‘dotore’.  Were the guarantors actually just ‘witnesses’?  Why wasn’t there time limit put on the life of UNMEE in the DMZ?  One suspects that the entire Algiers agreement was written by some ‘high official in the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ who can prepare, read and accept complicated foreign agreements within ‘ten minutes’.  But the point here is that whether the border agreement is implemented depends on deciphering the terms of the Algiers Agreement, and its possible interpretation in terms of timeline [DMZ, implementation, etc…] rather than the border decision itself.  What we can say for sure is that PFDJ, as a response to lack of ‘enforcement’, is violating the ‘rule-of-law’ by providing arms to IC despite an international resolution banning the sale of arms to Somali factions.  In other words, although the international community may play with the wordings of the Algiers agreements to stretch the rule-of-law, PFDJ is responding by clearly breaking laws of international arms embargo against Somalia.   

Fourth, Either PFDJ is breaking its hard currency bank to buy armaments for its Somali proxy war or it is forming some unholy alliances to finance its proxy war.  At a time when Eritreans are told to buckle up – no bread after 6 AM in the morning, no electricity for most times of the month, no fuel for public transportation, PFDJ is pursuing its Armageddon.                         

2.      Regional problems should be resolved by regional nations

Suddenly PFDJ is telling us that Sudanese internal politics should be addressed by the Sudanese government and, if necessary, by neighboring countries which have immediate interest in the situation.  Curious Eritreans want to know if this is PFDJ’s latest rudderless foreign policy.  If this isn’t myopic policy then we need to know,

·        What were we doing in Rwanda and DR Congo?  Although they are our African brothers and sisters, the distance between Lebanon and Eritrea is probably closer than the mid-points of DR Congo and Eritrea.  Should we be involved in Lebanon?  What are the perimeters of the expanding and contracting PFDJ definition of neighborly politics?

·        If we should we be involved only in neighboring countries’ woes, how did we end up joining the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ – a cause few geographical area abreast from us?

3.      ‘Yibehal Alo [Others are saying it] Foreign Politics’

News : Shabait.com National News
No harm sustained by Eritreans living in Lebanon
No harm has yet been sustained by Eritreans living in Lebanon as a result of the on-going crisis there, the Eritrean Consul General disclosed. Reports indicated that the Consulate is carrying out ...
Jul 22, 2006, 17:15
First, I hope, as all Eritreans do, that Eritreans in Lebanon are safe.  Shabait.com’s report on safety of Eritreans in Lebanon is shameless politics.  Here we have a government that doesn’t give a damn about its people reporting on the safety of Eritreans just because other countries are doing it.

If PFDJ had real concerns, it would have done something about the over 30,000 Eritreans that have left Eritrea in the past couple of years out of desperation and disgust of PFDJ’s rudderless domestic and foreign policies.  Precious Eritreans are dying on the high seas of Mediterranean Sea every week and yet the Eritrean government continues to ignore them. This is totally unacceptable!   

To most of us, Shabait.com’s headline above is shameless and farce politics.   Those Eritreans who write these types of headlines and stories are cold or lifeless – not an ounce of compassion for their own people.

Before leaving this subject, it is critical that we understand that PFDJ’s [or PIA’s] grudge match with TPLF isn’t Eritrea’s agenda.  As Eritreans, we should strongly object PIA’s interference in Somali politics.  PIA is in Somalia to use our Somali brothers and sisters as his expendable pawns.  Similarly, although PM Meles Zenawi and his EPDRF government have done much harm to our precious country, Eritreans should wary about destroying Ethiopia in order to revenge against the ‘Woyanes’.

The legacy we want to leave behind for our children, and the Eritrea we want to hand them over is an economically viable, democratic and politically stable Eritrea, and NOT to sow the seeds of destruction in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan as PFDJ is doing at this time to save its own skin.  This isn’t and can’t be prudent Eritreans’ agenda.  If we must work with our neighbors, it should only be to put out fires, to help them [or help each other] become peaceful nations.

PFDJ keeps compounding mistakes.  This is a sure sign of its destruction in ‘matter of months’. 

I am, as are many Eritreans, proponent of peaceful means to resolve issues.  But we also remain confident that where Eritrean sovereignty is threatened and if Eritreans’ backs are put against the corner, Eritreans are more than capable of defending their democratic Eritrea.  It is the Eritrean people we trust to protect Eritrean sovereignty – not PFDJ nor other wannabe Eritrean dictators.    

On Other Thoughts

Congratulations to EMDHR on their successful unveiling of their excellent manual.  Their strong dedication and belief gives us hope of the bright future of Eritrea.

Congratulations to EDP and ELF-RC on their successful party Congress, and thanks to your continuous meeting updates and even providing video glimpse of your meetings.  You are raising the standards.  Like marriage, it is the little things one does that keep the flames going.  

Berhan Hagos

July 30, 2006