The Reconciliation Agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia in Asmara

Ameer's Q&A
By hizbk@eng

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 Answer to Question
(Translated)

Question

A reconciliation agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia was signed in Asmara in July 2018. The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Meles, confirmed that the Asmara agreement recently signed with Eritrea was by the will of both countries without mediation from any third party. To what extent is this true? Was it free of international and regional influences? The Asmara Agreement referred to the Algiers Agreement on 18/6/2000 as a complement to it, so why was there a wait of about 18 years to confirm this agreement? And may Allah reward you with the good.

Answer

The statement of the official spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Meles said that the Asmara Agreement was by the will of the two countries is a deception and misleading! Following and reflecting on what happened shows that America is behind what took and taking place to achieve its interests and focus its influence on the movements of Europe and China in Africa. This is the explanation:

First: The Asmara Agreement details: The Agreement was concluded on 9/7/2018. Ethiopia and Eritrea then declared the end of the state of war between them, after the meeting that was called “historic” between the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in Asmara. The Eriterean Infromation Minister, Yamani Jabr Miskil, announced on Twitter: “a common peace and friendship statement was signed between the two parties, and the state of war between the two countries has ended, and a new era of peace and friendship begun… the two countries will work together to promote close cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural and security fields” (AFP 9/7/2018). To understand who is behind the Convention we will mention the striking events before and after it:

1- What happened before the Agreement:

  1. The American Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Donald Yamamoto arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday 26/4/2018, (…on a three-day official visit during which he will meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and the Foreign Minister. The visit is part of a tour initiated by Yamamoto on the 22nd of this month, which included Eritrea and Djibouti, and concludes with Ethiopia … 27/04/2018 www.aa.com.tr/ar).
  2. Abiy Ahmed made his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia on 17/5/2018 at the official invitation of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz.
  3. One of the first to visit Abiy Ahmed, was the Saudi Crown Prince, Bin Salman, on 7/6/2018. The Ethiopian News Agency quoted the Prime Minister ‘s office as saying that Abiy Ahmed “praised the development of relations with Saudi Arabia. He said that thanks to Muhammad Bin Salman, the bilateral relationship developed between the two countries and became stronger and closer than ever before, and that the Saudi Crown Prince pledged to support Addis Ababa’s efforts to accelerate development and encourage Saudi investors to invest in Ethiopia …”
  4. The US State Department said in a statement issued on 21/6/2018, “The United States is encouraged by recent progress Ethiopia and Eritrea have made toward resolving their longstanding differences… Isaias and Abiy have demonstrated courageous leadership by taking these steps toward peace. The United States looks forward to a full normalization of relations and the realization of our shared aspirations for both countries to enjoy enduring peace and development.” (Reuters, June 21, 2018)
  5. In an interview with Addis Standard, Ambassador to Ethiopia, Michael Raynor, said (“Well, we have said to both parties, and publicly, and continue to say that we are available to play that role. Back in the day of the Algiers Agreement the United States was formally a guarantor; we had a structural role established at the point that the agreement was made. We have encouraged this outcome for sometime with both governments and in doing so we have said ‘If you collaboratively feel there is a role that the US can constructively play, we’ll do everything we can to support that’… I think we’ve played a constructive role. As I said, we’ve had engagements with both countries for a number of months now encouraging this outcome.” (addisstandard.com 02/07/2018)

All this shows that the Agreement was prepared by America and its follower; rulers in Saudi Arabia, and this is from tracking events before the meeting.

2- What happened after the Agreement:

  1. The United States of America has declared its support for the peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia after years of conflict. This was in the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, statement on Tuesday. He said, “The United States welcomes the July 9 commitment to peace and security between the State of Eritrea and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, effectively ending 20 years of conflict.”

Pompeo stressed: “The normalization of relations and the adoption of the Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship between Eritrea and Ethiopia will provide their peoples with the opportunity to focus on shared aspirations for closer political, economic, and social ties…. 10/07/2018 en.haberler.com)

  1. Isaias Afwerki visited Saudi Arabia on 23/07/2018 after the Asmara Agreement on 09/07/2018. He and King Salman reviewed (“developments in the regional arena …” Adel Al-Jubeir also discussed with his Eritrean counterpart during his meeting with him “the bilateral relations between the two countries and topics of common interest “… Middle East 24/07/2018)
  2. More than two months after the Asmara Declaration under the sponsership of King Salman, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali signed on Sunday 16/9/2018 the Jeddah Peace Agreement between the two countries. The signing was in the presence of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (Sky News Arabiya 16/09/2018)

So, from the sequence of events above, it turns out that America and its agents were the drivers of events ahead of the Asmara Agreement by creating the climate for them as well as its clear support for them after it was signed.

Second: The Reality of Ruling in Ethiopia and Eritrea:

1- The Ruling in Ethiopia:

  1. Abyssinia was occupied by the Italian occupation in 1935. Its Emperor Haile Selassie fled through Kenya to Egypt, which were under British colonialism then. Then he went to Britain and stayed there until Britain sent him back in 1941 after expelling Italy from Abyssinia by the Allies during the Second World War, Britain re- installed Haile Selassie as Emperor, and then Abyssinia became under the British influence … At that time, Britain also occupied neighboring Eritrea, which was under Italian rule since the nineteenth century. In 1950, Eritrea was annexed to Ethiopia under the rule of Haile Selassie. The British influence continued in Ethiopia, including Eritrea until 1974.

When a coup d’état took place against the Emperor by left-wing officers. Among them was the officer Mengistu Haile Mariam, who managed to rule from 1977 after a feud between these officers and remained in power until 1991.

Most of the coupist movements of those days raised revolutionary slogans like Liberalism, socialism, and so on. Thus were the slogans of the Mariam coup, although America was behind him to strike the British colonial influence … and from his actions abroad in favour of America, was his support to the rebellion in South Sudan led by John Garang, who was associated with America. The Ethiopian support continued for this movement until the south was separated from Sudan with the complicity of the Bashir government in Sudan …

  1. But Mengistu was known for his bloodiness, so America feared that people would revolt and Britain would come back. So it removed him and brought in Meles Zenawi. who belonged to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, of the Christian Tigray tribe, which makes up 5% of Ethiopia’s population and has allied itself with other national fronts, including the Oromo Liberation Front. One of the most important work done by Zenawi for the US is his intervention in Somalia in 2006, as he was instructed by America to fight the Islamic movements and overthrow of the rule of the Islamic Courts in Somalia. The Ethiopian army remains in Somalia to secure stability for the US influence.
  2. After the death of Zenawi in 2012, he was succeeded by Hailemariam Desalegn of the same tribe. But turbulance occured resulting in a state of emergency. The October 2015 events took place, after the government decided to expand the capital Addis Ababa and confiscate adjacent agricultural land. These lands belonged to the Oromo tribe, which accounts for 40% of the population, followed by Amharic 20%, the government rushed after the year 2016 to declare a state of emergency, and arrested more than 29 thousand and killed more than 500 people within months of protests. America’s fear was aroused, it ordered him to resign because he could not calm the situation, and threatened the stability in the whole Horn of Africa.
  3. Desalegn resigned on 15/2/ 2018. America brought a man to rule Ethiopia from the largest rebel tribe, from the Muslim majority, the Oromo, Abiy Ahmed, a member of the tribe, his mother is an Amharic Christian and so is his wife, this is to win Ethiopia’s two largest tribes. He held positions in the Army Foundation and then in the intelligence establishment, and then held political positions … He took office as prime minister on 2/4/2018. Abiy Ahmed was subjected to an assassination on 23/6/2018, (when there was a grenade attack during a rally in the capital Addis Ababa after delivering a speech to tens of thousands of people. He said after the explosion. “ unsuccessful attempt by forces who do not want to see Ethiopia united”. The American Embassy in Addis Ababa condemned the attack: “Violence has no place as Ethiopia pursues meaningful political and economic reforms.””…Al-Hurra 23/6/2018).

It is not ruled out that this has to do with the internal military and security changes that he made, by dismissing the commander of the armed forces as well as the head of the general intelligence in his country on 8/6/2018, as these institutions are accused of killing hundreds of protesters and arresting tens of thousands of them in the protests since 2015.

Thus, America is in control over the reigns of power in Ethiopia, especially after Abiy Ahmed taking office. He implements the American plans and directions to remove tensions between America’s agents in the region to become a significant force in the face of any political breakthrough of Europe and any economic expansion of China.

2- As for the Rule in Eritrean:

As we have already said, after the coup d’etat on Haile Selassie and the end of the English influence in Ethiopia, including Eritrea, Mengistu Mariam took control of the government and was oppressive and bloody, so America feared the people’s revolt and the exploitation of Britain to the situation and its return because it is known for its long- endurance in these matters, therefore it removed Mengistu and brought Zenawi in 1991. At the same time there were Eritrean independence movement, so America answered their demand to calm the situation, and Eriteria‘s independence was declared in 1993 and Afwerki was installed. However, in the declaration of independence, it did not specify the borders of the new state. Afwerki feared that Ethiopia would return to annex it again. In 12/5/1998, he carried out military actions to demarcate the border, contrary to the American plan, which appointed him as the leader, he continued to reject the American negotiating plan presented by Susan Rice on 30/5/1998 and he almost succeeded in drawing the border, but America viewed this as a rebellion against it and resorted to disciplining him, rather it deliberately humiliated him and ordered Zenawi to launch a brutal war on 4/2/1999 on Eritrea and this was escalated and was more bloody on 12/5/2000 until it removed all the borders that were drawn and it entered the depths of Eritrea in a humiliating manner, so Afwerki agreed to the Algiers Agreement on 18/6/2000, as well as on all the conditions required and yet the issue of borders remained unresolved! We issued a political comment at the time on 20/3/1421AH-22/6/2000 in which we said: (… On Sunday, 18/6/2000, the Foreign Ministers of Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the Ceasefire Agreement between their countries; in Algeria in the presence of its ruler in his capacity as chairman of the current session of the Organization of African Union, in the presence of delegates from the United States of America, the European Union and the United Nations. The treaty stipulates 15 items, the main one is: the delimitation of the common border between the two countries by international experts from the United Nations. The redeployment of Ethiopian troops camping in Badme and the border areas two weeks after the arrival of international forces and Eritrea’s evacuation of a 25-kilometer zone along its border with Ethiopia as a buffer zone, under the control of international forces until the demarcation of the border and the resolution of the conflict … “Commenting on the signing, Clinton commented: “This is a great progress and it an end the tragic conflict in the Horn of Africa”, he said: “Ethiopia and Eritrea are friends of America if they are ready to take the next steps, we and our partners from the international group will proceed with them.” Anthony Lake, the presidential envoy said. “This is an important moment and ends a two-year conflict.”)

Although the treaty stated the demarcation of the border, yet it remained suspended! Ethiopia was never concerned with the demarcation of these borders; it considered Eritrea part of its territory and one of its regions. The Emperors of Abyssinia and after them Mengistu Mariam sought to annex the two in various ways and methods because of their desperate need for sea ports in Eritrea.

This is why Afwerki attempted to demarcated the border militarily and would have succeeded had it not been for the Ethiopian attack in 12/5/2000, with American instruction as a punishment for Afwerki, as we mentioned before. Afwerki was forced to accept all that Ethiopia had requested and to declare openly the acceptance of the agreement, which was issued under the cover of the Organization of African Union, which was signed in Algeria on 18/6/2000.

We also said in the political commentary that: “Ethiopia and Eritrea are countries that follow America in their policy and their rulers are its agents. It enabled Meles Zenawi to lead the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and to take power in Addis Ababa when it wanted to change its agent, Mengistu Mariam, in 1991. It was the one that allowed Isaias Afwerki to leed the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) for independence from Ethiopia in 1993. So the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea is a dispute between agents or (friends) as Clinton and the White House or Western policy experts like to call them. America has tried to resolve their differences by negotiation, and offered the efforts of its most prominent experts, Anthony Lake, who took more than a year without being able to resolve the dispute; because Afwerki was not happy with the American proposals, and saw that it is biased in favour of Ethiopia … When Afwerki failed in this way, America resorted to discipline and even deliberately humiliate him by military force, which its way in dealing with its agents if they thought of rebellion against it. It is, America, which led Zenawi to wage the last war against Eritrea and its UN Ambassador, Holbrooke, who gave him the green light to launch it. On Wednesday, 10/5/1998, before leaving Asmara and after his meeting with the Eritrean president, he said, “We are very close to a resumption of hostilities and the outbreak of a new round of fighting, which, if it does take place, immediately constitutes the largest war on the African continent”.These are the firey statements that Holbrooke made before he left Asmara, which warned everyone who heard it then of a great danger. Holbrooke has become an ominous sign of the countries he visits in the world. He is following in the footsteps of his ominous predecessor, Kissinger, in fueling wars and bringing scourges and seeing the shedding of the blood of peoples, cheap for the sake of preserving American interests … Thursday, 22/4/2000) End.

It is clear from the above that Eritrea’s reservation to the American proposals does not mean that it is not subject to America. Rather, it means that it wants to persuade America to help it demarcate the border between it and Ethiopia once and for all so that Eritrea does not remain in a state of “near independence”. Because the lack of demarcation of the borders by Ethiopia made Eritreans remain skeptical about Ethiopia’s intentions.

Thus it is clear that Afwerki and Abiy Ahmed are both American agents. It is not easy for them to conclude the Asmara Agreement with the items they mentioned without Americas‘ knowledge, planning and command of its execution.

Third: Why did America wait 18 years between the Algiers Agreement in 2000 and the Asmara 2018 Agreement? This is because of its own interests:

After the Algiers agreement, which was sponsored by America, and the most serious issue was the demarcation of the border, Ethiopia wanted to prolong this, but Eritrea insisted on it, yet America did not care or pressure to solve the problem, because its interests were protected, whether the issue was resolved or not. This is because both of them are its agents and the rivalry between them does not affect its interests, this is their view at the time. However, things developed in recent years that have made America reconsider its policy on Africa, especially the Horn of Africa:

1- The frequent volatility of ruling in Ethiopia and this naturally weaken the government and make it unstable and easy to penetrate … Thus it will be targeted by the colonial powers, especially Britain in terms of political influence, and China in terms of economic influence, this brought back America‘s attention to them, which was culminated by the Ethiopian-Eritrean reconciliation and its many dimensions that serve America.

2- It has been reported that Ethiopia has a huge oil reserves in many areas and work has already begun to extract it in a large number of areas (Ethiopiana.net 1/4/2013)… “The production of oil wells in the region is expected to reach 40 billion Gallon of oil and reach the markets in 2018 (Mogadishu Center 25/12/2016), and thus oil is a new factor that moves US policy towards more attention to the Horn of Africa, especially as Chinese companies have the leading role in the economic and economic exploration and extraction of Ethiopian oil.

It is no secret to America and it can see strong and growing scenes of China’s economic invasion of the African continent, especially in Ethiopia, because China is investing heavily due to the size of the Ethiopian market, China is working to boost its investments in Africa, especially in Ethiopia, which in recent years has become a Chinese industrial zone. On its part the Ethiopian authority is working to facilitate foreign investment and confirm that it is the first and last beneficiary of the Chinese presence on its territory … (France 24, 5/6/2018), so this was the American rush towards Ethiopia to tighten the economic influence of China.

3- Extensive attempts by the British influence to infiltrate, the Horn of Africa is seen. A rapid development of relations between the UAE and Ethiopia is seen, after the relations were much neglected, that the UAE has established its embassy in Addis Ababa only in 2010! The cooperation between them was accelerated after that. Agreements were signed covering various fields, such as technical cooperation agreements for customs assistance, opening a representation office for the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Addis Ababa in 2013, civil aviation in 2014, higher education, youth and sports in 2015, the UAE-Ethiopian Joint Committee was founded and held its meetings at the level of foreign ministers … During the official visit of the former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in 2016 to the United Arab Emirates, bilateral relations between the two countries witnessed a qualitative leap in all fields, as a result of a series of discussions conducted by Desalegn with the political leadership in the United Arab Emirates.

As part of an official visit to Abu Dhabi. At that time the former Minister of Government Communications Office, Getachew Reda said: “The visit of Desalegn discussed a number of common issues that concern cooperation between the two countries in a way that serves the common interests, especially in the economic and investment fields and regional and international issues,”. The UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem Al-Hashemi said during a program organized by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Addis Ababa that Ethiopia is one of the strategic partners of the United Arab Emirates in Africa, and that the two countries share common denominators (Al Ain Al Ikhbariya, 7/3/2018).

Britain through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have tried to link Ethiopia to its own axis and policy, hoping to influence Ethiopia and Eritrea. Thus, the visits were striking, “on 15/6/2018 Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan held an official meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, Which dealt with the strengthening of relations of friendship, cooperation and strategic partnership between the two countries. On Tuesday 3/7/2018 the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi received the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and expressed his hope that this visit would contribute to strengthening the relations of cooperation between the two countries, UAE and Eritrea during the next stage, and brings the good to the two friendly countries and their peoples … (http://www.alkhaleej.ae 22/07/2018) These developments and updates have made America pay great attention to Africa and especially the Horn of Africa and became active in it. Thus, in September 2017, the United States appointed Donald Yukio Yamamoto as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, the most influential position in US policy-making towards the African continent. The choice of Yamamoto for this position is not by chance. He is one of the most experienced American diplomats in the African issue, especially in the Horn of Africa, he has already represented his country as a diplomat in the countries of that region… He has made effective contributions to the preparation of the Asmara Agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea to remove the tension between them and to have better relationship. Thus the Asmara convention was signed to confirm and complement the Algeria treaty to solve issues between Ethiopia and Eritrea, rather between its agents in the region. Easing of tension is also expected between Ethiopia and Egypt regarding the dam. Abiy Ahmed visited Egypt and met Sisi on 10/7/2018 after the signing of the Asmara Agreement by one day and he signed with Sisi an agreement to adopt a common vision between the two countries based on respect for each other’s right to achieve development without violating the interests of the other … And of course all this with US approval. Also with regards to Sudan, America sent in April, a technical and diplomatic delegation as a mediation initiative to bring the views of the three countries together to fortify its agents in the face of China’s economic intervention and British political penetration.

Fourth: Finally, it is painful that the kafir colonialist countries, led by America, control the countries of the region … Some may not know that the Muslims in Ethiopia and Eritrea represent half the population, rather there are those who estimated their numbers to be more than 50 million. Some also may not know that the first Muslim ship that migrated from Mecca to Abyssinia docked in the famous Musawwa port city in Eritrea … However, the two countries are of interest to America, China and Europe and hardly any interest is given to them by the Muslims … Any how. All this is not strange or puzzling, as long as Muslims are without a state to take care of their affairs, they will be “like orphans on the villains’ banquet” (easy prey), their situation will not improve except by the Khilafah (Caliphate) that unites them on the Book of Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw)

(وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ * بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ)

“…And that day the believers will rejoice * In the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful” [Ar-Rum: 4-5]

6 Safar Al-Khair 1440 AH
15/10/2018 CE

 

hizbk@eng
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