By Ambassador Dina Mufti, MP

Recently, on the occasion of the 34^th independence Anniversary of Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki delivered a long speech that was vintage Isaias. The occasion also marked his 34^th anniversary as the absolute dictator since he has been at the helm for the entire existence of Eritrea as an independent state.  During his speech he could not and did not provide an overview of what Eritrea has achieved since independence. Socio-economic progress or improvement in living standards, major infrastructure projects and flagship development programs; nothing of this sort were mentioned in his speeches. On top of the absence of such constructive endeavors in the dystopian world President Isaias has created, it seems that he is utterly disinterested in such things. More than anything, the President seems to relish providing longwinded lectures on geopolitics. The first half of his speech was dedicated to his understanding of MAGA, the Trump presidency and his view that China is overtaking the United States in the competition for global preeminence. After dedicating almost three pages for this “tour de force” of global affairs, the President dedicated a partly two paragraphs to declare his view that Africa is absent in the equation. After this cavalier dismissal of African agency and relevance, the President delves in to a long expose of his views about what he deems to be the crises in “Sudan and Ethiopia”. The State of affairs in Eritrea is barely addressed in his speech. Less than one fifth of the speech is about Eritrea.

This speech reveals at least two things that are fundamentally wrong in the mindset of the Eritrean dictator. The first concerning, alas not surprising fact is his lack of interest in all things Eritrean. Bread and butter economic issues, economic management and governance, all of these seem to bore him. Hence, after 34 years of independence, the Eritrean socio-economic situation is abysmal. Young men and women flee the country in droves and relative to its population, Eritrea is one of the major sources of illegal migration to Europe and other parts of the world. Despite its natural endowment and human capital, Eritrea is among the most isolated and underperforming countries inthe African continent. The gap between Eritrea’s potential and its reality is huge. The culprit is the retrograde approach of President Isaias to economic management and his preoccupation with regional intrigue, conflicts and conspiracies.

The other worrying trend revealed in President Isaias’s speech is the compulsion he feels to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries. His troops are currently found both in Sudan and Ethiopian territory. His speech provided an extensive commentary regarding the domestic politics of these countries. Most dangerous is the “cushitic-semetic antagonism” he has peddled in his speech. This thesis of antagonism between the two largest linguistic groups in the Horn of Africa is a very dangerous framing of tensions and conflicts in the region. President Isaias seems to have come up with this thesis as the basis for realignment of forces in the Horn. His current project is focused on bringing together ethnic militias from the Tigray and Amhara region, under a coalition that he leads to overturn the federal government in Ethiopia which he claims is subservient to external forces.

This is a very irresponsible and dangerous provocation. Isaias has a long-standing habit of inciting one ethnic group against another by using the ethnic card against successive Ethiopian governments that were unwilling to accept his dictates. Now, he seems to be trying to fuel animosity against the Oromo community in Ethiopia, by invoking a concept he hardly understands- Oromuma. Such interference in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, not just through words but through active material support to all sort of subservient and armed groups against the Ethiopian government is bound to have a catastrophic effect. It is time that President Isaias pays more attention to his own internal affairs. It is time to cease and desist from hostile rhetoric and activities against neighboring countries.  His continued violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and unity of the Ethiopian state cannot be tolerated indefinitely. The international community should prevail upon the pyromaniac of the Horn to refrain from putting ablaze the Horn of Africa.  He should be pressured to withdraw his troops from sovereign Ethiopian territory and stop his support for armed groups and rebels in Ethiopia.  He should not be allowed to continue in his effort to destabilize Ethiopia and the broader Horn of Africa.

By Ambassador Dina Mufti, MP

Member of Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs

House of the People's Representatives of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia