Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 13:16:58 +0200
Asmara, 24 May 2015 – The official celebration marking the 24th Anniversary of Independence was today conducted with enthusiasm at Asmara Stadium.
In a speech he delivered on the occasion, President Isaias Afwerki, underscored that the meaning and significance of independence is not only gauged by the liberation struggle conducted and the precious sacrifices exacted but also by the struggle and sacrifices paid to preserve and build it. He further explained that the struggle and martyrdom of our heroic freedom fighters will have been in vain unless we succeed in building a truly free country.
The President underlined that the powers that encroach on our independence and sovereignty are precisely those forces who had maintained in the 1940s that Eritrea’s independence did not serve their strategic interests. “These are indeed the same forces who antagonized us subsequently for almost half a century and who were vanquished through our unparalleled heroism and resilience”, he elaborated.
President Isaias went on to emphasize that certain powers prompted by greed and domination and spearheaded by the United States “continue to harass us and derail Eritrea’s efforts of nation-building in a serene and stable environment”. In this connection, he explained that these same powers instigated a border conflict with Yemen that never arose prior to Eritrea’s independence and further induced skewed arbitral decisions.
Moreover, the President pointed out that these same powers “exacerbated a meaningless conflict on account of Badme and associated border dispute using a subservient TPLF as convenient umbrella. They also blocked the implementation of the final and binding arbitral decision to impede a lasting settlement of the dispute, he elucidated.
In the face of the failure of all these schemes aimed at inducing capitulation of the Eritrean people, they imposed sanctions on Eritrea on the basis of spurious pretexts, President Isaias underlined.
As regards the nation-building process, President Isaias explained that the Eritrean people and their leadership have not been kept hostage, contrary to the hopes of detractors, by external hostility to compromise our commitment to develop the nation that was devastated by war. “This remains, indeed, the priority of our priority”, he emphasized.