From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Feb 08 2010 - 17:46:51 EST
http://gulfnews.com/life-style/people/imperial-designs-1.577415 Imperial
designs
The US is raising the bogey of fighting terror to achieve its agenda in
Eritrea
- By Abdul Nabi Shaheen, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:00 February 5, 2010
What is now happening in the case of Eritrea, with international sanctions
through UN Security Council Resolution 1907, is nothing other than a new
form of confrontation (with the African country). The enemy here has managed
to cleverly conceal some treacherous contentment in targeting the victim.
The Western media, especially that of the United States, plays a vital role
in realising its devilish goal by publishing a series of news stories and
reports that are aimed at tarnishing the image of Eritrean President Isaias
Afewerki, as if he is the new Saddam Hussain of Africa.
This sort of confrontation is the by-product of well-orchestrated plans and
a hostile approach to destabilise a country that strives to stand on its own
feet, show its independent identity and get rid of Western hegemony.
The hostile decision taken against Eritrea by the Security Council at the
behest of the Western powers brings a myriad of questions and doubts to the
minds of political analysts and impartial observers: What is the evidence
collected by the UN Security Council that has prompted it to take such a
decision against a country that is on the hitlist of the US?
Is it the first time that the people of Eritrea have become a target of a
conspiracy by colonial powers? What is the gravity of such targeting? What
are the immediate and future goals that these forces are trying to achieve
through such action, which is part of pressure tactics to force the people
and the government of Eritrea to follow their dictates?
In an exclusive interview with this correspondent last year, President
Isaias Afewerki exposed the entire gamut of the Western conspiracy.
I still believe that President Afewerki was fully aware of such
well-orchestrated machinations against his government and people. I feel the
president has been preoccupied only with the concerns of his country and
people. He is a visionary leader striving to achieve all-round national
development and make it an independent and sovereign country.
In the interview with me and in similar interviews and briefings for several
other newspapers, Afewerki drew attention to the fact that his country was a
target of conspiracies by US intelligence agencies that attempted to
undermine the stability of the country and encourage youths to travel abroad
to carry out anti-national activities.
The hostility towards this impoverished African country, which is striving
to play an influential role in this part of Africa, has resulted in the
manoeuvres led by the US in cooperation with some neighbouring African
countries.
They resort to various types of punitive measures against Eritrea, similar
to the action against Iraq and Afghanistan earlier. They are trying to
create a similar scenario with allegations that Eritrea is supporting and
sheltering armed Muslim militants of Somalia.
There are also allegations that Eritrea is extending support to Al Qaida and
the Al Houthi rebels of Yemen. Interestingly, even Yemen has so far not
levelled such a charge against Eritrea with regard to Al Houthi rebels, who
have been battling government forces for several months.
While calling for sanctions against Eritrea in the UN Security Council, US
envoy Susan E. Rice said her country had recently been asking Eritrea to
stop supporting Somali militants but had made little progress. What she said
reminds us how former secretary of state Colin Powell similarly misled the
international community to justify the unilateral US invasion of Iraq.
*A calculated move*
Recently the Security Council passed Resolution 1907, imposing an arms
embargo on Eritrea, travel restrictions and an asset freeze on members of
the Eritrean political and military leadership. This resolution was the
handiwork of the US and Uganda, in coordination with Ethiopia, Djibouti and
Kenya.
The UN resolution follows a similar action by the African Union, which had
criticised Afewerki's government saying: "The acts of Eritrea were
instrumental in undermining efforts to establish peace in Somalia. Likewise,
Eritrea's dispute with Djibouti poses a threat to peace and security of both
countries."
It is noteworthy that President Afewerki has so far not defied the UN
decision even though it was the outcome of America's conspiracies — with the
support of Ethiopia — to destabilise his government and replace it with one
that favours the US.
It is evident that imposing Western hegemony on the rest of the world is not
possible as defiance against such a move is gaining ground across the globe.
There is Venezuela, leading some sort of "anti-Western insurgency" in Latin
America while Russia leads the voice of dissent in Europe. There are Iran
and North Korea in Asia. As for Africa, the baton is with Sudan and Eritrea.
If these countries give in to Western pressures, the confrontation would end
in their dismal defeat.
There is no doubt that the US is now concentrating more on Yemen and
Eritrea. This was on the pretext of a war on Al Qaida and putting an end to
the insurgency by Al Houthi rebels.
The US administration is spreading the message not only in the Arab world
and Africa but also in other parts of the world that Yemen is a safe haven
for Al Qaida and that Eritrea is providing training to Al Houthis with the
support and supervision of Iran at camps in Danqalalu, east of Qanda city in
central Eritrea, Tabur on Musawwa Road and two other places in the Shawa
region close to Sudan.
The main charge of the US against Afewerki is that he harbours training
camps for rebels on Eritrean soil. In addition, there are charges that
Eritrea is allowing militants to use its waters.
The US has unleashed an aggressive media campaign based on lies that Eritrea
is allowing Iran to use its islands, including Domira located close to
Djibouti, for military and intelligence purposes.
Is there any logic in the thinking that Eritrea is allowing the use of most
of its territories, whose independence and sovereignty was achieved with the
martyrdom of thousands of its countrymen, as a colony of Iran?
It is also ironic that Yemen had accused Asmara of using Israeli naval boats
during the Eritrea-Yemen military conflict over the strategic Hanish Islands
in the Red Sea in December 1995. Yemen contended that Eritrean forces broke
a truce and captured Greater Hanish, the main island in a chain between the
two nations that sits astride one of the world's major shipping lanes, near
Bab Al Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
As a mediaperson who had covered that war and conducted separate interviews
with the presidents of Yemen and Eritrea while the fighting was raging, I
remember that the Yemeni media and most of the Arab press had then reported
the presence of military bases, missile launching pads and military hardware
from Israel in those islands. But now, the allegation is that Eritrea is
hosting Iranian military personnel on these islands.
Is it possible for Afewerki to get the magic wand of Mousa and gather its
military with the Iranian intelligence and its Israeli counterpart on those
islands to turn them into islands of wonders similar to those in the Arabian
Nights?
*Ulterior motives*
The overwhelming presence of naval forces of the US and other Western
countries and their intelligence apparatus on the international waters in
the Red Sea on the pretext of countering Somali pirates also seems to be
detrimental to the interests of Eritrea. They are engaged in monitoring and
spying over the Eritrean ports and islands rather than the pirates.
Also, Washington continues to create a media ruckus about the Iranian
military presence at the Port of Assab, located in southern Eritrea along
the Red Sea, and the types of Iranian weapons amassed there, saying these
weapons are much larger than what is actually needed to protect the oil
facilities there.
It is noteworthy that Asmara signed an agreement with Tehran in September
2008 to grant exclusive rights to Tehran to supervise the maintenance and
development work of the Assab Refinery of the Eritrean Oil Recycling Company
at the Assab Port. According to the agreement, Iran is engaged in the
reconstruction works of the refinery established earlier by Russia.
Using their media muscle, Washington and London are at the forefront of
taking strict punitive measures against Eritrea over alleged support to
militants.
The US administration recognises the harsh reality that it is not in a
position to enter into a new military conflict aimed at deposing President
Afewerki and President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan.
Washington no longer wants to be caught in another quagmire after
desperately pursuing an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there is no
doubt that it will, of course, change its tactics and plans to realise its
(imperial) goals.
The Americans may resort to tactics similar to those it adopted in Iraq and
Afghanistan to bring down governments by using military might.
They would also probably explore other options under the cover of
international bodies to get legitimacy for their acts by calling for
punitive action against those on their hitlist.
The latest such action was the UN Security Council Resolution 1907 passed
against Eritrea recently.
*Abdul Nabi Shaheen is the Gulf News correspondent in Saudi Arabia.*
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