From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Mar 30 2010 - 15:29:13 EST
Eritrea-US State Department’s erroneous and Deceptive Rehearsed script-speak
Sophia Tesfamariam, Mar 30, 2010
On 24 March 2010 I went to the Rayburn building where Donald Payne (D-New
Jersey) was holding a hearing on US policy for Africa. Johnnie Carson, the
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs was there to speak about
the Obama Administration’s Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa. The statement and
paper he presented before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health is available on the US State
Department site for those who want to read it. Johnny Carson briefly
highlighted Obama’s 5-point policy and when he was done, the questions and
answer session began.
The session began with a question on US relations with Ethiopia and Eritrea.
It was obvious to Donald Payne that the US State Department employed double
standards on issues relating to Ethiopia and Eritrea. While it downplayed
and covered up Ethiopia’s numerous violations of international law, human
rights abuses including genocides in the Gambela, Ogaden and Oromia regions
in Ethiopia, election related harassments and intimidations as well as
detentions of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians for voting it out of
office in the 2005 elections, violations of the UN Charter and over two
dozen Security Council resolutions and more, it went out of its way to
exaggerate the state of affairs in Eritrea, and presenting Eritrea in the
worst possible light. He was not wrong in his observations, as that is
exactly what Johnnie Carson did.
He said that he had talked to Meles Zenawi, the leader of the minority
regime and Washington’s “staunch ally” (a.k.a. man on the ground) about the
Ethiopian governments “shortcomings”, and that he had encouraged him to “act
responsibly” as it was not good for his government’s “image and
credibility”. On the minority regime’s jamming of Voice of America (VoA), he
said that it had issues with the Amharic service program and that the State
Department was talking to the VoA to iron out the problems. As for the
statements made about VoA being like Radio Rwanda, Carson thought that it
was “distressing”.
As I said, no matter what questions he was asked about Ethiopia, he
minimized the issues, or blamed the problems on others-not Meles Zenawi.
Johnnie Carson, just like his predecessors is once again providing the
diplomatic, financial, political and military shield and support as Meles
Zenawi terrorizes the people of Ethiopia and invades and occupies sovereign
terrorizes in neighboring states. When Johnnie Carson finished statements on
Ethiopia and his futile attempts to cover-up Meles Zenawi’s international
crimes and numerous human rights violations, he pounced at Eritrea.
I looked over at Johnnie Carson and I realized that in responding to the
question about Eritrea he looked like he was reading something. I was
puzzled. Since there was no mention of Eritrea in his presentation, how is
it that he came there with a prepared spill on Eritrea? Or was he just
bending down so as to avoid making eye contact with the lawmakers as he
misrepresented Eritrea, its people and its government? I believe it was the
former. I say that because I had heard the same rehearsed script-speak on
Eritrea before, and so have many others who have make the “think tank”
circuits.
Johnnie Carson immediately started in with what has to be the US State
Department’s rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea. For those of you unaware of
“scripts”, they are exactly what you might imagine- Prefab spoken lines to
use in certain situations. It’s like the WMD line that all Bush
Administration officials used to spread the lie about Iraq having “Weapons
of Mass Destruction” and feeding that lie to the American public through the
media, at schools, at Universities, at US think tanks etc. etc. It’s the
Bureau of African Affairs spoken negative ad on Eritrea.
The way it works with rehearsed script-speak, whatever you say is completely
ignored and instead of answering the questions that you are asked, you utter
the next rehearsed line, and then the next, and then the next etc. etc. . It
is some sort of Alpha Dog power play, a bullying tactic, used by Johnnie
Carson and his team to always put Eritrea on the defensive. It is a ploy
meant to catch the questioners/listener’s off-guard, allowing Johnnie Carson
to assume a dominant stature in the dialog, and of course to control the
direction of the conversations. Johnnie Carson’s scripts are intended to
manipulate, and avoid addressing the more serious issues between Eritrea and
the US in a coherent and comprehensive manner. There is a saying in Tigrinya
that says “Semam hade derfu”, and this rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea is
a good example of it.
The first time I heard the US State Department’s rehearsed script-speak on
Eritrea, it was at the Wilson Center and it came from Ambassador Robert
Houdek. At a book event at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC Ambassador
Houdek, repeated word for word Ambassador Johnnie Carson’s rehearsed
script-speak on Eritrea. I wrote about it at that time and I thought then
that Ambassador Houdek’s lists of tirades against Eritrea were of his own.
Little did I know that he too had memorized the rehearsed Johnnie Carson’s
rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea. After all, he and Carson are very well
known to each other, as both are long time National Intelligence Officers on
the Africa beat.
At an event at the George Washington University’s Elliot School of
international affairs on 18 February 2010, after a similar presentation on
US policy for Africa, a participant asked Johnnie Carson why the US
Administration was not enforcing the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s
final and binding decision. Just as he did at the Congressional hearing, he
totally evaded the question and US’ role as guarantors and witnesses (and
crafters) of the Algiers Agreement and instead went out on long-winded
tangent to malign the Government of Eritrea with his rehearsed script-speak
on Eritrea. So what are the issues that he raises in his rehearsed
script-speak on Eritrea? I will endeavor to address them one more time as
there may be students, policy makers, analysts etc. who may have also heard
the rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea and gotten the wrong impression about
the country and its leadership.
Rehearsed script-speak item #1- Eritrea rebuffed Hillary Clinton’s attempts
to engage
Johnnie Carson and Houdek have said that Hillary Clinton’s attempts to reach
out to Eritrea were “rebuffed”. Supposedly, she wanted to reach President
Isaias Afwerki over the phone and he was not available to speak to her.
Considering the strained US-Eritrea relations, is that the best she could
do? Eritrea is not a strange country for Clinton and when she visited
Eritrea as First Lady, she was warmly welcomed by the President of Eritrea
and the people of Eritrea.
The last time I was in Eritrea, there were people in Embadorho who
remembered her well. She had gone there during the inauguration of a clinic
there, which still bears her name; she was accorded a warm welcome by the
inhabitants there who still remember that visit. They were actually hoping
that she would break the ice and restore US-Eritrea relations; they never
imagined that she could sanction Eritrea. No Eritrean did. If Hillary
Clinton can criss-cross the worlds oceans to “sanction” and “isolate”
countries, I think she can make a little effort to make peace with the
people of Eritrea…assuming that is what she really wants. This is a flimsy
excuse for not engaging Eritrea and it certainly cannot be categorized as a
“bilateral issue”.
Rehearsed script-speak item #2- Embassy of Eritrea refused to issue Johnny
Carson a visa
Whenever he is approached by Eritrean-Americans and questioned about US
policy for Eritrea, Johnnie Carson begins his rehearsed script-speak by
telling them that the Eritrean Ambassador refused to grant him a visa. That
is so far from the truth. I don’t know how a grown man can lie with such
ease. This issue has also been addressed, but Carson is not willing to drop
it from his script and so it will be repeated and so it needs to be
explained again.
Johnnie Carson’s passport was at the Eritrean Embassy for less than 10
minutes. The person, who brought it, took it back to fill out the necessary
forms and never came back.
On 18 June 2009, Voice of America reported the following about Johnny
Carson:
"… I met with the Eritrean ambassador and asked to meet with President
Isaias Afewerki. If he will give me a visa, I will be there." However, after
Carson left his passport with the Eritrean embassy "for an extended period"
he was surprised to find it returned "without a visa in it…If relations are
not improved it will not be because we're not trying to act as a respected
partner…”
The Eritrean Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Ghirmai Ghebremariam
clarified the issue in an interview with Voice of America. He at no time
denied Carson a visa. Carson had expressed his desire to visit Eritrea, but
did not specify any date. Eritrea´s Ambassador to the United States advised
Mr. Carson that the Eritrean officials that he wanted to meet with were not
going to be available; they were on travel out of the country. The Eritrean
Ambassador told him that his visa would be issued within minutes when he had
fixed his travel date to Asmara. Since he was going to attend the African
Union summit in Libya, Mr. Carson said that he needed to get a visa and that
he would send someone to pick up his visa from the Eritrean Embassy, and
that is what he did.
Soon after he picked up his passport, Voice of America reported that Eritrea
had refused to issue Mr. Carson a visa. Repeating this rehearsed script says
more about Carson’s diplomatic skills than it does about Eritrea’s desire to
engage the US constructively. Wining and lying about not getting a visa is
not “respectful” and it certainly is not diplomatic. Johnnie Carson does not
want to engage with Eritrea and this is yet another excuse for not doing so.
Rehearsed script-speak item # 3-Detention of 2 Eritrean employees at US
Embassy in Eritrea
How many nationals that work at US Embassies and Consulates around the world
are detained today with charges of espionage and other crimes against their
own governments and peoples? Is Johnnie Carson telling us that these
nationals are above the law? The two Eritrean nationals have been detained
for violating Eritrea’s laws and being employees of the US Embassy does not
give them immunity. The individuals detained in Asmara have been put on
administrative detention for activities that took place at the US Embassy in
Asmara. If the US State department was so concerned about its national
staff, it would not compromise them by making them do things that are
against the law and then cry foul when they get caught.
Besides, the US does not have the moral or legal authority to speak about
this issue when hundreds of people are being held in CIA run prisons around
the world and right here in the United States for “national security”
reasons. Johnnie Carson knows that today, there are many countries,
including the United States, Israel and Australia resort to administrative
detention as a means to “combat terrorism” and “control illegal
immigration”. The US has detained hundreds of individuals at Guantanamo Bay,
Iraq and other secret prisons around the world, including in Ethiopia for
unknown reasons. Their families have no contact, some don’t even know where
they are, they are snatched from their homes, their places of employment,
from the streets and they get no legal representation.
Rehearsed script-speak item #4- Eritrea’s “meddling in Somalia”
Eritrea is not meddling in Somalia’s affairs. As a neighbor and as a country
with strong historical ties between the two peoples, Eritrea provided a
peaceful environment to enable all Somalis, from all walks of life, to come
together and iron out their differences as opposed to killing each other.
The meeting convened in Asmara was not conducted in secret and there was no
pretense that it was the only solution for Somalia’s problems. Eritrea
strongly believes that the Somali people ought to be left alone to resolve
their own issues. It does not believe in pitting one group against the other
and does not supply arms to Somalia as it strongly believes in a political
solution to the myriad problems in Somalia. So instead of pointing fingers
at Eritrea, the US ought to be playing a constructive role in the region to
bring peace to the region and not pitting one country against another.
Eritrea has not and does not support Al Shabbab. Johnnie Carson knows that
and yet he repeatedly tries to associate Eritrea with Al Shabbab and the
reasons are very transparent. The record is clear and the UN itself has been
forced to admit that there is no evidence to show that Eritrea is providing
arms to Somali groups-none. The Amrch 2010 report by the UN Monitoring Group
on Somalia says that Ethiopia is the main supplier of arms to Somali war
lords. The illegitimate Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG)
led by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and the African Union peacekeepers who are
supplied by the United States are also mentioned as key contributors to the
arms swell in Somalia.
Despite attempts by others to misrepresent it Eritrea’s principled position
on Eritrea is well-known, Eritrea’s efforts in 2007 to bring all the Somali
people to dialogue and find their own solutions, was undermined and
hijacked. The US State Department was more interested in “sidelining”
Eritrea than finding a sustainable solution for Somalia. Eritrea has a
vested interest in seeing a peaceful and stable Somalia, Ethiopia does not.
It seems the US is willing to back Ethiopia’s war of attrition in Somalia
instead.
Rehearsed script-speak item #5-US Ambassador to Eritrea has not presented
his credentials and Ambassador’s movements are restricted
In Eritrea, as in all other countries, precedence is regulated by seniority,
dating from the notification of the arrival of the envoy and is scheduled in
groups. When it was time for Ambassador McMullen and those in his batch to
present their letters of credentials to H.E. President Isaias Afwerki,
Ambassador McMullen was not available; he was on travel, even though he was
notified about the date almost a month earlier. He left the country knowing
full well that he was scheduled to present his credentials. If they did not
want him to present his credentials, they would not have scheduled him to do
so in the first place. Another self-fulfilling act used to justify US
disengagement with Eritrea.
Johnnie Carson must know that the Eritrean Ambassador is also restricted and
not allowed to even travel to New York without State Department permission,
ditto for is staff. As for the “interference with the diplomatic pouch”,
that too has been addressed ad nauseum. Lest Carson give the wrong
impression about these “pouches”, let it be known that he is talking about
containers and not 70 lb packages. Eritrea has been experiencing delays and
“interferences” too, but has never raised it as being a serious “bilateral
issue”.
After listening to Johnnie Carson repeating the same line at the
Congressional hearing, I am more than certain that there is an agreed upon,
rehearsed script-speak on Eritrea and it is a concerted effort to spread
lies about Eritrea by Johnnie Carson and the incompetent Bureau of African
Affairs that he leads. Repeating the same rehearsed script-speak whenever
Eritrea is mentioned is Johnnie Carson’s way of avoiding dealing with the
more serious issues such as the Eritrea-Ethiopia border issue.
How Johnnie Carson and his team resolve the outstanding issues between the
US and Eritrea will be the most critical test of the Obama Administration’s
ability to act effectively in the strategically important Horn region, which
will greatly impact US credibility, integrity and reputation, both
regionally and internationally. How the United States deals with Eritrea
also will have a significant effect on America’s influence in the Horn
region in particular and the Middle East in general, relative to other
external players, particularly China, India and Russia. Whether the US
acknowledges Eritrea’s pivotal role in the region or not, more so than in
the past, diplomatic stasis between the United States and Eritrea, with the
US “sidelining”, “isolating” and “sanctioning” Eritrea will not promote US’
long term strategic and political interests in the region.
So until the US is ready to engage with Eritrea in a more serious manner,
expect to hear Johnnie Carson’s rehearsed 5-point scripts speak on Eritrea
wherever he goes, and US’ reputation and credibility sink with every line.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
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