Statement on the Travel Warning Issued by the U.S. State Department

The TPLF regime has not only violated Eritrea's sovereignty by resorting to force to create facts on the ground, but it has also declared war on Eritrea and impeded a peaceful solution by stipulating an impossible pre-condition. Furthermore, it has rejected the call for a cessation of hostilities; resorted to blackmail through incessant threats; undertaken preparations for war and declared a "no fly zone" thereby precipitating a climate of insecurity.

Against this well-known backdrop of a war climate created by one belligerent party, the Eritrean Government is deeply dismayed by the statement issued by the State Department advising its citizens not to travel to Eritrea without explaining the cause of the war.

The Government of Eritrea does not harbour any ambition of territorial expansion and aggrandizement. Even when its sovereignty was violated, it did not choose to retaliate but did its best to resolve the problem through dialogue and peaceful means knowing full well that the issue cannot be resolved by force. When attacks were unleashed against it, it only resorted to a legitimate act of self-defense confining itself to passive defense. It did not otherwise resort to retaliatory acts for which it could be blamed.

Indeed, the Government of Eritrea continues to call for a cessation of hostilities in spite of the incessant threats and provocation perpetrated by the TPLF regime. It did not declare a "no fly zone" in reciprocity because it did not see the necessity for doing so. It did not take reciprocal action but only appealed for international action when more than 50,000 Eritrean citizens and Ethiopian citizens of Eritrean origin were detained, murdered and illegally deported while their property was confiscated.

These are the true facts. The Government of Eritrea therefore finds the travel warning issued by the US Government on account of the threat of war emanating from the TPLF regime both unjustified and unfair. The letter and spirit of the warning is not acceptable as it can only exacerbate the current tension.

In our view, the right course of action for the US Government should have been to employ its diplomatic leverage to exert the necessary pressure to avert war rather than giving in--through the travel warning--to the threats and ultimatums that are being issued by the TPLF regime. Otherwise, it is common knowledge that Eritrea remains to be one of the safest places if it were not for the looming threat of war emanating from the TPLF regime.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 21 January 1999