Apparently, another heyday for the usual Conflict Enterpreneurs!
Genuine concern to avert any bout of conflict - Intra-State or Inter State - in the Horn of Africa is of course noble and commendable. Silencing the Guns must indeed be the collective commitment of those who care for the well-being of all the peoples in our region.
But the various postulates and "scenario analyses", as well as calls for "external intervention", peddled by most of these Conflict Enterpreneurs lack depth as well as objectivity, and seem mired in unhealthy motives and underlying agendas. And as ever, sullying the image of Eritrea and using it as a convenient political punch-bag seems to be an organic part of these schemes.
In the event, let us reiterate Eritrea's unflinching commitment to peace on the basis of fundamental pillars of international law and the interests of regional stability.
In this respect,
1. The often repeated accusations of "Eritrean troop presence in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia" by certain circles is utterly false and floated to create a pretext for stoking conflict. Eritrea's troops were and remain fully deployed within its sovereign territories.
2. As underlined in unequivocal terms on many occasions in the past, Eritrea has no interest whatseover in scuttling the Pretoria Peace Agreement; which is essentially an internal Ethiopian affair,
3. Similarly, Eritrea has no interest to exacerbate internal schisms within the political factions of the TPLF which it believes can only entail unnecessary and avoidable suffering to the people of Tigray.
4. Along with other toxic agendas, (ethnic and religious polarization etc.), territorial irredentism has remained the principal cause of endemic and cyclical inter-State and Intra-State conflicts in the Horn of Africa Region. In this context, constant inflammatory statements issued day-in and day-out by various political forces in Ethiopia regarding the Red Sea continue to be a recipes for unnecessary tension. This must be condemned in the strongest terms without any equivocation.
