EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first positive step on the part of the U.S. Department of State after a decade of failed policy by the previous officials who had contributed to the chaos in the Horn of Africa by financing Meles Zenawi’s tribal junta that has turned the whole region into a war zone. The best thing for the U.S. State Department to do is to stay out of the Horn of Africa and allow the people of the region to sort things out for themselves. All the current wars and conflicts in the Horn have the U.S. finger prints on them. Stop fueling the Woyanne killing machine and Meles Zenawi and his tribal warlords will have no option but to sit down and negotiate on equal terms with all the political players in the region for the sake of their own survival.
The United States Seeks to Engage Eritrea
By Tizita Belachew | VOA
The U.S. Secretary of State’s assistant for African affairs told VOA’s Tizita Belachew today “the door is open” to improving relations between the United States and Eritrea.
In his second month on the job, Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson today discussed issues confronting several African countries including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Zimbabwe. Carson has previously accused the State of Eritrea of shipping arms and fighters to Somalia to support the insurgency of al-Shabab. Today, the assistant secretary revealed a surprising twist in his efforts to engage Eritrea.
Carson, who has served as a U.S. diplomat in six African countries, told Tizita, “I met with the Eritrean ambassador and asked to meet with President Isaias Afwerki. 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.”
Carson said the Obama administration seeks to normalize strained relations. “This administration seeks a better relationship with Eritrea,” Carson said. The most recent difference is over Eritrea’s support for the insurgency against the Transitional Government of Somalia.
President Afewerki told VOA’s Tigrigna service in Asmara two weeks ago that he looks forward to meeting Carson, but Afewerki repeatedly denies flying weapons to al-Shabab in Somalia.
“There is a growing volume of real and circumstantial evidence of continuing relations between Asmara and al-Shabab,” Carson said today. “We encourage Eritrea to cut off relations” with the insurgents, he said. “There should be no transit for foreign fighters through Eritrea.”
“The door is open if they are transparent on Somalia.”