Eritrea’s hostility bears upon regional peace

• Even Somalia is not spared as Asmara hosts force opposed to transition regime

The Horn of Africa is among the most troubled regions of the world. Even countries in the region that at first glance appear to be peaceful, are actually in a state of war.

In the region, a cold war rages between Ethiopia and Eritrea. To an extent, any country that is seen to be an ally of the other is also targeted.

Even a country that is already troubled such as Somalia is not spared. According to Asmara, the Somali transition government is an enemy since it has good ties with Ethiopia.

The result is that Eritrea hosts any force that is opposed to the Somali transition government, even the radical Al-Shabaab and former Islamic Courts Union leader Sheikh Dahir Aweys.

Djibouti hosts over 1,000 US troops, whose task is to battle terrorism. Besides hosting the Americans and the French, Djibouti is also an unwilling host to Eritrean troops who occupied its territory on the shores of the Red Sea early this year.

Despite a UN resolution that called on Eritrea to pull back its troops, Asmara has refused to yield.

To Ethiopia, any move that threatens Djibouti’s territorial integrity is serious because, as a land-locked country, Ethiopia has no access to the sea except through Djibouti.

It goes without question that any further move by Eritrea into Djibouti would mean war that would be a repeat of an earlier one.

In 1998, Ethiopia fought Eritrea in a two-year war that cost its economy close to a billion dollars and killed some 70,000 people.

But, despite the tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia, there is a peace treaty between the two countries, signed in Algiers 2000.

After the peace deal, a border commission was formed to demarcate the border, a task that was completed in 2007.

The dispute currently is that Ethiopia wants fresh demarcation of the border while Eritrea wants the commission’s findings implemented.

Eritrea’s response to the Ethiopian stance was to occupy a security zone on their 1,000 kilometre long border that was being patrolled by UN forces.

This forced out the UN soldiers despite numerous calls by the UN for Eritrea to respect the special security zone.

The result is that Eritrea is currently not only in conflict with Ethiopia but also with the UN that is mulling imposing sanctions on the regime.

Says Mr Yelibu Lijalem, the Deputy head of mission at the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi: “Eritrea does not want sustainable peace with its neighbours. The basic problem is the absence of democracy in Asmara.’’

He told of a big market of some 80 million Ethiopians that would be readily available to the Eritreans through its two ports of Massawa and Assam that are currently under-utilised.

Mr Yelibu said: “Once the Moyale road is complete, Ethiopia can use Mombasa port.’’