Skip to main content

Kenya's unsubstantiated and malicious accusations labeled against Eritrea


Eritrea's Ministry of Information website shabait.com reports that "The Monitoring Group, in its report to the Security Council, explained that the accusation against Eritrea alleging that it sent three aircrafts carrying weapons to Somalia was unfounded and to the contrary external forces have entered Somalia uninvited and against Resolution 1725 (2006)."

The timing of Kenya's accusation was very malicious to say the least.  It was designed to thwart Eritrea's successful attempt to set the record straight that it had no interest in supporting extremists anywhere let alone in its neighborhood.   The Kenyan government knows full well that the allegations about Eritrea's support for al Shabaab was peddled by Ethiopia to divert attention from its illegal occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories in violation of a final and binding international arbitration.

Kenya's accusation came in November of 2011, a month after President Isaias afworki's successful visit to Uganda and a planned visit to Kenya.  During the Uganda visit President Museveni said "The bombing here was done by al Shabaab but the issue here is that al Shabaab is not supported by Eritrea, that's what Isaias told me and I accept it because he's an honorable comrade, he's not somebody who has walked out of the slums."  Eritrea's repeated request to meet with President Kibaki of Kenya were not answered.  Kenya's answer instead was an unfounded lie.  This put the expected strengthening of bilateral relation with Kenya on hold.

Ethiopia treats IGAD as an extension of its foreign ministry and uses IGAD to advance its agenda.  Eritrea in 2011 was meeting with IGAD member states to strengthen bilateral relations.  Eritrea was instrumental in the peace accord between Sudan and South Sudan and as such has excellent relations with both.  With the successful visit to Uganda and planned visit to Kenya, Eritrea was on a path to neutralize Ethiopia's unfair influence in IGAD when it comes to Eritrean issues.  The accusation therefore appears to have been designed to put a stop to this effort.  This poisoned the environment and created a conducive platform for what came next.  In December of 2011 IGAD's support was used as excuse to implement resolution 2023.  A resolution based on a lie.

It is easy to see that the people and government of Kenya do not benefit by damaging the relationship between the two friendly nations with a lie.  Those who do quickly capitalized on the opportunity.  The question now is, what will the government of Kenya do to rectify this injustice?

Yemane Abselom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A response to Professor Joel Brinkley: Eritrea has a remarkable story to tell

Professor Joel Brinkley wrote an article on the San Francisco Chronicle under the title "Eritrea, the most repressive nation on Earth", on April 29, 2012.  When Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, writes on Eritrea, one hopes it would be an original piece that explores the complex issues in depth.  However, the contents of his column were nothing but a copy and paste of several reports that have misleading information on Eritrea and a complete avoidance of current and recent events that lead us to where we are today.  Professor Brinkley has chosen to ignore the elephant in the room and he expects us to do the same. It is true Eritrea won its independence in 1991, after waging a 30 years long and bitter struggle for independence.  Between 1991 and 1998, before the war with Ethiopia broke out, Eritrea under the current leadership had won many accolades, including the New York Times, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The bond between the Eritrean Government and the Eritrean diaspora

Eritrea's enemies are leaving no stone unturned to disrupt the bond between the Eritrean government and the Eritrean diaspora.  A bond that is stronger than any other, and that has stood the test of time. Eritrea fought 30 years of long and bitter struggle for independence.  The world had ignored and refused to help Eritrea's right to self determination.  Eritreans had to rely on themselves. During the struggle for Independence an estimated one third of the 3 million population was forced to leave the country. However, Eritreans are very patriotic people.  Wherever they may be, they continued to organize to work for the liberation of their country and to defend the right of their population.  During the struggle for Independence Eritreans raised funds, wrote letters and marched to protest the world's unfair treatment of Eritrea and many went back to help in the armed struggle.  During the armed struggle the Eritrean leader...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Response to Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu's article on Al Jazeera

A Response to "To Avoid Another Conflict in the Horn of Africa, Now is the Time to Act" by Former Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu on Al Jazeera By: Yemane Abselom (wedi abselom) February 18, 2025 For decades, global news reporting has been dominated by Western media outlets such as the BBC (British), VOA (American), and DW (German). While these outlets claim to uphold principles of free and independent journalism, their coverage often aligns with Western political and economic agendas. When Al Jazeera emerged, there was hope that it would provide an alternative voice—one that would prioritize the interests of the Middle East and the Global South. Its early reporting on Iraq and Afghanistan, which exposed Western propaganda and war crimes, won it widespread respect. However, telling the truth comes at a cost, and it appears that those financing Al Jazeera were unwilling to continue paying that price. Over time, its editorial stance has drifted closer to that of Wester...
Post a Comment
Read more