DATE=4/15/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-43119
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA OPPOSITION
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THE PRESIDENT OF ERITREA SAYS ETHIOPIA AND SUDAN ARE
TRYING TO OVERTHROW HIS GOVERNMENT. BUT V-O-A'S SCOTT STEARNS
REPORTS ETHIOPIA SAYS IT IS GIVING ONLY POLITICAL SUPPORT TO
ERITREAN OPPOSITION GROUPS.
TEXT: THE BORDER WAR BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA HAS NOW SPREAD
BEYOND THEIR BORDERS.
ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAYAS AFEWORKI SAYS ETHIOPIA AND SUDAN ARE
RECRUITING ERITREAN OPPOSITION GROUPS TO MOVE AGAINST HIM. HE
SAYS IT IS A CAMPAIGN THAT IS BOUND TO FAIL BECAUSE ETHIOPIA'S
JEALOUSY OF ERITREAN FIGHTERS -- KNOWN AS THE E-P-L-F -- HAS ONLY
GIVEN THE PEOPLE OF ERITREA MORE REASON TO STAND AGAINST
ETHIOPIA.
PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS THE PLOT TO TOPPLE HIS GOVERNMENT IS FUELED
BY ETHIOPIA'S INTIMIDATION OF ERITREANS WHO STILL LIVE IN
ETHIOPIA.
/// ISAYAS ACT ///
THEY WERE TRYING TO EDUCATE THEM TO WORK WITH WHAT THEY
CALL OPPOSITION GROUPS AND FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT IN
ASMARA. AND WHAT THEY WERE TELLING THEM IS VERY CLEAR
NOW THEY HAVE COMMUNICATED THE MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ELSE.
THEY WERE TELLING THEM THAT E-P-L-F HAS CULTIVATED INTO
YOUR MINDS THAT YOU ARE SUPERIOR, THAT YOU ARE
INVINCIBLE, THAT YOU ARE THIS AND THAT. AND WHAT THEY
WANTED TO DO WAS TO TELL THESE PEOPLE, YOU ARE NOT
INVINCIBLE, YOU ARE NOT SUPERIOR, YOU CAN BE TAMED,
YOU CAN BE HUMILIATED, YOU CAN BE DEHUMANIZED, YOU CAN
BE DEFEATED. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO TELL, AND
EVERY FAMILY AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THIS IS GOING TO
HAPPEN TO THEM.
/// END ACT ///
PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS SUDAN IS SPONSORING MILITARY STRIKES BY A
GROUP KNOWN AS THE ERITREAN ISLAMIC JIHAD. HE SAYS SUDAN AND
ETHIOPIA ARE ALSO BEHIND A NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCE BASED IN
KHARTOUM.
THIS ALLIANCE IS LED BY A LONG-TIME RIVAL OF PRESIDENT ISAYAS,
THE HEAD OF THE ERITREAN LIBERATION FRONT, ABDULA IDRISS.
HISTORIAN PATRICK GILKES SAYS IT IS A POTENTIALLY POTENT ALLIANCE
THAT IS GETTING BIGGER.
/// GILKES ACT ///
THAT HAS NOW BEEN EXTENDED IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS,
PARTLY WITH THE ACTIVE SUPPORT OF ETHIOPIA, BRINGING
TOGETHER A TOTAL OF TEN ERITREAN OPPOSITION
ORGANIZATIONS IN A SINGLE BROADER ALLIANCE. THIS
ALLIANCE BRINGS TOGETHER MOST OF THE OPPOSITION TO THE
PEOPLE'S FRONT FOR DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE IN ERITREA,
INCLUDING ALMOST ALL OF THE MUSLIM GROUPS THAT ARE
OPERATIVE IN ERITREAN POLITICS.
/// END ACT ///
MR. GILKES SAYS THE ALLIANCE INCLUDES ETHNIC KUNAMA FROM THE
BORDER AREAS UNDER DISPUTE IN THE ETHIOPIAN / ERITREAN WAR. IT
ALSO INVOLVES SMALLER MARXIST GROUPS BASED IN ETHIOPIA'S NORTHERN
TIGRAY PROVINCE, HOME TO ETHIOPIA'S PRIME MINISTER, MELES ZENAWI.
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS ETHIOPIA SUPPORTS POLTICAL CHANGE IN
ERITREA BECAUSE HE BELIEVES IT WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO GREATER
REGIONAL STABILITY. BUT THE PRIME MINISTER SAYS ETHIOPIA IS NOT
TRYING TO GET RID OF PRESIDENT ISAYAS BY FORCE.
/// MELES ACT ONE ///
I THINK THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN SAY, ENCOURAGING AND
AIDING AND ABETTING. I DON'T THINK ITS RIGHT FOR
ANYBODY TO INTERFERE IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF ANOTHER
COUNTRY. THAT DOES NOT MEAN A COUNTRY CANNOT HAVE A
VIEW, AND OPINION AS TO WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS NOT
GOOD. WE HAVE AN OPINION AS TO WHAT TYPE OF POLITICAL
SYSTEM WOULD CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS REGIONAL STABILITY AND
TO THE EXTENT THAT IT CAN MATERIALIZE, WE WOULD BE HAPPY
AND TO THE EXTENT THAT WE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO IT
POLITICALLY, WE WILL BE HAPPY TO CONTRIBUTE TO IT
POLITICALLY.
/// END ACT ///
ETHIOPIAN AND SUDANESE SUPPORT FOR ERITREAN DISSIDENTS IS A
DEPARTURE FROM THE PREVIOUSLY CHILLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO
COUNTRIES. RELATIONS HAVE BEEN TENSE SINCE AN ATTEMPT TO
ASSASSINATE EGYPT'S PRESIDENT IN THE ETHIOPIAN CAPITAL WHICH IS
BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT BY PEOPLE BASED IN SUDAN.
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS THERE HAS BEEN NO GREAT
RECONCILIATION BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SUDAN, BUT IN LIGHT OF THE
WAR WITH ERITREA, HE SAYS IT IS ONLY NATURAL TO RECONSIDER
REGIONAL RELATIONS.
/// MELES ACT TWO ///
PUNCH MY NOSE, I PUNCH YOUR NOSE TOO. HERE WE HAD A
RELATIONSHIP WHICH WAS SOUR WITH THE SUDAN BEING
COUNTERPOSED TO A RELATIONSHIP WHICH WAS, SHALL WE SAY,
CLOSE BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA. WHEN YOU REMOVE
THIS GOOD RELATIONSHIP AND IT BECOMES EVEN MORE SOUR,
THE PROFILE OF THIS RELATIONSHIP WHICH WAS SOUR BECOMES
DIFFERENT.
/// END ACT ///
MILITARY OBSERVERS ESTIMATE ERITREAN DISSIDENTS IN SUDAN HAVE
MAYBE THREE-THOUSAND FIGHTERS. THAT IS NO MATCH FOR THE 200-
THOUSAND THAT ERITREA HAS CALLED UP FOR ITS WAR AGAINST ETHIOPIA.
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS BOTH ETHIOPIA AND SUDAN REALIZE THEIR
SUPPORT FOR ERITREAN OPPONENTS WILL NOT CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT
IN ASMARA OVERNIGHT.
/// MELES ACT THREE ///
WE DO NOT OVERESTIMATE THE CAPACITY OF SUDAN OR
ETHIOPIA TO INFLUENCE INTERNAL POLITICS IN ERITREA.
ERITREAN POLITICS WILL GO ONE WAY OR ANOTHER PRIMARILY
BECAUSE OF INTERNAL REASONS NOT BECAUSE OF EXTERNAL
REASONS. WE UNDERSTAND THE LIMITS OF POSTURING AND
MEETINGS AND ALL THE REST.
/// END ACT ///
AFTER NEARLY A YEAR OF FIGHTING, PRIME MINISTER MELES AND
PRESIDENT ISAYAS APPEAR TO HAVE RALLIED THEIR NATIONS BEHIND THIS
WAR, BOTH MEN HOPING THE OTHER LOSES DOMESTIC SUPPORT FIRST.
(SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/JWH
15-Apr-99 8:30 AM EDT (1230 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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