DATE=4/21/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-43178
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA INDEPENDENCE
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: ERITREA'S PRESIDENT SAYS ETHIOPIA'S GOVERNMENT MAY TRY
DIVIDING THE COUNTRY IF IT LOSES SUPPORT IN THEIR ONGOING BORDER
WAR. BUT AS V-O-A EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT SCOTT STEARNS
REPORTS, ETHIOPIA SAYS IT STANDS UNITED AGAINST ERITREAN
AGGRESSION.
TEXT: ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAYAS AFEWORKI SAYS ETHIOPIAN LEADERS
ARE CONCERNED ONLY ABOUT THEIR OWN REGION AND WOULD THINK NOTHING
OF DUMPING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY IF THEY CANNOT CONTROL IT.
PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS ETHNIC TIGRAYAN OFFICIALS RUNNING
ETHIOPIA'S GOVERNMENT ARE INTERESTED ONLY IN KEEPING THE COUNTRY
TOGETHER IF THEY CAN CONTINUE TO INTIMIDATE THEIR OPPONENTS.
/// ISAYAS ACT ONE ///
THEIR COMMITMENT TO ETHIOPIA IS A PRETENTION. THEY ARE
COMMITED TO ETHIOPIA IF THEY CAN CONTROL ETHIOPIA,
CONTROL ETHIOPIA BY DIVIDING IT AND WEAKENING THE GROUPS
THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A THREAT TO THIS GANG.
/// END ACT ///
PRESIDENT ISAYAS HELPED TIGRAYAN LEADERS TAKE POWER IN ETHIOPIA
IN 1991, DEFEATING ETHIOPIAN LEADER MENGISTU HAILLE MARIAM.
PRESIDENT ISAYAS THEN LED ERITREA TO INDEPENDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA
TWO YEARS LATER, A MOVE HE SAYS TIGRAYAN LEADERS WOULD NOW LIKE
TO FOLLOW USING CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR SELF-DETERMINATION.
/// ISAYAS ACT TWO ///
DIVIDING ETHIOPIA AND CONTROLLING IT IS AN OPTION. IF
THEY CAN DO IT. THEN THEY ARE FOR ETHIOPIA. IF THIS
DOMINATION OF ETHIOPIA AND CONTROL OF ETHIOPIA BY
DIVIDING, MANIPULATING, AND SUPPRESING IS NOT GOING TO
WORK, THEY WILL HAVE TO RESORT TO THE PREVIOUS AGENDA OF
INDEPENDENCE OF TIGRAY.
/// END ACT ///
PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE GOAL OF TIGRAYAN
LEADERS INCLUDING ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI. THE
PRIME MINISTER SAYS TIGRAYAN AUTONOMY WAS PART OF THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE MENGISTU ARMY, BUT HE BELIEVES ETHIOPIA'S NOW
MORE-FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT REMOVES THE NEED FOR
INDEPENDENCE.
/// MELES ACT ONE ///
I THINK THE INDEPENDENCE OF TIGRAY OR ANY OTHER REGION
OF ETHIOPIA IS FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES OVER, WAS OVER
WHEN THE CONSTITUTION WAS ENSHRINED. WHEN THE RIGHT OF
SELF-DETERMINATION WAS ENSHRINED, IT WAS NOT INTENDED
TO BRING ABOUT THE INDEPENDENCE OF ALL SORTS OF PLACES.
IT WAS INTENDED TO REASSURE PEOPLE THAT THIS IS NOT A
PRISON WITHOUT WINDOWS, THAT THIS IS A VOLUNTARY UNION
OF PEOPLES FOR A COMMON PURPOSE.
/// END ACT ///
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS REGIONAL LEADERS ARE FREE TO CAMPAIGN
FOR INDEPENDENCE IN ETHIOPIA, JUST AS HIS E-P-R-D-F GOVERNMENT IS
FREE TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST IT ON THE GROUNDS THAT THE COUNTRY IS
STRONGER TOGETHER.
/// MELES ACT TWO ///
THE E-P-R-D-F STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT WE HAVE CREATED A
SOLID BASIS FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE TOGETHER, THAT UNDER
THESE CIRCUMSTANCES PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE INTEREST OF THE
PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA AT HEART COULD NOT, SHOULD NOT
CONTEMPLATE SECESSION. BUT THAT'S OUR VIEW. IT IS
THEIR RIGHT TO CHALLENGE THIS JUST AS IT IS OUR RIGHT TO
CHALLENGE THEM POLITICALLY, NOT BY MUZZLING THEM OR BY
DENYING THEM THEIR RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION.
/// END ACT ///
AS FOR ERITREA, PRIME MINISTER MELES BELIEVES THE COUNTRY HAS HAD
MIXED RESULTS SINCE INDEPENDENCE. HE DOES NOT SUPPORT THOSE IN
ETHIOPIA CALLING FOR ITS REUNION, BUT HE DOES SAY HE WOULD LIKE
TO SEE A CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT THERE, A CHANGE THAT WOULD REMOVE
PRESIDENT ISAYAS FROM POWER.
/// MELES ACT THREE ///
I FEEL THAT INTERNALLY, MORE TOLERANT POLITICS IN
ERITREA WOULD ON THE WHOLE CONTRIBUTE TO AN EXTERNALLY
TOLERANT POLICY ON THE PART OF AN ERITREAN GOVERNMENT.
THE FATE OF NATIONS WILL NOT DEPEND ON THE
IDEOSYNCRACIES OF INDIVIDUALS AND THEREFORE WE WILL HAVE
A MORE SECURE FUTURE. SO, IN THAT SENSE, I THINK IT
WOULD BE A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION. BUT THAT IS AS FAR AS
IT GOES.
/// END ACT ///
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS HE DOES NOT INTEND TO HELP REMOVE
PRESIDENT ISAYAS BY FORCE. HE SAYS HE IS ONLY CONSULTING WITH
ERITREAN OPPOSITION GROUPS THAT HE BELIEVES CAN TAKE THE COUNTRY
IN A BETTER DIRECTION.
PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS ETHIOPIA AND SUDAN ARE PLOTTING TO
OVERTHROW HIS GOVERNMENT BY ARMING ERITREAN MILITIAMEN IN
NORTHERN ETHIOPIA AND EASTERN SUDAN. (SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/JWH/PLM
21-Apr-99 4:22 AM EDT (0822 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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