PRESIDENT ISAIAS SPEAKS AT SIGNING OF ESPA

UNCLAS ASMARA 000858

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958 DECL: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO PINR SU ER
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT ISAIAS SPEAKS AT SIGNING OF ESPA


1.(U) On the occasion of the signing of the Eastern Sudan Peace
Agreement (ESPA) on October 14, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki
again spoke out against the United States and the international
community. In his speech he blamed the U.S. for complicating and
perpetuating conflicts and using them for financial gain. He went
on to advise the audience to seek domestic solutions to internal
problems and not to pursue a path that will lead to external
intervention. His comments about the manipulations of the U.S. and
the international community received enthusiastic cheers from the
fundamentalist Islamists and Sudanese National Congress Party
audience members.


2. (SBU) Comment: President Isaias's comments are nothing new. He
continues to present the United States negatively and explain U.S.
action's as a deliberate undermining of Eritrea and other regional
actors for the U.S.'s own gains. His warning to the audience
regarding domestic solutions to internal problems and avoiding
external interventions might be interpreted as a statement of
support both for the Government of Sudan, and the GOS's refusal to
allow international peacekeepers in Darfur. End Comment.


3. (U) A GSE English translation of the speech delivered in Arabic
follows below. Begin text:

Your Excellency President Omer Al Beshir
Your Excellency President Ismael Orner Guelle
Distinguished Leaders and Delegates of the Eastern Front
Representatives of Friendly States and Governments
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to extend, on this momentous occasion, my warmest
congratulations to the people of the Sudan, to President Beshir, to
the leaders of the Eastern Front as well as to the people of Eritrea
and the peoples of our region as a whole.

Allow me further to thank all those who contributed, through patient
and capable efforts, to the concretization of the Agreement between
the Government of National Unity and the Eastern Front that is being
signed on this auspicious day.

Excellencies,

I believe it is imperative and timely to gauge this important
Agreement - which constitutes one of the building blocs[sic] of
comprehensive peace in the Sudan - in the context of the prevailing
regional and international climate. The larger perspective is vital
in order to appreciate the challenges and to marshal necessary
efforts to ensure the effective implementation and sustainability of
the Agreement.

As Your Excellencies will agree with me, the Naivasha Agreement did
not only constitute one of the primary pillars of Comprehensive
Peace in the Sudan but also a historic achievement that laid the
foundations of the whole edifice. In this perspective, I wish to
underline that its full consummation at the end of the transitional
period to deliver the desired result and its organic reinforcement
through supplementation of the other building blocs[sic] will demand
robust commitment and assiduous maintenance.

Excellencies,

It is important to realize that we are passing through dangerous
times which can only arouse our concomitant awareness. Few
short-sighted powers are plunging billions of people in the world
into the abyss of perennial crisis and conflict in order to control
and dominate the resources of our planet. These are indeed times of
unprecedented injustice to secure international domination at the
expense of fundamental individual and people's rights. We cannot be
oblivious to the subtle manipulations' underway to impart a
different connotation to the concept of the "International
Community" by reducing the forum to represent the interests of the
only superpower and its ilk to the exclusion of all others. We
observe, daily, dogged attempts to transform international and
regional organizations into mere extensions or appendages of the
Offices of major powers and micro-manage them through their
intelligence agencies. Sadly, what is in vogue today is not
"conflict resolution" but "the complication and perpetuation of
conflicts". Fabrication of any pretext to satisfy one's selfish
interests is being employed without scruples under the Machiavellian
philosophy of the "end justifies the means". It is indeed
distressing to see peace processes degenerate into forums of public
acrimony or for financial gain instead of promoting genuine and
enduring solutions.

Excellencies,

Allow me to highlight two cardinal issues, among other important
matters, on this auspicious moment and in the context of the
prevailing dangerous international climate.

The first is the absolute need to refrain from policies and acts
that spawn internal crisis and conflict, and, to seek and secure
domestic solutions to internal problems that may have been inherited
or that may have arisen from misguided policies. This will also
involve the implementation of Agreements signed faithfully and
seriously.

The second is not to tread on an alley that leads to external
intervention and to thwart overt or covert external intervention.
Because, accommodation of or capitulation to external pressures will
only exacerbate the situation, prolong the conflicts and entail
sorrow and remorse.

Excellencies,

May I extend, again, my warmest congratulations and express my best
wishes, on behalf of the people and Government of Eritrea, to the
people and Government of the Sudan to transform this historic
Agreement inscribed today on paper and on our hearts into a solid
and unshakable building bloc [sic] of unity through proper care and
maintenance.

Thank you.

End text.

WROBLEWSKI