Fostering Terrorism

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By: Bekele Gedamu
06/25/06)

When we advocate peace, it doesn’t necessarily mean we ignore reality. The reality on the Horn of Africa, as we continue to learn about the events unfolding from that region, doesn’t augur peace. Eritrea continues to be a thorn (audacious in its utter disregard for regional peace), and its clandestine support for terrorist elements is posing a huge dilemma to the West in general, and a valid threat to Ethiopia in particular.

Al Queda, homeless and on the run, has been shivering in the windy and ferociously cold Pakistan/Afghanistan mountains, looking for a safe haven almost for three years. Ever since the downfall of the Taliban, the banished terror organization, has been looking for a refuge and Eritrea, shrewd in avoiding direct responsibility of its ties with Mr. Bin Laden so far, has now become its new ally openly, making the area an extremely dangerous zone. (“According to the Monitoring Group set up under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1407 embargoing arm shipments to the former Somalia, on March 5 of this year, the Islamists were shipped, via Eritrea…” AIGA) A recent surge in maritime piracy in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean that has made the waters among the most dangerous in the world is quite a testament to the uncertainties of the region. It is now a bona fide fact that Eritrea’s connection to Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys, who emerged as the chairman of the Islamists’ decision-making council, the majlis al-shura (an avowed Al Queda member) is of a serious concern to all.

This is a very astounding development the United States and Great Britain should look into deeply before it gets out of control. Bin Laden who is on the run can easily move to Somalia and stage his aggression from Mogadishu with the collaboration of his friend Isayas of Eritrea. There may be no direct contact between these two fanatics at this point, but the marriage is appealing to Bin Laden. Three-hundred-thousand well equipped Eritrean troops at his disposal to take over Yemen (his motherland) and Saudi Arabia to the north, his principal nemesis, makes the marriage a magnificent union Bin Laden had ever imagined.

The Eritrean government, at this point, can tap dance to avoid its association with Al Queda, calling it a scheme by the Ethiopian government to tarnish its image. Sadly, it’s not the Ethiopian government that made the disclosure but an independent United Nation’s fact finding mission that reported the ties. His hands caught in the cookie jar as it is, Mr. Isayas may be looking for a scapegoat or come up with a cute answer to diffuse the charges but they will not help. Al-Itihaad al-Islami, the notorious jihadi organization has been receiving its armaments from Eritrea, with large shipments flowing easily between Asmara and Mogadishu, facilitating the recent denouement and confusion in Somalia once gain. Of course, this paves the way for the final arrival of Bin Laden, with Mogadishu being the terror center and the capital for his mass destruction. Consider these shipments of large arsenals of weaponries (“200 boxes Zu-23 anti-aircraft ammunition, 200 boxes of B-10 anti-tank ammunition, 200 boxes of DShK anti-aircraft ammunition, 200 boxes of Browning M2 50-caliber heavy machine gun ammunition, ammunition for the ZP-39 anti-aircraft gun, 50 rocket propelled grenade launchers, 50 light anti-armor weapons, 50 M-79 grenade launchers, and communications equipments to be mounted on “technical,” followed two days later by a consignment of 1,000 short-version AK-47 automatic rifles, 1,000 pairs of binoculars, 1,000 remote-control bombs, 1,000 anti-personnel mines, and ammunition for 120mm mortars” AIGA) to Somalia from Eritrea in a short span of time, giving the terror group a thumbs up to carry on with its carnage.

Is this not enough to make the West jittery about Eritrea?

There could be a very lackadaisical view, particularly by Western diplomats in reporting these scenarios to their respective governments. They could easily conclude that Bin Laden’s ties with Eritrea is inconclusive or weak at best; however, President Clinton made the same mistake dismissing Al Queda’s presence in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, calling it a confined exercise of frustrated fanatics to a limited area, posing no major threat to the West.

What a farce!

A fire is a fire, no matter how infinitesimal. Bin Laden and Isayas may not have a blossoming friendship today, but the historically belligerent and overly ambitious Isayas whose vision to control Yemen under the aegis of Asmara is no secret to those who know the psychotic mind of the dictator, could have found a lost brother in Bin Laden who may facilitate his ambition rather quickly. Of course, Bin Laden, whose ambition is entirely different than that of Iasyas’s has his own plan for Yemen and Saudi Arabia as well, but that is something they have to work it out after their supposed victories. If left to simmer, is this a possibility?

We cannot deny the presence of resentment, tensions, and a widespread of sense of disorientation and danger in the region that both Bin Laden and Isayas could manipulate. If allowed to grow and the time to nurture, irrespective of warnings and predictions, the Isayas/Bin Laden marriage could eclipse the Bin Laden/Mullah Muhammed Omar marriage of Afghanistan. Clinton and Majors underestimated that symbiosis then, but Bush and Blair cannot afford to make the same mistake today.

There is certainly an air of indifference by the West especially after the Iraq debacle. The fear of adding another potential enemy while the collision with Iraq hasn’t been settled, gives the West a shiver. The idea of overlooking, justifying or denying the Eritrean and the Al Queda connection, however, could backfire. The United States could learn from past mistakes, such as its consistent denial of human rights abuse in El Salvador in the 1980s, for example, attributing the atrocities to the dark motives of the journalists who reported it. Alexander Haig, the then Secretary of State, testified before Congress (in regards to the rape and murder of four American churchwomen) that the carnage has no connection with the government of El Salvador, defended the regime.

That’s a blatant mistake.

Ms. Rice could learn a valuable lesson and be wise not to repeat Alexander Haig’s blunder. Eritrea is a ticking time bomb, and the West not Ethiopia, must be very, very wary.

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