As I have indicated in my previous article, the USA election has a very important impact on the lives and future of many nations through out the world. And this is especially true for Eritrea. Literally, we have waited 8 years to get a favorable administration in the white house. Some one who will give us a fair treatment…some one who will not take side with Ethiopia at the cost of justice. Some one who would build a positive relationship with our government. Now as the USA primary election shapes out, it is natural to ask which one of the primary candidates has the best menu for Eritrea.Against this background, my first choice is Congressman Ron Paul (unfortunately, he will not succeed to get the nomination, let alone the presidency. Nevertheless, if I were to vote, he would still get my vote.) But my Eritrean fellows seem comfortable with Sen. Barak Obama. They are very enthusiastic supporters of the junior senator from Illinois. Almost all the Eritreans that I know here are his supporters. A cursory browse of the young Eritreans on facebook repeats the same story. Their facebook pages read:
Go for Obama…..Yes we can….one million strong supporters of Obama….etc,
Go for Obama…..Yes we can….one million strong supporters of Obama….etc,
Another an informal poll(of Eritrean visitors) in awate.com shows the following figures: Barak Obama 73% Hillary Clinton 16.9% John MacCain 3.4% Ron Paul 2.8%By all measures, Obama commands an overwhelming support among Eritreans. If only Eritreans were the electors, Obama would be the next president. But where does all this support come from? As any immigrant communities, one would expect that Eritreans would go for the candidate who would offer the best menu towards their home country. Add to that; the fact that most Eritreans support the Eritrean government and blame Washington for the worsening of the US-Eritrea relationship. Thus one would expect, from the Support of Eritreans in the USA for Obama, his presidency would bring hope for a better US-Eritrea relationship: an end to the deteriorating relationship between Washington and Asmara. But is that so?So far we haven’t heard any detailed policy of the candidates towards Africa. But we can learn a great deal of what their presidency offers from the composition of their foreign policy advisory teams. These are the people who will set the foreign policy and priority of his presidency. They are the people who will dominate the state department.
On Obama's top list of foreign policy advisory team are two familiar names to all Eritreans: Susan Rice and Anthony Lake. And that is where the hope messages disappears.
On Obama's top list of foreign policy advisory team are two familiar names to all Eritreans: Susan Rice and Anthony Lake. And that is where the hope messages disappears.
Susan Rice was Assistant Secretary of State for Africa during the Ethio-Eritrea border war(Clinton administration). And we don't have a good memory of her time in the state department. At least, the government of Preseident Iseyas Afewerki(PIA) has accused her for complicating the border conflict and for taking side with Ethiopia. In fact PIA him self has publicly dismissed her as “a 35-year old immature, inexperienced intern diplomat.” Certainly, Susan Rice will not have any sympathy for PIA.
Anthony Lake was also a special envoy of President Clinton for the Ethio-Eritrea conflict. During the two years of the conflict from 1998 to 2000, Anthony Lake has carried out a countless shuttle diplomacy between Addis Ababa- Asmara- Washington. He was the top diplomat dominating the diplomatic mission to solve the conflict. But his effort didn’t produce any fruit. Nor does it left a good memory of him. In fact, Anthony Lake, like Susan Rice, was dismissed by the Eritrean government for complicating the border conflict and the peace process. If you don’t remember some of these statements defaming Anthony Lake, I am sure you will remember the famous comedy “Enkilalo!!”
Anthony Lake was not only accused of complicating the border conflict, but after the 2001 crisis in PFDJ, he was also accused for using his shuttle diplomacy for conspiring against the Eritrean government....the kind of CIA spy behind G-13 and G-15!!!!
And now, with Obama’s presidency, both Susan Rice and Anthony Lake will be back to the sate department and to Washington. Clearly, this is not a hope menu for Eritrea and for PIA.So why do Eritreans overwhelmingly support Obama? May be they haven't paid attention to the people behind him. Or may be they like the idea that an immigrant son from East Africa is a good model for their kids. But as far as for Eritrea (and the government of PIA) is concerned, Obama provides the worst menu of all the candidates.
