2nd Letter of Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister to the UN Secretary-General: A Theatrical and Audacious Cry

2nd Letter of Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister, (2 October last week), to the UNSG is astounding in its audacity and constitutes an act of duplicity in its extreme! As the local proverb goes: “ጭጉራፍ’ሲ ሃሪማ ተእዊ!” , which roughly translates into: “A sling emits a shrill cry as it hits its target”.

Day in and day out for the last two years, the Prosperity Party of Ethiopia policy mantra has revolved on acquiring “sovereign access to the sea through legal means if possible, and military force if necessary”.

The intense propaganda campaign aimed at whipping up irredentist ambitions has been accompanied by reckless and provocative saber rattling. In the circumstances, the latest letter is a deceitful charade; an insult to the intelligence of the Ethiopian people and the international community at large.

For its part, Eritrea has explicitly stated from the outset, that “it will not, as ever, be drawn into such alleys and platforms” urging all concerned “not to be provoked by these events”; MOI Press Release, 16 October 2023. In this vein, President Isaias Afwerki further underlined, in his interview with the local press in July last year: “We have no appetite for war… We have no territorial claims or ambitions against our neighbours. But as history attests, we know how to defend our country when and if attacked.

The Prosperity Party in Ethiopia is bragging about Drones and long-range missiles, tanks, etc. it has purchased, and the massive wave of attacks that it will unleash against Eritrea. This is mind-boggling and can only be entertained by those who do not know history.

Our response is: do not plunge the people of Ethiopia into a futile war: focus on solving your real problems…ዓዲ ወዓሉ! (Stay put)”.