From the journey of Isaias Afwerki by Khalid Hassan Yusuf

01:21 PM March, 20 2024

Sudanese Online
خالد حسن يوسف-الصومال
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During the revolution, the Eritrean revolutionaries fell into the same strategic mistake as the western Somali revolutionaries, as the Eritrean organizations were dependent on the external decision, which was scattered among Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, when those countries took control of the Eritrean organizations.

Thus, the pages of their struggle were closed with the historic defeat that the Eritrean Liberation Front suffered before the Eritrean People's Liberation Front and the Tigray People's Liberation Front in 1982, while Sudan confiscated the Eritrean Liberation Front's weapons by an American decision.

On the other hand, the political decision of the Western Somali Liberation Front was dependent on Somalia, and the course of affairs reached the point where the Front’s forces were integrated with the Somali army and its cadres into the institutions of the Somali state. During its course in the seventies and eighties, it remained a subject of interference and guidance for its political decision, while the Somali government dealt with the Eritrean organizations in a different way and in isolation from interference. In their organizational affairs.

Later, the Ogaden National Liberation Front's decision was made dependent on Eritrea, which resulted in the front's surrender when the political settlement took place between Eritrea and Ethiopia, even though the front and its bases were present in the field, whether they were forces or masses supporting it, as they were concentrated inside occupied western Somalia or Ogadenia.

While the leaders of the Front were present between the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and some diaspora countries, and of course, the Isaias Afwerki regime could not have obstructed the continuation of the Front’s struggle if it wanted to, but the Eritrean government suggested to the organization’s leadership that it would play the role of mediator between the Ogadeniya Front and the Ethiopian government, and it There were meetings about this.

Also, the targeting of the Somali cantons linked to the Ethiopian government to the Front, preventing it from finding a foothold, and its cooperation with Addis Ababa against that background, not to mention that the Somali Council of Ministers, in turn, had issued in one of its sessions a decision criminalizing the Front, describing it as practicing terrorism!

The result is that the natural depth of the front, represented by Somalia, became repulsive and discouraged when it submitted to Ethiopia, and therefore these circumstances contributed to pushing the front towards that useless settlement with Addis Ababa, not to mention the role of the internal factor among its leaders.

While the experience of Eritrean People's Liberation Front, led by Isaias Afwerki, remained isolated from external control over the organization’s decision.
Despite the assistance of Somalia, Sudan and others to its People's Front, it was able to maintain its independence and political decision-making from external interference.
Due to its focus on its bases at home, and benefiting from the capabilities of its Ethiopian ally, represented by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which took the Eritrean territory as its depth, and in turn received political and military support from Somalia.

After the revolution, the Eritrean government moved to fight political Islam in Sudan, represented by the Islamic National government, and Eritrean religious organizations opposed to the government. It was able, in cooperation with the Ethiopian government, to limit and paralyze its activity in Eritrea, not to mention attracting the Sudanese political opposition, which took Asmara is a major political refuge.
In 1994, Eritrean forces participated militarily alongside Ethiopia to wage war against the Somali Islamic Union organization in the western Somali region controlled by Ethiopia.

In Somalia, the Eritrean government worked to support the Somali opposition to Ethiopia after Addis Ababa invaded Somalia in 2007, in addition to its support for the Al-Shabaab movement. It made great strides in that political direction and contributed greatly to Ethiopia’s defeat in Somalia.

The Eritrean government's policy also focused on weakening the neighboring countries represented by Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia, and within that context it has made great strides that cannot be underestimated, against the backdrop of its support for the political opposition in these neighboring countries. There is no doubt that those countries, with the exception of Djibouti, played a prominent role. In targeting the Eritrean regime and seeking to overthrow it, while Asmara attacked Djibouti on the grounds that it contributed to Ethiopia continuing to fight the war with Eritrea, especially since the port of Djibouti represented an economic and commercial depth and a lifeline for Ethiopia.

In another direction, the aspirations of the Eritrean government were seeking to control the decision and fate of the Christian Tigrayan nationality in Ethiopia, who represent an ethnic and religious extension of the Tigrinya living in Eritrea. In connection with this social historical background, a state of tension arose over the decision of the common and politically divided nationality, and currently the Eritrean forces control some The Tigray regions, after the joint invasion of the Eritrean and Ethiopian government forces into the Tigray region in 2021-2022, and thus Asmara was able to put an end to the threats of the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

On the other hand, the Eritrean government supports the main Ethiopian opposition forces, including the Amharic opposition (FANO), and the Oromo Liberation Front(OLA), which represents a serious challenge to the Ethiopian government, and has weakened its political and military capacity, to the point that Ethiopia has become threatened with division as a state.

Khalid Hassan Yusuf

Arabic Forum