NUBIART EDITORIAL:

On midweek Nubiart we looked at recent East Afrikan news stories. We started with an interview with His Excellency (H.E.) Berhanu Kebede, Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK He told us that recent floods had affected parts of eastern Ethiopia but that the government had acted quickly to bring relief to the people. They did not need additional aid as they had already received from the World Food Programme.

We moved on to the main topic of the interview which was the Ethiopian military incursion into Somalia in December. H.E. pointed out that Ethiopia had started the first phase of withdrawal. He expected the final phase to coincide with the arrival of an Afrikan Union peacekeeping force in Somalia . Troops have been offered by Uganda , Nigeria , Malawi and Burundi with Benin , Ghana , Rwanda and Tanzania considering it. South Afrika will not send troops but has offered logistical and technical support.

H.E. felt that if there was sufficient logistical support then the 8,000 troops needed would be forthcoming although less than 4,000 had so far been committed. He didn’t think the US interest in the area was dissuading countries from getting involved in a situation that could escalate out of control. H.E. did not accept any direct relation between the Ethiopian action and the US attacks on Ras Kamboni which were aimed solely at Al-Qaida who had been flushed out when the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fled south from Mogadishu . H.E. denied that there had been any US logistical or moral support for the Ethiopian action and that it was just a coincidence that US aircraft carriers turned up off the Somali coast blocking the UIC escape routes by sea at the same time as the joint Ethiopian-Somali TFG push into Mogadishu!

H.E. stressed that the UIC had infiltrated people into the Somali regions of Ethiopia to destabilise the country and therefore Ethiopia ’s invasion of Somalia was self-defence. He pointed out that Ethiopia had asked the UIC eight times over the previous months to desist from supporting elements in Ethiopia without success. While accepting that the UIC did not have tanks or aircrafts so were heavily outgunned from the start the Ethiopians felt it was necessary to use this hardware against the UIC to prove the point that there are serious consequences for violating Ethiopian territory and causing destabilisation.

The Ethiopian-Somali TFG targets were the Mujahideen, UIC-Shabaab and the Eritrean army and not the general Somali population with whom the Ethiopians hope to have good trade and political links. H.E. said it was wrong to see it as part of ongoing the Muslim-Christian conflict. There were more Muslims in Ethiopia than in many of the other countries in the Horn of Afrika combined so the invasion was not to be seen as ‘Christian’ Ethiopia and US combining to attack ‘Muslim’ Somalia . Ethiopia has a secular government where Muslim and Christian practices are equally respected.

While admitting that US General John Abizaid had been in Ethiopia on Dec 4, 2006 and Ethiopia had invaded Somali soon afterwards H.E. said that Gen. Abizaid had been there ‘discussing regional peace’ and when Ethiopia pointed out the problems they were having in their Somali regions Gen Abizaid had not been in favour of them taking military action. We, at Nubiart, do not accept this version of events.

The AU meeting had been scheduled in advance. When asked if having the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa meant that Ethiopia’s activities were not being publicly condemned by other governments H.E. said it had nothing to do with it as Afrikan governments understood their problems with insurgents and Muslim militants and that Ethiopia would resolve it honourably under the IGAD framework.

On relations with Eritrea . H.E. reminded us of last year’s UN report on Eritrean arming and training of UIC forces in Somalia . With Somaliland, in the north, declaring independence from the rest of Somalia Eritrea has no common border with (southern) Somalia so he felt they were only making regional mischief. Ethiopian troops fought some of the estimated 2,000 Eritrean troops on the ground in Somalia .

Regarding the Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute H.E. felt that the Eritreans were not ready to discuss the mechanisms of resolving the dispute as it is not just land but people that will be transferred across the borders. He said, “We are talking about sustainable peace. We should not leave the reason behind for future conflict.” Asked why Eritrea was stalling implementation when it is generally accepted that the decision was in their favour, especially concerning the heavily-disputed Badme in the Gash-Barka area. He pointed out that both sides need to sit down and address any possible anomalies that may arise.

On the ‘Black Gold’ campaign, Ethiopia has been struggling to achieve international property rights on their premium brand coffees – Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe – in order to get better prices for their coffee farmers. Coffee that farmers receive $1.10 a pound for sells for $160 a pound in a western café. They have been blocked by Starbucks from achieving this in the US but they were preparing to discuss progress with other coffee distributors and are hopeful of an amicable resolution with Starbucks.

After the interview we moved on to look at the AU summit in Addis Ababa , attended by Ban Ki-Moon (the recently appointed UN Secretary-General) as part of his initial visit to Afrika. He had just visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the largest UN mission of 17,000 troops is based.

The summit was unable to get even half the contingent for the Somali peacekeeping force had been committed. The US offering support has brought threats from some Somalis that any UN force using US logistics will be viewed as legitimate targets while there are other Somalis who see US willingness to get involved as an indication that they might yet escape the designation of ‘failed state’. There is currently a three month curfew in Somalia with radio stations closed down and Al-Jazeera expelled from the country

Also at the summit five countries were elected to the AU Peace and Security Council mandated to help reduce conflicts and promote reconciliation on the continent. Angola will represent Southern Africa while Algeria will represent the Northern region. Gabon is representing Central Africa, Nigeria West Africa and Ethiopia will represent Eastern Africa . There were criticisms of Ethiopia ’s appointment considering its involvement in disputes in Somalia and Eritrea . The issue of the AU headquarters being in Addis Ababa will continue to be raised as some feel that it gives Ethiopia a green light to pursue policies and then influence decisions in the same way that the US does at the UN in New York .

Sudan was again rejected as Chairman of the AU for the second occasion but because the situation in Darfur is so appalling (even to countries that have their own conflicts, clampdowns, coups and marginalised communities) that Ghana ’s John Kufuor was chosen instead. Chad had threatened to leave the AU completely if Sudan gained the chairmanship as they have received many of the Darfur refugees and Sudan is backing rebels in eastern Chad . Sudan is still stalling on accepting a joint AU-EU force. Nobody believes Sudan ’s claims that they are not connected to the janjawid as they raid with air support in clearly marked Sudanese helicopters and planes.

While governments do have a right to counter threats within and on their borders, doing so in a way that brings about or perpetuates historical grievances with local populations or neighbouring countries is not in Afrika’s interests. As Afrikans we should be mature enough to see what worked for us in the past and adapt these practices to the modern issues facing us. We elect or appoint people to be problem solvers not for them to promote their own self-aggrandisement or favour one clan, region, party or section of society using 17^th century European policies when we were more advanced than that. “There’s no point trying to resolve a conflict that you win everything and that the people you’re discussing the conflict with gain nothing because obviously they’re going to say ‘well, that’s an injustice’. So you have got to say, ‘OK! We’re going to settle this in a way that there’s going to be stability in the region.”

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