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Bi-Weekly Newsletter
Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to AU
and UNECA
Press Section
Eritrea Participated in the 18th COMESA Summit
The 18th Summit of the Heads of Stateand Government of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa(COMESA) was convened in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 and 31 March2015. The Summit was held under thetheme “Inclusive and Sustainable
Industrialization.”

The Summit noted that annual intraCOMESA trade which stood at USD
3.1 billion in 2000, when the COMESA Free Trade Area was launched,
grew seven-fold by 2014 to USD 22.4billion.

Vol 2. Issue 30
03 April 2015
Inside this issue:
Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Stateof Eritrea
Press Statement on
Eritrea’s Stance on
the Situation inYemen
Eritrea’s Achievements on Gender
Equality Applauded
at a UN Side Event

The Summit was preceded by themeetings of COMESA Policy Organs
at the level of experts, senior officials
and Ministers which took place from18-29 March.

23The Summit endorsed the COMESAIndustrialization Policy, considered
the reports of the COMESA Organs
and autonomous institutions and gave
directions on the way forward.
The Summit also reviewed the state ofpeace and security in the COMESA
region, and appointed new Judges of
the COMESA Court of Justice, Commissioners of the COMESA Competition Commission, and members of theCommittee of Elders.

Eritrea was represented at the Summit The 19th COMESA Summit will be
and the preparatory meetings by its held in Madagascar in 2016.
Permanent Mission to the AU and UNECA.

Vol 2. Issue 30, 03 April 2015

Contact Addresses:
Tel: +251-116620052
Fax:+251-116620011
Email:eritreanaumission@gmail.com
P.o.Box: 5527
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Eritrean Mission toAU& ECA@EritreaAUPage 2

Eri-News

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea
Press Statement on Eritrea’s Stance on the Situation in Yemen
In the past few days, various media outlets havebeen alluding to statements made by certain Yemeni authorities and other fabricated accounts tofalsely assert that "Houthi insurgents have received
weapons from Iran via Eritrea".
Eritrea has naturally been monitoring the allegations peddled on the "existence of Israeli bases" inEritrea in past years. These baseless stories werespiced up recently with new claims of juxtaposed"Iranian bases" in the country. Eritrea knows fullwell the sources, identities and purveyors of theseworn-out invectives. Sadly, these allegations havebeen ratcheted up this week - unwittingly or forother ulterior political motives - by so-called experts and government officials.
In the event, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of theState of Eritrea reiterates the following to clarify itsstance on the events unfolding in Yemen.
1. Eritrea remains profoundly concerned by the aggravation and complication of the situation inYemen. In this regard, Eritrea hopes that underlying causes of the prevailing situation would beallayed to restore prevalent peace and stability inthe country.
2. The maintenance of peace and security in Yemen
is of paramount importance to Eritrea; more sothan any other country. This is predicated on thehistorical and good neighborly ties that exist between Eritrea and Yemen and between theirbrotherly peoples.
3. Eritrea unequivocally supports the territorial integrity of Yemen and the unity of its people. In
this vein, Eritrea only recognizes and accepts a
constituational and legal leadership of Yemen.
4. Eritrea rejects, for the umpteenth time, all false
allegations on the military presence of Iranian,
Houthi, Israeli or any other external power in its
sovereign territories; land and/or maritime.

Eritrea is aware that these allegations are deliberately and solely peddled for purposes of defamation.
5. Eritrea maintains that the "statements made byYemeni officials in the past few days" are part andparcel of ongoing smear campaigns, essentiallyconcocted by certain intelligence agencies, andthat are routinely conducted to sully the image ofEritrea especially in the Arab world.
6. Eritrea is keenly aware that insidious regurgitationof these baseless allegations as "established facts"
by various news agencies, newspapers and journals is primarily designed to negatively influence
public opinion in the Arab world.
7. As it may be recalled, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the State of Eritrea had summoned
early this week, Yemen's Chargé d'affaires to request an explanation of the statements made by
Yemeni authorities. The Yemeni diplomat flatly
refuted these statements as untrue further disclosing that the Yemeni Embassy in Asmara did notreceive calls and queries from any media outlet orother interested party to ascertain Yemen's position.
8. Eritrea does not allow its islands, ports and territory for lease or sale. Eritrea reiterates that it isindeed the only country in the region which has
not opened its doors for external intervention or
military bases since its independence.
9. Eritrea does not subscribe to polarizing policies of
military alliances and blocs. As such it neither endorses nor joins such groupings. Consequently, it
has no membership in associations of this nature.
10.Eritrea affirms that its doors are open for any
news media in the Arab world that wishes to ascertain the veracity of these allegations repeatedad nauseam. These can be easily secured by requesting an entry visa to the country at the nearest
Eritrean Embassy.

Vol 2. Issue 30, 03 April 2015

Page 3Eri-News

Press Statement on Eritrea’s Stance on the Situation in Yemen...
(Continued from page 2)
11. As a country that has the longest coastline relative to other littoral States, Eritrea's stance on
the security of the Red Sea is firm and robust.
The regional and international importance of theRed Sea is indeed too palpable to merit emphasis. As such, Eritrea affirms that it has been andshall remain engaged in continuous consultation

with all littoral States in order to cultivate a clear
and common understanding on the security of theRed Sea.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
31st March 2015
AsmaraEritrea’s Achievements on Gender Equality Applauded at a UN Side Eventless”. Ms. Umutoni also emphasized her assessmentthat when compared to many other civil society organizations from her vast experiences, the National
Union of Eritrean Women is one of the most effective
community movements with a high level of accountability and efficiency.

A side-event was co-organized by the Permanent
Mission of Eritrea to the UN and the United Nations
Country Team under the theme “Empowering
Women: Eritrea’s Achievements and Experience”
during the 59th Session of the Commission on
Status of Women in New York on the 16 March2015, with a full house participation of representatives of states, UN Agencies and civil society organizations.
In his opening remarks the co-moderator, Ambassador Girma Asmerom, Permanent Representative ofEritrea to the United Nations, underlined the contextual premise to understanding Eritrea must bebased on its strategic location, abundant natural resources, and the “yes I/we can do it” mindset andharmony of its 50% Christian and 50% Muslim
population.
The co-moderator, Ms. Christine Umutoni, UN
Resident Coordinator, summarized that the UN witnessed Eritrea’s ability to “do for more with

Speaking on the occasion, the keynote speaker, Ms.
Tekea Tesfamichael, the President of the National
Union of Eritrean Women, stressed the fact that theEritrean women earned their rightful place in thesociety through active participation and contribution to the struggle for national independence andnation-building efforts. She noted that the Union has
been studiously working over the past two decades ofindependence to ensure the socio-cultural, economic
and political empowerment of women through various innovative projects and gender mainstreaming ingovernment institutions. She appealed to the participants to urge Ethiopia to withdraw from sovereign
Eritrean territory, including the town of Badme,
and the UN Security Council to lift the unjustified
sanctions that are negatively affecting women andchildren.
The guest speaker, Ms. Christine Musisi, Regional
Director of the UN Women, applauded the progress
made in status of women in Eritrea through initiatives such as land ownership legislation forwomen, ensuring education of girls, especiallyamong the nomadic population, the criminalization of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as wellas the successful multi-sectorial approach on addressing gender equality.

Vol 2. Issue 30, 03 April 2015

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Eritrea’s Achievements on Gender Equality Applauded at a UN Side Event…
(Continued from page 3)
Ms. Raquel Lagunas, UNDP Policy Advisor on
Gender, emphasized UNDP’s commitment to increase and expand its partnership with NUEW. She
stated that the vast membership of NUEW and its
effective implementation of programs give it fulllegitimacy to be the lead organization on gender

Dr. Dan Odallo, UNFPA Representative in Eritrea,
elaborating on the experience of development partners
in the country, said “Eritrea’s success is attributed
to the partnership between the government, UNTeam and the NUEW that is based on clearly defined objectives and outcomes as well as vision.”equality issues. She commended the grass-roots andcommunity approach and legislative process thattook place when the FGM was criminalized in2007. She stated that countries, like Eritrea, whichgive emphasis to ensuring gender equality, will succeed in their poverty eradication development efforts. In conclusion, she said, “what Eritrea is doing is not only the right thing to do but the smart
thing to do”.

He further stated having worked in many countries, in
his experience, “Eritrea stands number one in effective community participation.” Dr. Odallo
stressed that once a project is approved and funds areallocated, it is normal for the partners and the beneficiaries to relax and reap the fruits of their efforts. He
underscored that “accountability is not a problem inEritrea”. He further noted that Eritrea should berewarded for the validated achievements and notpunished.

Ms. Tsegga Gaim, Director General of NUEW,expounded in detail Eritrea’s experience in the empowerment of women. In her presentation, Ms.
Tsegga, stated that the empowerment of women ineconomic, health, education, decision making was
the result of innovative and incentive oriented projects implemented by the Union, other stake holders, and partners. She stressed that the NUEW, agrass-root civil society organization with 300,444
membership, is playing important role in transforming all sectors of the society. She also underlined the strong political commitment and leadership of the Eritrean government to genderequality.

During the question and answer session, representatives from Kenya, South Africa, Somalia, Cameroon,
Italy and other states and organizations commended
Eritrea for its achievements in the empowerment ofwomen. They further underlined Eritrea’s experienceshould be shared with and emulated by others.
The side event on the empowerment of women was
the second side-event organized by the Permanent
Mission of Eritrea to the UN and the UN Country
Team. In September 2014, a side-event was organized
to share Eritrea’s experiences in the successfulachievement of the three health related Millennium
Development Goals (4, 5 and 6).

Vol 2. Issue 30, 03 April 2015