Eritrea: Land of
Can-Do People!

ERI-NEWS

National Service: A toolfor Economic
Development, National
Cohesion and the
Defence of Sovereignty

Bi-Weekly Newsletter
Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to AU
and UNECA
Press Section
Cabinet of Ministers Deliberated on
National Development Priorities for 2017
The Eritrean Cabinet of Ministers helda regular meeting in the port city of
Massawa on 8 and 9 of February 2017.

Vol 4. Issue 63
16 February 2017
Inside this issue:

In the opening session, President Isaias
Afwerki presented budgetary priorities for 2017. The President indicatedthat the budgetary allocation focuses onnational development priorities which
includes the ongoing salary increment,
supply and sustainability of basic

International Film
3
Week Held in
AsmaraIGAD’sInappropriate
4
Submission on
Eritrea to the UNSC

Discussion Forumon "Delivering
Together for
6
Eritrea’s
Development and
Self-Reliance" heldin London

consumer goods, provision of adequate
and reliable power supply, improving
the supply of potable water to villages,
cities and semi-urban centers both inquantity and quality, provision of educational and health services, ensuring

macro-economic stability, efforts tonarrow the gap between import andexport, effective tax collection, restructuring of government institutions aswell as strengthening of political anddevelopment endeavors.
(Contd. on page 2)

Contact Addresses:
Tel: +251-116620052
Fax:+251-116620011
Email:eritreanaumission@
gmail.com
P.o.Box: 5527
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Eritrean Mission to
AU& ECA@EritreaAU

Vol 4. Issue 63, 16 February 2017

Page 2Eri-News

Cabinet of Ministers Deliberated on …(Contd. from page 1)
Following the President’s presentation, the Ministe- resources, expansion of availability of fish across the
rial Cabinet received briefings and discussed on the country, human resources development, researches onaquaculture, and production of salt. On the 2017
Ministries’ activities and priority plans.
action plan, the discussion focused on the developIn connection with the work accomplishments of thement of semi-industrial fishing, and enhancement of
Ministry of Local Government, the Ministerial
Cabinet heard and conducted discussion on the extent service delivery and protection of marine resources.
of rainfall in 2016 at national level, efforts to expand
agriculture vis-à-vis economic development, administration and land management, community-basedawareness raising programs, regrouping of villages aswell as the efforts exerted to improve the living
standard of citizens and enhance the culture of workand productivity.

In connection with the report presented by the
Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Ministerial
Cabinet conducted discussion on the ongoing development endeavors in the sector. The Cabinet of Ministers
noted that a number of villages across the country are
becoming beneficiaries of power supply and called forthe speeding up of efforts to this end. It also conducted

As regards the work plan of the Ministry of
Finance, the Cabinet of Ministers called on banks toeffectively accomplish their tasks, develop humancapacity and bring about qualitative change,
introduce new technology and take the necessary
measures to enhance productivity.

discussion on the action plan for 2017. Moreover, theMinisterial Cabinet took note of the mining activities
being undertaken by the various companies.
As regards the Transportation and Communications
sector, the meeting focused on the activities toexpand land transportation and the projects to develop
the communications sector. The Cabinet of Ministers
further discussed human resources development, land
and mobile telephone services, land and air transportation and the action plan for this year.

Regarding the Agricultural Sector, the Cabinet of
Ministers noted the development of agricultural
productivity, development of crop seeds andlivestock resources as well as fruits and vegetables,
the efforts being exerted to preserve indigenous seeds In connection with the work plan of the Ministry ofand the action plan for this year.
Public Works, the meeting conducted discussion on
During its deliberations on the report presented by the report presented regarding infrastructure, constructhe Ministry of Marine Resources, the meeting tion of health and educational facilities, stores anddiscussed the increase in fish consumption, enhance- laboratories, and that of communication services.
(Contd. on page 3)
ment of the management and exploitation of marine
Vol 4. Issue 63, 16 February 2017

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Cabinet of Ministers Deliberated on ... (Contd. from page 2)
Regarding the Ministry of Land, Water andEnvironment, the meeting discussed the implementation of regulations and policies, the efforts exerted
to ensure effective use of water and land resources, aswell as programs to develop institutional capacity. It
also discussed land management, information
gathering pertaining to land usage, and shortcomings
encountered as regards land proclamation. It further
conducted discussion on the action plan for 2017 andefforts to develop human resources.

In connection with the work accomplishments of the
Health Ministry, the Ministerial Cabinet discussed
the availability of basic medical supplies, expansion ofhealth facilities in remote parts of the country,
control and treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases, the sustainable developmentof health service and the five-year strategic plan.

In the sector of Labor and Human Welfare, themeeting discussed nurturing the culture of work andproductivity, amicable relationship among employers
In the Tourism Sector, the Ministerial Cabinet held and employees, as well as training programs fordiscussion on the efforts exerted to develop the sector disadvantaged citizens.
and its contribution besides the action plan for 2017.
The meeting noted the efforts made to ensure quality Concerning the work of the Ministry of Justice, theservices on the part of social service rendering meeting discussed the efforts being exerted to promote
institutions, the progress registered in domestic qualitative administration of justice, provision oftimely service and the activities made to enhance
tourism as well as human resource development.
public awareness as well as organizing training
In the Trade and Industry sectors, the meeting programs.
discussed domestic and foreign trade activities, thedevelopment of small enterprises and statistical In its review of the progress registered by the
Ministry of Information, the Cabinet of Ministers
information gathering.
discussed the efforts being exerted to develop
In regard to the work of the Ministry of National programs, media technology advancement, participaDevelopment, the meeting deliberated on bilateral tion of stakeholders, the introduction of modern IT
and multilateral cooperation and their contribution. It and its five-year roadmap in addition to implementaalso discussed the projects mapped out and theirtion of digital migration by 2020.
progress.
Concerning Educational Service, the meeting took Pertaining to the tasks accomplished by the Ministrynote of participation of citizens, professional of Foreign Affairs, the Ministerial Cabinet conducted
upgrading of teachers, supply of school materials, the extensive discussion on activities undertaken to
research works undertaken, construction and promote and strengthen relations at regional andmaintenance of schools and the availability of text- global levels as well as the role of all round public
resistance in foiling anti-Eritrea agendas.
books.

International Film Week Held in Asmara
An International Film Week was held in Asmara
from 8-15 February 2017. The opening ceremony, inwhich the Eritrean film Milenu featured, wasattended by Government officials, members of the
diplomatic corps and artists.

of Eritrea, noted that the experience acquired from theevent would be a stepping stone for the InternationalFilm Festival due to be held in the capital in 2018.

Films from Eritrea, China, Germany, Turkey, Russia,
France, Italy, Qatar, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ambassador Korea, and the United States were screened at the
Zemede Tekle, Commissioner of Culture and Sports event.
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IGAD’s Inappropriate Submission on Eritrea to the UNSC
1. On 16 December 2016 and at the
5. Unfortunately, these lofty objecrequest of Ethiopia, the Secretariat
tives were and remain comproof the IGAD Security Sector
mised due to the short-sighted andProgram (ISSP), presented aharmful policies of the Ethiopian
briefing to the Security Council
regime. In its dogged desire to
Committee, established pursuant to“isolate” Eritrea, the Ethiopian
resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009), concerning regime continues to violate fundamental tenets
enshrined in the IGAD Charter to block Eritrea’s
Somalia and Eritrea.
resumption of its activities in the organization. Sadly,
2. The briefing was conducted in closed consultation,
IGAD’s rotating chairmanship has been monopolized
in an informal setting, on “the multiplicity of serioustransnational security threats in the IGAD region”. by Ethiopia since 2008 to serve this selfish purpose
The IGAD Secretariat circulated a “Confidential and in breach of the normative practices of the organiDraft” on the subject matter at an earlier date to the zation.
United Nations Security Council with the caveat thatthe circulated report included “preliminary findings
only”. We are told that the “full report is scheduled
for April 2017”.
3. In the “Confidential Draft”, IGAD announces thatit launched in April 2015 a “Transitional Security
Threats Initiative (TST) to promote cooperation
between Member States, as a first step towards theestablishment of a regional TST Centre”.
4. Eritrea welcomes the establishment of the TSTCentre as well as its precursor; the IGAD Security
Sector Programme (ISSP). Back in 1994, when
IGAD was revitalized and its remit broadened toinclude a robust framework of regional security
cooperation to prevent and resolve intra-State andinter-State conflicts, Eritrea was an ardent advocate
and proponent of this notion. Eritrea maintained then– as it does now - that the aspirations and associatedarchitecture of regional economic cooperation willremain fragile and unsustainable until and unless
Member States create effective mechanisms of
preventing and resolving costly conflicts that may
arise within and between them. In the event, Eritrea
believes that the TST can indeed constitute, underappropriate circumstances, a vital component in thetool box of the envisioned mechanisms that theregion has to chart out to deter turmoil and funnel theregion’s substantial capacity and endowments in the
pursuit of national/regional economic development.

6. Under these anomalous circumstances, it is clearthat IGAD’s purview and programmes in general, andthe presumptuous contents and recommendations of
the Confidential Draft in particular, cannot have any
relevance or credence in regard to Eritrea. As a matterof fact, the section on Eritrea contains nothing otherthan Ethiopia’s usual, worn-out, invective against thecountry though it is packaged this time, rather
disingenuously, in “IGAD's” garb.
7. Operative Paragraph 7 of the Confidential Draft
states that the document was compiled by an“Independent Research and Evidence Team operating
under the auspices of the ISSP”. This oblique clauseconceals the fact that one of the principal entities
involved in the preparation of the Report is SAHAN
Research – an outfit founded and directed by Matt
Bryden, the former Chairman of the Somalia-Eritrea
Monitoring Group (SEMG) who was later discharged
from his duties by the UN under compromising
circumstances. As it is well-known, Matt Bryden was
the principal author of the fabricated SEMG report in2009 accusing Eritrea for sending 2000 troops toSomalia. This was the primary justification forimposing UNSC Sanctions Resolution 1907 (2009) on
Eritrea. Ethiopia is thus trying to bring back to thescene, through the back-door, the discredited Matt
Bryden in its desperate attempts to induce theextension of the unwarranted UNSC sanctions against
Eritrea.
(Contd. on page 5)

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IGAD’s Inappropriate Submission on Eritrea to the UNSC (Contd. from page 4)
8. For all these reasons, Eritrea strongly objects to the rmer comrades-in-arms with the regime in Ethiopia insubmission and consideration of the Confidential earlier times. These devices and other methods of
warfare are in fact their stock-in-trade. To gloss over
Draft by the UNSC; even in an informal setting.
9. The Draft report is replete with gross misrepresen- these realities in order to weave trumped up charges
against Eritrea underscores the ineptness of thetation of facts and events in its substantive section on
Eritrea. While it asserts, in several operative authors of the document as well as the inveteratemalice of the Ethiopian regime which has and isparagraphs of the Draft Report, that the ONLF andunscrupulously using the IGAD forum to advance its
Al-Shabab have “tense and hostile ties… given theirdivergent ideological perspectives”, the authors bend sinister agenda against Eritrea.
backwards to insinuate Eritrean “proxy support toAl-Shabab using the ONLF as a conduit”. The
desperate ploy is transparent indeed. The SEMG has
established, for four years in a row, that there is no
support to, or linkages whatsoever, between Eritrea
and Al-Shabab. Ethiopia’s primary motive ofcommissioning and submitting, at this point in time,
the Confidential Draft to the UNSC under theconvenient umbrella of IGAD is thus to castaspersions on this indelible truth.

12. The Draft report has a full chapter on Ethiopia. In
this chapter, it talks about purported military/terrorist
threats that Ethiopia faces. But it does not probe or
discuss Ethiopia’s sponsorship or involvement in actsof destabilization against its neighbours. Ethiopia
supports several subversive and terrorist organizations
against Eritrea, including the Al-Qaeda trained
Eritrean Islamic Jihad and other armed groups such as
the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RASDO),
the Kunama Liberation Front, and the Saho Liberation
Front etc. Several of these groups routinely issuepress releases and communiqués from Ethiopia onsubversive/terrorist acts conducted against soft targets
in Eritrea from their military bases in Ethiopia. Thereis no reference to these matters in the Draft Report on“Transnational
Terrorist
Threats”
intheregion. Equally important, the Draft Report is silent
on Ethiopia’s continued occupation of sovereign
Eritrean territories in violation of international law; its
pronounced policy of “regime change” in Eritrea; and,the periodic acts of aggression it commits against
Eritrea in spite of their grave ramifications to regional
peace and security.

10. The Confidential Draft describes activities andoperational modalities of several armed Ethiopian
opposition movements. Then it proceeds to dub“some of them”, without specifying which ones, as“terrorist organizations” simply because “that is how
they are seen by Ethiopia”. This is despite its
admission, in the same breath, that “they are notdesignated as such by the United Nations”. The
authors of the Draft do not apparently know, or they
have deliberately ignored, the fact that most or all ofthese groups were coalition partners with the ruling
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front(EPRDF) party both during the armed struggle
against the Mengistu regime or in the subsequent 13. Operative paragraph 8 of the Draft Report statestransitional government that they all set up in the that the “Team personnel worked in close consultations with government officials from concerned
aftermath of the fall of the latter.
Member States”. It further reveals that “with the
11. The worst part in this sloppy depiction is theknowledge and consent of Member States, teamoutrageous attempt to associate Eritrea with “theprovision of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)” members travelled to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya andthat these groups reportedly employ in their military Somalia.” It even talks about the travel of one member
operations. To dramatize this point, the authors of the Team to Tanzania although the latter is not, andstress: “Eritrea’s propagation of this expertise is has never been, a member of IGAD. The Team did nottherefore of serious concern to the region”. As however travel to Eritrea although it dedicates a full
explained above, literally all of these groups were fo- and invective chapter of its Report to Eritrea.
Contd. on page 6)
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IGAD’s Inappropriate Submission on Eritrea to the UNSC (Contd. from page 5)This act alone speaks volumes on the credibility,
impartiality, objectivity and professionalism of theTeam and its work.
14. Not satisfied with all these hollow accusations
against Eritrea, the Draft Report dedicates threeoperative paragraphs to Eritrea’s presumed“violations of the UNSC arms embargo”. In the firstplace, this is not within its purview as there is afull-fledged UNSC body – the SEMG – tasked withcarrying out the job. Still, the Draft Report recycles aspurious story to cite the interdiction by a Frenchnaval vessel on 20 March 2016 of a “stateless dhow
in the Indian Ocean carrying significant quantity of
weapons, including 2,000 Kalashinkov-patternassault rifles, sniper rifles, and general purpose
machine-guns and anti-tank guided missiles”. The
Draft Report then states: “the French authorities
assessed that the weapons originated in Iran and werelikely destined via Eritrea for Somalia and/or
Yemen… If so, the shipment constituted a potential
violations of resolution 1907(2009) …”. How is
Eritrea responsible for arms that originate from Iranthat may be destined to Yemen or Somalia? This is
too trite to merit any response and only underscores
the fallacy and nefarious motive of the whole report.
15. In conclusion, Eritrea has been the victim, inrecent years, of repeated trumped up charges andfalsified reports by hand-picked “expert groups” toadvance the political agenda of harassment of certain
powers. This unwarranted witch-hunting of Eritrea
once and for all has to end and Eritrea urges membersof the UNSC to terminate the sanctions regime.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
27 January 2017
AsmaraDiscussion Forum on "Delivering Together for Eritrea’s
Development and Self-Reliance" held in London
A discussion forum hosted by the Embassy of theState of Eritrea to the United Kingdom andIreland under the theme "Delivering Together for
Eritrea’s Development and Self-Reliance" was heldin London on 6 February 2017.

Towards the end of the presentation the participants
were given the opportunity to ask Ms. Christine
Umutoni questions, and answers were provided.
Participants expressed satisfaction in the presentation,
both on content and delivery. They called for continuThe lead presenter, Ms. Christine Umutoni, UN ous engagement in the future between the UN and
Resident/ Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Eritrean civil society, including the Diaspora.
Resident Representative in Eritrea, elucidated that theeight outcomes of the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework (SPCF) 2017-2021 recently
launched by the Government of Eritrea and the UN
are directly linked to the 17 SDGs. She also notedthat the UN SDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063 are key
international frameworks that the Government and
the People of Eritrea can leverage to achieve theirnational development aspirations.
Ms. Umutoni said, “Eritrea has shown commendable
commitment to its development agenda,” andapplauded Eritrea's strategic programs whichhave improved the standard of life of the population
despite the harsh environmental conditions in theHorn of Africa.

Representatives from various British Eritrean
Community Organizations and Networks, NUEW,PFDJ, YPFDJ, and Information Network were inattendance. Amongst the participants were academics,
educators, practitioners, and community leaders.

Vol 4. Issue 63, 16 February 2017