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Viewing cable 07ASMARA620, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO GSE VIEWS ON

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07ASMARA620 2007-07-16 10:36 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Asmara
VZCZCXRO3442
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHAE #0620/01 1971036
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161036Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8950
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1383
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1560
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 ASMARA 000620 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF ER
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO GSE VIEWS ON 
VARIOUS TOPICS 
 
1. (U) In an interview posted on www.shaebia.org on July 9, 
Yemane Ghebremeskel, Director of the Office of President, 
offered the position of the Government of the State of 
Eritrea (GSE) on a wide range of topics -- from religious 
freedom and human rights to international relations and 
Somalia. (Full text follows below.) Mr. Stefano Pettini, an 
Italian journalist and purported friend of Eritrea 
conducted the interview.  Items of note in the interview 
include GhebremeskelQs denial that the GSE has violated its 
citizensQ religious freedoms, noting that any targeted 
individuals were members of QfringeQ religions and his 
claim that Eritrea maintains an open atmosphere for members 
of the press.  Ghebremeskel further described the 2001 
arrest of the G-11 (members of the government who had 
publicly dissented against GSE policies) as the arrest of 
individuals who had committed treason.  He explained that 
Eritrea has a legal right to arrest and punish its citizens 
who have been repatriated as these individuals had left 
illegally and broken Eritean law. 
 
2. (SBU) Comment:  Ghebremeskel has long been viewed as the 
voice of President Isaias and one can properly assume that 
his views reflect those of the President.  In typical 
Eritrean fashion, Ghebremeskel, if perhaps not outright 
lying in many responses, has either evaded the question or 
spun the truth to its limit.  Also typical of the 
Eritrean government party line, he finds the U.S. and 
others largely to blame for EritreaQs woes.  The 
Shaebia website is the official website for the only 
political party in Eritrea, the PeopleQs Front for 
Democracy and Justice.  End Comment. 
 
3. (U) Begin text (Note: text is exactly as posted and has 
not been edited for translation mistakes): 
 
SHAEBIA INTERVIEW 
Interview with Mr. Yemane Ghebremeskel 
Jul 9, 2007, 8:00am 
 
Mr. Stefano Pettini, an Italian writer and who follow up 
very closely the social and political situation in Eritrea, 
interviewed Mr. Yemane Ghebremeskel, Director of the Office 
of the President of Eritrea, regarding the social, 
political and economic situation in the country, excerpts 
follow: 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q: Eritrea is accused of hindering the relations with 
foreign press by preventing the journalists to exercise 
their job freely or refusing entry visas to the country. 
What is the official position of the Government? 
 
A: The accusation is groundless.  First off all, we do not 
have a policy of preventing entry or of refusing visas to 
foreign journalists. We have several resident journalists 
here.  Agence France Presse has a resident journalist; 
Reuters have a bureau; and there are resident reporters for 
Al-Sharq Al Awsat (Middle East daily paper), Deustche 
Welle etc.  So there are a number of journalists who are 
accredited to the country and have residence visas and work 
permits. Secondly, our Embassies routinely issue 
permissions whenever there are requests for foreigners who 
want to come here for short business visits: interviews, 
reports etc.  There are no restrictions in terms of entry 
visas, or on what they want to do.  The allegation is thus 
at variance with the truth. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. According to Reporters Sans Frontier, Eritrea finds 
itself in the bottom rung of countries that allow free 
press, which is considered virtually absent in the country. 
How do you explain this? 
 
A. Let me first underline that this outfit is not a neutral 
and credible association.  In fact, it is substantially 
funded by dubious US institutions that funnel money to 
specific organizations that advance certain policy 
objectives of the US Administration.  I do not think we 
need a bill of health from bodies of dubious credibility. 
 
ASMARA 00000620  002 OF 008 
 
 
 
The second issue is our so-called international ranking. 
Let us be realistic.  I don't believe that there is free 
press without any curtailment all the time anywhere in 
times of war and conflict.  This is true in Europe and the 
United States.  In the second Gulf War against Iraq, for 
instance, the US invented the term: "embedded journalism". 
Journalists were not covering the war without any 
hindrance.  They were put in the middle of a military 
convoy to report what was recounted to them by the 
military. 
 
Previously, in the first Gulf War, the Americans introduced 
the "pool system" to censure and regulate what was 
reported.  Look at the situation in Somalia these days. 
There is a virtual blackout of news.  Why?  US bombers have 
pulverized villages in Somalia.  But there are no images on 
our TV screens; journalists have been barred from there. 
To accuse or single out Eritrea for taking legitimate 
measures in a situation of conflict is for me hypocrisy and 
double standards. 
 
In regard to the absence of a "free press", we have had a 
limited experience in the past.  A Press Law was enacted in 
1996.  The government had in fact no intention of 
preventing the free press from growing.  After all, 
monopoly, whether in economics or politics, has its own 
drawbacks, and, in this vein, a free press is essential for 
a healthy society.  Thus in terms of generic principles and 
abstract theories, there is no controversy.  The question 
is what are the rules of the game?  How does this play out 
in real life?  What is the normative practice in war times? 
 
The press law of 1996 had its own defects which came to the 
surface in 2000/2001 related to internal subversive 
developments.  The press law clearly stipulated that 
foreign funding was not allowed.  But the accountability 
procedures were not strictly monitored and implemented.  As 
it happened, most of these "private papers" were largely 
funded by Western countries to promote certain agendas in 
contravention of the Press Law itself.  Furthermore, the 
Press Law had no adequate provisions for libel suits 
against defamation. 
 
There were no standards for accreditation, or code of 
ethics to ensure minimum quality standards.  As it 
happened, they were easily manipulated, infiltrated and 
paid by foreign services to serve ulterior purposes.  In 
those circumstances, the matter was discussed at the 
National Assembly and the press law was suspended pending a 
full review. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. Eritrea is also accused to be repressive towards the 
freedom of faith and has been responsible for mass arrests 
of believers who only ask to pray in a free way. What is 
the response of the Government in the case? 
 
A. When you talk about mass arrest of believers, I am 
puzzled at the hyperbole. What is mass arrest? Who were the 
"mass people" allegedly detained from time to time? The 
truth is people have never been denied or prevented from 
their right to pray freely because this is a very pious 
society; a society of ancient religions.  We have all kinds 
of faiths in this country.  We have Christianity and Islam. 
We have even a Synagogue in this town.  If you look at 
Asmara, one of its peculiarities is that its sky line is 
doted with Mosques and Churches.  We have Mosques and 
Churches adjacent to each other.  As I said earlier, this 
is a very pious and religious society.  So we are talking 
about strong traditions; entrenched believes; very 
religious people.  The government cannot interfere in 
people's religious believes.  And in Constitutional terms, 
the country is a secular State.  So there are no legal or 
practical problems in regard to the freedom of faith. 
 
But, we had problems with a handful of "new faiths"; of a 
few fringe groups that are alien to the society at large. 
We have to be clear about the distinction. The Jehovah 
Witnesses, for example, refused to participate in the 
 
ASMARA 00000620  003 OF 008 
 
 
national referendum to determine Eritrea's independence. 
Their argument was that "they do not recognize a temporal 
State or Government".  They maintained that "they do not 
recognize a Government on earth as they are accountable to 
Jehovah only".  They also objected to the mandatory 
national service when it was enacted in 1994.  The 
Government's reaction was measured.  And this was to refuse 
issuing or renewing business licenses to their members. 
Because they cannot have it both ways: refuse to recognize 
the Government but at the same time ask legal services from 
the same Government. 
 
Other small groups have also emerged in the past seven, 
eight years.  Most of these groups were beneficiaries of 
secret or undeclared foreign funds.  Most of them went 
 
SIPDIS 
against the national fabric: to oppose the national service 
or to penetrate and sow division within the traditional 
faiths.  The Government subsequently requested all these 
faiths to register officially, with honest declaration of 
the origin of their funds etc.  The periodic arrests, which 
are distorted and exaggerated, occur when members of these 
fringe groups assemble illegally. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q: Ethiopia is considered the bulwark of Christianity 
against the expansion of Islam and a reference in the fight 
against terrorism in the Horn of Africa. What is the 
position of the Government of Eritrea on these two matters? 
 
A. In the first place, when you compare Eritrea and 
Ethiopia in terms of religious diversity and the relative 
size of the different faiths, the picture is more or less 
the same. In Eritrea, the population is more or less 
equally divided between Christians and Moslems.  In 
Ethiopia too, the percentages are close. In Sudan, there 
are Christians and Muslims. So, to portray Ethiopia as a 
bulwark of Christianity or as an "island of Christianity" 
in the Horn of Africa is factually wrong and inaccurate. 
 
But more fundamentally, the relative percentages are 
irrelevant.  If the State is a secular State in the 
circumstances of religious diversity, there will be no 
grounds for religious strife. Coexistence and harmony 
between the different faiths and religions can be 
cultivated and maintained.  In Eritrea's case, Christians 
and Muslims have coexisted in harmony for more than 13 
centuries now. We have had no communal, religious 
motivated, civil fighting in our long history.  We fought 
together against common enemies.  Religion has been and 
remains a private matter. 
 
So, the manner in which the question is framed is not 
proper in the first place.  Because, the different 
religions can co-exist in a secular environment.  In 
addition, in purely statistical terms, Ethiopia is not "an 
island of Christianity in the Horn". As I said earlier, the 
composition of the two religions is more or less the same 
in Eritrea and Ethiopia. 
 
On the issue of terrorism, unfortunately, there is a wrong 
or misguided trend of amalgamating terrorism with Islam. 
Islamic communities are not inherently inclined, nor do 
they possess a peculiar propensity, for terrorism or 
terrorist acts.  In brief, terrorism cannot be equated with 
Islam.  Why did terrorism emerge? How did it emerge? What 
was the role of certain powers at particular historical 
junctures?  If you are talking about Afghan Arabs, it is 
well known that the US supported them at a given point in 
time in the context of the Cold War.  The historical, 
social and political reasons that fostered terrorism is a 
complex matter. It cannot be reduced to a mechanical 
Christian/Moslem divide. Similarly, the simplistic 
propaganda that depicts Ethiopia as "the bulwark of 
Christianity" and the "epicentre for the war against 
terrorism" is a myth fabricated by Ethiopia, and perhaps 
the US, to serve other ulterior purposes. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. The Government of Eritrea is explicitly accused of 
 
ASMARA 00000620  004 OF 008 
 
 
supporting the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia, above 
all against Ethiopia supplying them with men and weapons. 
How do you comment to this assertion? 
 
A. Eritrea's position on the Somali problem is very clear. 
We have stated this openly in various forums: in IGAD, at 
the UN General Assembly last September, and in other 
platforms.  For us, the question is not a matter of 
political preference between the Union of Islamic Courts 
and the Transitional Federal Government.  Eritrea has had 
historical links with Somalia spanning for over 50 years. 
This is across the entire political spectrum.  All Somalis 
supported Eritrea's liberation struggle.  This is one 
dimension. 
 
Second, when after 1991 Somalia was drifting and embroiled 
in internal conflict, Eritrea was involved in various 
initiatives to help stem the dangerous trend.  Between 1992 
and 1994, we were working with Ethiopia. The overriding 
objective was to promote internal political reconciliation 
within Somalia.  But Ethiopia drifted to its traditional 
policy of dividing and weakening Somalia along ethnic 
lines.  This was manifested in the Sodere Conference, 
convened in Ethiopia sometime around 1997. 
 
Ethiopia's policy ever since has been to divide Somalia 
into four/five mini States: Somaliland, Punt Land, Benadir 
Land, etc. This policy emanates from Ethiopia's perceived 
threat; remember Ethiopia and Somalia went to war twice in 
the past forty years (1963 and 1977).  Eritrea does not 
support this policy because it is a recipe for continuous 
regional instability.  If there are territorial disputes 
(over the Ogaden etc.), the solution rests on resolving 
them on the basis of the sanctity of colonial boundaries. 
Eritrea strongly opposed Ethiopia's recent invasion of 
Somalia.  This is illegal by all standards.  Ethiopia's 
Prime Minister gave three contradictory explanations in the 
space of three days when he launched the invasion.  The 
first explanation was that Ethiopia was responding to a 
threat from the Union of Islamic Courts.  But as you know, 
the UN Charter does not condone pre-emptive invasion. 
Then, the next day, perhaps realizing the flawed argument, 
the Prime Minister said he was sending troops in response 
to an invitation by the TFG.  These two explanations are 
contradictory.  The TFG was originally formed to act as a 
catalyst to bring about national reconciliation.  Does it 
have legal powers to invite a foreign power to crush 
internal opposition?  The third explanation the Prime 
Minister gave when his troops were approaching Mogadishu, 
dropped subsequently, was that the objective of the 
invasion was to "sufficiently downgrade" the UIC so that it 
would come to the negotiating table.  This is pure 
interference and illegal in terms of international law. 
 
Ethiopia's invasion cannot be justified by any stretch of 
imagination. If the Security Council has not condemned 
Ethiopia, it is because of US protection; pure and simple. 
And the various accusations against Eritrea arise from the 
desire to balance Ethiopia's invasion and to fabricate a 
plausible pretext.  The persistent propaganda from the US 
State Department revolves around portraying the situation 
as a proxy war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.   Before the 
invasion, there were persistent allegations, originating 
from the State Department, asserting that there were 2000 
Eritrean soldiers in Somalia.  This allegation vanished in 
thin air after the invasion because they knew it was false 
from the beginning.  The UIC was demonized and portrayed as 
the Taliban of the Horn.  All these propaganda are 
factually false and deliberate creations to justify the 
invasion of Somalia. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. How do you explain the deterioration of the diplomatic 
relations which from time to time brought to an attitude of 
closure and of isolation of the country? 
 
A. Eritrea is not isolated.  We have diplomatic ties with 
literally all countries. We have more than 20 foreign 
resident embassies in the country.  True, we may have 
problems with certain countries.  But that has to do with 
 
ASMARA 00000620  005 OF 008 
 
 
their policies.  Obviously, if some governments want us to 
compromise our sovereignty and territorial integrity, this 
is not a price that we are prepared to pay in order to have 
or maintain diplomatic ties with them. There is a red line 
that we are not prepared to cross.  Other wise, we have 
good ties with many European countries although we may have 
had one or two problems with Italy for certain reasons.  We 
have good ties with many of our neighbours and the other 
African, Asian, and Latin America countries. 
 
So, in general, our diplomatic relations is in good shape. 
Our main problem, currently, is with the United States. 
This is simply because US policy in this region is not 
balanced. The United States is primarily responsible for 
the border problem.  The Boundary Commission decision would 
have been long implemented without the obstruction of 
Washington.  All the notion about Special Envoys 
Axworthy; Fulford, etc - is the creation of Washington. 
Recently, they were talking about a Contact Group.  The 
strategy is to create complications and obstruct peace in 
this region.  This cannot be acceptable to us. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. President Isaias has been accused by some observers of 
having imposed authoritarian rule beginning with the arrest 
of senior government members who are till now under 
detention without specific charges.  What are the reasons 
behind this attitude? 
 
A. This is a smear campaign propagated by certain powers 
that do not have the welfare of Eritrea at heart. The 
detention of these personalities is not controversial. 
Irrespective of one's position in Government, if one 
commits an offence against the national security of the 
country, he or she cannot be immune from detention. And in 
this case, the detentions have their own history.  The 
persons in question have committed acts of treason.  The 
liaison they attempted to create with Ethiopia at the 
height of the invasion is known even to the Facilitators. 
These are known facts.  The whole population knows these 
facts.  Any government facing this kind of situation could 
not have reacted differently.  The substance of their 
crimes is not controversial.  They cannot be camouflaged by 
procedural modalities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. Why is the Government of Eritrea showing an increasing 
hostility towards Italy?  First, Ambassador Antonio Bandini 
was expelled.  Then the Carabinieri were expelled some 
years later. The First Secretary of the Embassy, Ludovico 
Serra, was also expelled last year following the episode of 
the demolition of Villa Melotti.  How do you explain this 
string of acts? 
 
A. The Government of Eritrea has no hostility towards 
Italy.  The relationship between the two countries goes 
back to more than one hundred years. We have deep cultural 
affinities, economic interests and population movements 
from the colonial times.  Eritrea's interest in fact lies 
in fostering and consolidating the historical relationship. 
So the term "increasing hostility towards Italy" is not 
correct.  But that does not mean that we do not have 
problems from time to time.  These may not even be problems 
between the two countries or two governments. They may be 
due to individual acts of some people. 
 
You ask me about Ambassador Bandini.  This is an old case. 
The Ambassador meddled many times in internal issues of 
national security.  He was asked to leave the country. 
This is normal and in accordance with art. No. 9 of Vienna 
Convention on Diplomatic Relations. 
 
The case of the Carabinieri is a separate matter. First of 
all, the Government has never requested the expulsion of 
the Carabinieri, but only to wind down their job of 
policing in the Capital which was not their competence. The 
Carabinieri were not here as an Italian contingent on the 
basis of a bilateral arrangement with Eritrea. They were 
here as part of United Nations Mission to Ethiopia and 
 
ASMARA 00000620  006 OF 008 
 
 
Eritrea (UNMEE); they could have been Indians, Chinese, 
Germans, whatever. Their nationality had nothing to do with 
the act.  The problem was the nature of their job here as 
military police of UNMEE.  When UNMEE was deployed, we 
agreed on a Protocol of Rules of Engagement. There is no 
provision in that Protocol for policing activities in the 
capital. Policing activities in the country cannot, indeed, 
be delegated to UNMEE. This is the jurisdiction of the 
Government.  If some UNMEE military officers are not 
showing up at their post in the TSZ, there should be 
another mechanism for monitoring that.  Otherwise, we 
cannot have a Police contingent in Asmara for an undefined 
task. This was outside the agreement and was explained at 
the time.  It has nothing to do with Italy.  In other 
words, the decision of re-entry was of the Carabinieri and 
only their. And at the moment of their departure, the 
Government had no hesitation to collaborate when a request 
came from Italian Embassy to find solution to the 
embarrassing logistic faults created by the Carabinieri. 
 
In the case of the First Secretary Ludovico Serra, let me 
emphasize one fundamental issue. Whether a house is legally 
owned by a foreigner or an Eritrean citizen, the law has 
provisions for appropriation, or demolition as the case may 
be, by Government for development purposes with appropriate 
procedures and guarantees of compensation. Villa Melotti 
cannot be handled with exception outside the law. 
Unfortunately the First Secretary went out of his way to 
personally block the municipal act.  This is an insult and 
constitutes disrespect of the laws of the country.  We 
expect senior Italian Embassy staff assigned here to 
cultivate ties between the two countries; not to aggravate 
them without reason.  What does his attitude tell you? 
 
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Q. The phenomenon of clandestine immigration of Eritrean 
citizens in Italy is increasing.  How does the Government 
of Eritrea see this new tendency? 
 
A. The issue might be somewhat exaggerated.  But even if 
true, I believe this is a very temporary phenomenon induced 
by the situation of "no war, no peace".  Naturally, some 
cannot withstand the pressures and tension of a looming 
war.  It is not the first time in our history.  During the 
years of liberation, thousands of young people were joining 
the struggle; but few others opted for exile abroad.  It is 
probably clandestine, because we have mandatory national 
service and those who leave are eligible.  But these are 
very temporary problems.  Once we have peace, I would 
expect a reversal of the situation. That is what happened 
in 1991 after liberation.  More than 100.0000 refugees 
returned in the first few years from the Sudan through 
spontaneous and organized repatriation.  Thousands more of 
our compatriots returned from all over the world and 
invested in their homeland. 
 
Even during these presumably difficult times, the overall 
trend is not characterized by a one-way street towards 
migration.  If you look at annual local tourism statistics, 
between 70,000 to 80,000 Eritreans, including repeat 
travellers, come home for short visits back home.  Indeed, 
the increased migration you cited is not more than a few 
hundred a year and does not compare in anyway with the 
reverse annual flow - for temporary stay or repatriation 
of our citizens from the Diaspora. 
 
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Q. Recently, the problem of some Eritrean citizens under 
detention in Libya and Malta who risk to be repatriated to 
their homeland with consequent possible reprisal against 
them has come to the fore. What is the position of the 
Government on this problem? 
 
A. Again, let us not blow the issues out of proportion.  We 
are probably talking about the case of few individuals. 
Leaving numbers aside, the question is essentially a legal 
one.  If a person evades the mandatory national service, 
and leaves the country illegally, he or she will be 
accountable for the felony they have committed: evasion of 
 
ASMARA 00000620  007 OF 008 
 
 
national service and illegal migration.  There are laws and 
regulations in respect to these offences and the Government 
has to enforce them accordingly.  This is normal and 
uncontroversial.  The distortions arise when so-called 
advocacy groups - such as Amnesty International - want to 
twist the arm of Government and impose conditions outside 
the law for what they call "refouled asylum seekers". 
These people are not bona fide asylums seekers in the first 
place.  They have no credible grounds of persecution.  They 
cannot be treated differently and enjoy a waiver from the 
mandatory national service.  This would be discriminatory 
and contrary to fundamental principles of equity and 
equality of all citizens before the law. 
 
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Q. Although Eritrea is considered to be one of the poorest 
nations of the world, various NGOs complain of encountering 
increasing difficulties to work in the country and accuse 
the Government for the expulsion of some of them because 
they are seen as unwelcome witnesses.  How does the 
Government of Eritrea see humanitarian and international 
co-operation? 
 
A. In the first place, the label of "one of the poorest 
nations" requires real qualification.  Eritrea is a very 
young nation which has emerged from a 30-year war of 
national liberation.  After a respite of 7 years, it was 
again forced into another bout of conflict by Ethiopia.  So 
if standard GDP and other economic indicators are low, it 
is not surprising.  I would rather focus on the 
industriousness of the people, the prudent macro-economic 
policies of the Government and the considerable endowments 
of the country to gauge its real potential in a conducive 
environment of peace.  There are various sectors, including 
tourism, agriculture, mining and fisheries that have huge 
potential.  Before Ethiopia's invasion in 1998, the country 
was growing at an annual rate of 7-9%.  Once irreversible 
peace is guaranteed, the country will grow at a rapid pace 
and steadily to ensure a good standard of living for its 
own population.  Thus, I do not share this gloomy depiction 
of Eritrea both in terms of its potential and future. 
Eritrea is not indeed an inherently or structurally poor 
nation doomed to live on handouts from NGOs or benevolent 
organizations for an indefinite period of time. 
 
Second, on the question of NGOs, there is some distortion. 
The government has explained its position comprehensively 
several times before.  NGOs were very supportive of the 
liberation struggle and have useful function during 
critical phases.  About twelve NGOs are operating now. 
As far as humanitarian assistance and development 
cooperation are concerned, we recognize the abnormality of 
our situation and we have no inhibitions in seeking 
assistance.  But at the same time, we do not want this 
assistance to create a situation of chronic dependency.  In 
regard to NGOs, there are transparent regulations regarding 
overhead costs, modalities of implementation and 
prioritization of programmes.  We do not want to see a 
proliferation of NGOs engaged in small, disjoint, 
programmes that will waste resources and that will not, 
also, be sustainable.  There are additional regulations 
concerning consultancy work and local capacity building; in 
the sense that priority is always given to local capacity 
building.  Differences of approach on all these issues are 
the reasons why development cooperation encounters problems 
at times and why some NGOs cannot qualify for registration. 
In the case of NGOs in particular, there are lower ceilings 
for annual budgets (two million US$) that they must be able 
to mobilize to be operational.  The underlying rationale 
for the ceiling is to ensure implementation of meaningful 
programmes and to avoid, small, one-off, projects that have 
no sustainability and that may breed dependency. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. What is the attitude of the Government specifically 
towards the Italian NGOs? 
 
A. Some are operational.  Others which did not satisfy the 
requirements could not register.  At any rate, Italian NGOs 
 
ASMARA 00000620  008 OF 008 
 
 
are not seen in any discriminatory way from other NGOs.  On 
the contrary, the desire is to allow Italian NGOs to 
operate if and when they are closer to the threshold. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q. In many occasions the Government of Eritrea has stated 
that the poverty in Eritrea has its origins in external 
political responsibilities. What are the basic facts of 
this assertion? 
 
A. Without the declaration of war by Ethiopia in 1998 and 
what happened afterwards, Eritrea's economic growth today 
would have been significantly different from the present 
reality. The reasons why Ethiopia has been encouraged and 
allowed to reject the arbitration Award and maintain a 
tense situation further lies in external, geopolitical 
interests and considerations. The negative factors that are 
inhibiting or hampering rapid economic development and 
growth are all rooted on hostile acts of regional and 
international actors.  These are the main problems. 
Otherwise, in the context of conducive, peaceful and stable 
regional environment, Eritrea's potential is really huge. 
We have sectors with comparative advantage that can be 
exploited and that can contribute to a very dynamic and 
vibrant economy. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Q.  How do you think can it be possible for the Government 
to achieve the goal of food security in spite of the 
economic and manpower shortages in the country? 
 
A. I do not agree with your assertions.  If by manpower 
shortages, you are alluding to the national military 
service, this is not true.  The fact is most of them are 
involved, during periods of relative peace, in productive 
economic activities.  So, manpower is not a constraint.  In 
terms of economic inputs for food security, the investment 
required over a three year period is not enormous.  We are 
basically talking about better water management or 
harvesting, diversion of canals and construction of small 
dams.  We are not talking about investment in the range of 
billions of dollars.  Hence, it is doable. 
We are not talking about abstract theories or ambitious, 
elusive, programmes.  Perhaps, the rains were exceptionally 
good last year. But it is the combination of good rains and 
intensive programmes of food security that have ensured a 
really good harvest. 
 
End text. 
 
MCINTYRE