Ethiopia to Actively Defend its Interests against Eritrea - Deputy PM

Email News To friend Your E-mail : ** Friend E-mail : **

March 19, 2011 -- The Ethiopian government has urged the UN and the US government to take appropriate action against Eritrea to stop it from destabilizing the Horn of Africa and warned that it would take unilateral action if the Eritrean regime were to continue with its policy, according to the Reporter. Briefing local journalists about his recent visit to New York, Hailemariam Desalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Foreign Affairs, said that the Ethiopian government has changed its long standing policy on Eritrea that had been entirely based on defensive measures. “Should the world fail to act and the government of Eritrea persist in its policy of destruction, the Ethiopian government will be compelled to defend Ethiopia’s national security.." he added. Seeye Abraha, a former minister of defense and presently an executive committee member of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity forum (Forum), however, questions the motive behind the change in government policy. He said that the government is well awake of the behavior of the Eritrean regime, including its avowed desire to destabilize Ethiopia. “...The government is trying to divert attention from the internal economic and social problems gripping the country by playing the Eritrea card,” he said adding this ‘play’ was prompted by the uprising sweeping North African countries.