ERITREA ETHIOPIA FINALLY

PEACE AFTER DECADES OF CONFLICT

The conflict between the two countries was born from the annexation in 1962, of Eritrea (former Italian colony, then English) until then "autonomous entity" federated to Ethiopia, by the Emperor Haile Selassie.

Eritrea was only able to regain its independence in May 1993, after thirty years of war, an open war by the Independents of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (FPLE).

Despite a seemingly peaceful separation, the two neighbors remained at odds over monetary, trade and border issues, each claiming several border regions including Baden, Tsorona, Zalambessa and En Bure.

Until 1998, however, the two countries remained close allies, while closely monitoring their new common border, the route of which had not immediately given full satisfaction to the two belligerents.

And it is for a problem of border that Eritrea, engaged in May 1998 a new conflict ... For some square kilometers of deserts?

The two countries have since engaged in a fratricidal war.

A first peace agreement was signed in June 2000. This first peace agreement provided for the creation of a 25-km-wide security zone within Eritrea under United Nations control (UNMEE). ); but Eritrea continued to occupy the locality of Baden, which will be at the heart of the new conflict.

The independence of Eritrea had simultaneously lost Ethiopia's unique Red Sea front, Eritrea having reclaimed the ports of Massawa and Assab. For 20 years Ethiopia has been landlocked, forcing the country, which overnight had had to move its boats from Assad to Djibouti, to pass through almost all of its imports and exports through the corridor leading to the French colony, which is one of the most expensive corridors in the world. According to Serge Tiran, Ethiopia's representative of Massida Logistics Company, the 100 million inhabitants of a country 30% larger than France have been forced to stock up on a "departmental" road. France, barely drivable. The return trip between the two capitals still takes, currently, 8 days in the best of cases.

Since 1998, the two countries have been in periodic clashes, until the Ethiopian government decides in June 2018, to implement the Algiers agreement of 12 December 2000. It is to the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that this policy is due to the outstretched hand (Abiy Ahmed is the first Orano in office since 1991, he succeeded Haïlemariam Desalegn, resigned since February 2018).

Thanks to the gesture of Abiy Ahmed, a wind of appeasement has just blown on this region of the Horn of Africa .

Eritrea for its part was the most under-appreciated country in Africa. Recently, Europeans know a little more about the country, with Eritrea being one of the most represented countries among migrants trying to reach Europe.

Eritrea is led by dictator Isaias Afwerki, a trained engineer who was elected in 1995 after a referendum, presenting himself "very evangelically" as "the shepherd of the people". Isaias Afwerki has become over the years a fierce dictator, despite his discretion and his African style "new style" , modern and open. Under his leadership, Eritrea has become an open-air concentration camp of 5 million people where all are hungry and enslaved.

But Bill Clinton's White House pinched it for him then, imagining that because he had eaten in the UN bowl, he was going to set up a reformist, social-democratic "Swedish-style" regime?

Clinton's teams had simply forgotten that it had been formed by the Beijing Mao, supporters of a single regime and surveillance by everyone, with a muzzled press and deprived of its freedoms.

For many years, the regime practiced torture and set up a conscription regime for men aged 16 to 40 who were forced to give their lives to the state. Eritrea, the world's most closed country, is still on the list of rogue states!

These are the main reasons why nearly 400 000 Eritreans have fled their country to Europe.

Now, the time is now business in Eritrea as in Ethiopia.

For a few years now, under the pressure of globalization, Ethiopia, where wages are very low, has been transformed into a weaving and clothing workshop (Decathlon has settled there). Ethiopia, which is experiencing double-digit growth, desperately needed access to the Red Sea.

The Horn of Africa has become in recent years a cornucopia ... The real-political has done the rest ...

On September 16, 2018, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed an agreement consolidating their reconciliation. This agreement was signed in Jeddah, in the presence of King Salman of Arabia and his son Crown Prince Mohamed Ben Salman and the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The details of this agreement between the two countries are not yet known; but it has already resulted in the reopening of embassies, the re-establishment of airlines, new commercial relations, telephone lines and border posts.

"A wind of hope has just blown on the Horn of Africa" has just welcomed the new Secretary General of the UN (since January 2017) Antonio Guterres.

This geopolitical evolution fully satisfies, moreover, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi Foreign Minister has just declared that "this latest peace agreement will contribute to strengthening the security and stability of the region" which is in dire need of it!

It is known that Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates have in the strategic port of Assad for their operations in Yemen, which is why they have greatly contributed to this historic rapprochement.

Their short and medium-term interests are indeed obvious: dozens of ships transit through Bâb el Mandeb, the strategic strait that separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.

Will this be enough to completely pacify the Region and especially the Greater Middle East knowing that the war continues in Yemen, that Daesh seems to be reborn from the ashes, that the conflict in Syria is not completely over and that Iran threatens to close the Strait of Ormuz ...

To be continued….

MADAGASCAR LE PRESIDENT PAR INTERIM

RIVO RAKOTOVAO

The former head of state has indeed resigned Friday to comply with the Constitution of Madagascar requiring a president who presents himself to his own estate resigns 60 days before the first round.

A first round fixed on November 7th.

On Tuesday the interim president responded to criticism of his proximity to the former head of state, which would prevent him from ensuring state neutrality during the election period.

Rivo Rakotovao was a member of the HVM party of the former head of state but said he was no longer a member of Hery Rajaonarimampianina's party for ten days. If his resignation as head of the HVM, a month and a half ago, had been publicized, this time his final departure from the party was done in all discretion. "Of course, there are suspicions, because everyone knows my choice as a citizen, but it is there that we must make the difference. Now, I am at a level of responsibility where I must fulfill my mission while respecting the Republic, " said the acting president to RFI. His neutrality: his "acts will justify it," he says.

Still, since June it's a consensus government that has been put in place. The national unity government includes ministers from the two major opposition parties MAPAR and TIM.

. "There is a government of consensus so even in the Council of Ministers there will be people who will not have the same political tendencies as me," said this close to the former head of state.

The resignation is seen as a positive signal for peaceful elections, yet some are contesting the date of the election.

Eight candidates in fact, out of the thirty-six in the running for the presidential election, demand a postponement of the election. The best known of them is the former head of state, Didier Ratsiraka. Former Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jean Max Rakotomamonjy are also on the list.

A resolution was signed at the home of Admiral Didier Ratsiraka, requesting the cancellation of the poll and the establishment of a Transition. The reasons for this disagreement on the date of the election are of a political nature:

1 ° The current political climate does not lend itself to it

2 ° The illegality of the decision of the High Constitutional Court of 25th May to demand the establishment of a consensus government is denounced.

3 ° The organization of a national conference with a view to reaching a political agreement is also advanced.

One of them has also filed with the Council of State a request for annulment of the decree of convocation of the voters. The institution must decide on this request on Tuesday.

While these eight candidates require a postponement, the twenty-eight others are not of this opinion. The two big competitors of Hery Rajaonarimampianina in particular, Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana are in favor of this election of November 7th.

Of the 36 candidates running for the presidential election on 7 November, four of them are already attracting attention: the outgoing president, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, candidate for his own succession, and his three predecessors: Andry Rajoelina ( 2009-2013), Marc Ravalomanana (2002-2009) and Didier Ratsiraka (1975-1993 then 1997-2002).