English translation of president of Eritrea addressing the Egyptian council for foreign affairs back in 2003..Key points to understanding Eritrea position in the Arab world Q. Dr. Mustafa Al-Fagi, head of the foreign affairs committee in the people´s council: I belong to a generation, with the proceeding generation together with the generation after ours, visualized the Eritrean case during the 50´s and early 60´s as a case with some arabic dimension. Sometimes we went, as far as to say it has an Islamic dimension. It was a wrong conception, however, we waited for the independence of Eritrea in the sense that it was a positive outcome for the whole region, particularly the arab part of it. We thought the direction of independent Eritrea will be, mostly, a positive addition to the arab world. Eritrea got its independence and brought a solid leadership, because, in my mind, you´re a strong leader in the region. We were surprised with some cautiousness towards pan-arabism. I might be mistaken in saying this but I see arabism in Eritrea as even more consistent and visible than the arabism of some african countries, that newly joined the arab league. I can see your personal arabism as more than that of Somalia, Djibouti and even Mauritania. I´ve never heard an African president speak the arabic language the way you do, not even in the Sudan. Religion is not an issue in this respect. Lebanon is half-half; yet it is an arab state. It´s rather a question of culture. You, personally embody that. Why, president Afwerqi being a sophisticated and a revolutionary doesn´t bring his country closer to the arabs and pan-arabism? President Isaias: I believe entity is entity. No one has got the right to issue whatever certificate of entity to anyone, what so-ever. The belonging of Eritrea in this region is indisputable as much as it´s not bestowed. This is a historic right, a geographical reality, economic, strategic and ever present. That´s not subject to change. I say, arguments surface when it comes to joining the arab league. That´s a political option. there must be no mix-up between the two. Who gave you the right to ask me whether I´m an arab or not? Or issue me a certificate whether I´m an arab or not? It´s not a topic worth squabbling about. We´ve to look into strategic relations, the ties and interests that bind us and seek an effective mechanism that unites us. Joining the arab league is a political option. There´re some countries who´re non-arab, but joined the league for interest sake. We cannot presume that any state of non-arab origin after joining the league, can acquire carte blanche to transform itself into an arab state. Dr. Zahran, president of political science department, Suez Canal university: Mr. president, in line with what Dr Mustafa said, I´d like to state that before my arrival here, as a member of this council, I thought I´ll hear an address in English. However, I listened to an address in Arabic. This certifies the arabism of the Eritrean state. Vis-a-vis this, we were eager to see Eritrea, once liberated to enact this cultural pan-arabism into political identification. Relying on some information as a lecturer, I´ve come across some information that one of the preconditions of the Americans was that Eritrea shouldn´t join the arab league, so that there might not be a full strategic circle in the red sea , consequently, leading to a threat to Israel- the spoiled child of the USA. So, I request an explanation on this point.The other point, however, we´ve apprehension about the relationship w´between Eritrea and Israel and Eritreas role in supporting the Palestinian intifada as part of repaying the favor. Thank U! President Isaias: To whoever thinks that America can dictate On Eritrea Not to join the arab league, I´d like to ascertain that there isn´t a country that enjoys independence of decision like Eritrea. Neither America, nor Israel can dictate unacceptable policies, concerning eritrean national and security considerations. Our not joining the arab league has no relation to America or otherwise. On the contrary, there´re member states in the league who maintain strong ties with america and Israel. Egypt for example. Let me give an example. In 1992, president Omer al-Bashir organized an encounter between Arafat and myself. During the prolonged meeting we embarked upon the Palestinian stand of not willing to recognize us during our struggle, and go as far as rejecting our right to self determination, to the extent the PLO had an embassy In Addis. In that encounter, Arafat said to me: I´ll give you teachers and pediatricians. I answered: It´s not what you´ll give us now or not give us that´s the issue. There´re negative stances on your part towards us in the past. At the end of the meeting he said to me: Your masters have imposed this policy on you-referring to Israel and america. In 1993, we incidentally met again in Cairo. We exchanged greetings and I said to him: How did you find the Oslo agreements? In fact, Oslo, happened after my meeting with him in Khartoum. And I reminded him how he insulted me and I said: how come you sign agreements with your masters? He said: I kiss your head and deeply apologize.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 19:47:34 +0000
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