Al Jazeera - Meles Zenawi's -Interview-On Eritrea,Nov.22-07

[dagidd1212]

confident! proud of you to be my PM.

[asmarara]

somebody is confusing arrogance with confidence.

[mahlettt]

brave and smart prime minester

[LDNer]

war began were you want but it doesn't stop were you please. lets hope a peace for Africa the last servival content.

[ybayoyo]

Issaias Afwerki bases its claim to the disputed territory on an agreement signed between Italian colonialism and the Ethiopian monarchy . beginning in 1936, Eritrea had served as Italy's base of operations in northeast Africa, occupied by Italian troops. The borders that existed between it and Ethiopia were determined by continuous acts of aggression on Italy's part and the desperate attempts of the Ethiopian regime to resist the encroachments of Italian colonialism.

[ybayoyo]

All African movements after decolonization shared one thing in common. They held the borders inherited from European colonialism as sacrosanct. these frontiers divided the continent into an irrational patchwork of territories that corresponded not to any economic or linguistic logic,. To challenge them, however, was to question the right to rule of the aspiring national bourgeoisie, which had grown up under colonialism. This contradiction still affects most movements in Pan Africanism.

[ybayoyo]

The roots of the present conflict lie not merely in colonialism's historical legacy, but also in imperialism's ongoing machinations in the region. The Horn of Africa has long been viewed by the US as a strategic area of the globe because of its proximity to the sea lanes.

First Washington sought to assert its hegemony over the region by backing Haile Sellaisse and, following his ouster, the US adopted the Somali dictatorship of Siad Barre.

[ybayoyo]

Since the debacle suffered by the US forces in Somalia, Washington has attempted to forge close ties with both Eritrea and Ethiopia. .

The Organization of African Unity, voice and opinion on the escalating conflict in the Horn of Africa. have been largely eclipsed by Washington.

[ybayoyo]

14. The evidence showed that, at about 5:30 a.m. on May 12, 1998, Eritrean armed forces, comprised of at least two brigades of regular soldiers, supported by tanks and artillery, attacked the town of Badme and several other border areas in Ethiopia's Tahtay Adiabo Wereda, as well as at least two places in its neighboring Laelay Adiabo Wereda. On that day and in the days immediately following, Eritrean armed forces then pushed across the flat Badme plain to higher ground in the east.

[ybayoyo]

Although the evidence regarding the nature of Ethiopian armed forces in the area conflicted, the weight of the evidence indicated that the Ethiopian defenders were composed merely of militia and some police, who were quickly forced to retreat by the invading Eritrean forces. Given the absence of an armed attack against Eritrea, the attack that began on May 12 cannot be justified as lawful self-defense under the UN Charter.

[1desta]

a leader to be proud of.