The United States has imposed additional punitive diplomatic measures on the government of Eritrea. The US has restrained the movement of Eritrean government officials to a 25-mile radius of the Embassy of Eritrea and denied entry visas to Eritrean businessmen who frequently travel to the United States.
This follows a strong protest by America’s ambassador to Eritrea, Mr. Scott Delissi, who had registered his complaints to the government of Eritrea following President Isaias Afwerki’s May 24 Independence Day Address, which characterized the Bush Administration as being a negative force in the region. President Isaias Afwerki exacerbated the situation on June 20th Martyr’s Day Address, when he accused the Bush Admininstration of using terrorism as a pretext to destabilize Somalia.
At issue seem to be a number of causes including:
- Arrest of US embassy staff: The Eritrean government’s arrest of two US Embassy staffers, Ali Alamin and Kiflom Gebremichael, in September 2001;
- Border Demarcation: The Eritrean government’s accusation that the US is not an impartial mediator in the Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict;
- Foreign Remittances: The United States’ limitation of the activities of Himbol, the Eritrean ruling party-owned currency Exchange Company. Himbol’s Washington, DC offices were raided several years ago and some of its liquid assets, held at the Eritrean Embassy in the United States, were seized by the FBI;
- Human Rights: the United States’ annual State Department reports which continuously describe the Eritrean authorities as increasingly violating the human rights of Eritreans;
- Somalia: Although officially both states are neutral, Eritrea and the United States have been funneling money or weapons to two antagonists in Somalia. The United States is reportedly helping the Somali “war lords” who have presented themselves as secular force against fundamentalist; Eritrea is accused of supplying weapons to the Islamist coalition, the Islamic Court Union, who have recently gained the upper hand in Somalia.
The government of Eritrea’s hard currency shortage has deteriorated from bad to worse. Eritreans who reside in Saudi Arabia were instructed that those who wish to ship goods to Eritrea have to pre-pay (in Saudi Riyale) the mandatory 2% income tax, the 1% martyrs’ trust fund tax, as well as customs tax to a government-designated cargo shipment agent in Riyadh. When Mr. Zemehret Yohannes, a ruling-party official, visited Eritreans for Independence Day celebration in Riyadh, he was asked if it was fair to ask citizens who were shipping goods to their family a 3% tax. He deferred the question to the Eritrean ambassador to Saudi Arabia who denied that the policy exists.
Meanwhile, President Isaias Afwerki’s move to Massawa is appearing to be permanent relocation and residents of Asmara have begun to refer to him as “Wedi Batsi’e.”
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