Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Eritrea: Africa's North Korea, complete with unhinged president

(August 01, 2011, The Daily Maverick)- Eritrea’s not known for much except good coffee and an abiding hatred of Ethiopia. So it caught the world by surprise when the UN accused the tiny country of planning and organising a massive terror attack on Addis Ababa, the capital of the African Union and of the hated Ethiopia.

But given President Afwerki’s parlous mental state, and the strange affinity with Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, perhaps the global community should have seen it coming. By SIMON ALLISON.

It’s not every day that a UN report accuses a country of terrorism. UN reports tend to be dry and flavourless, filled with prevarications and hedging of bets. 

This latest, from the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, is different. Alongside a number of interesting observations in its 415 pages was one sensational claim: that Eritrea, the tiny Red Sea country which fought such a long war with Ethiopia for its independence and has just been displaced as Africa’s newest country by South Sudan – and whose capital Asmara is home to Africa’s finest cappuccinos – was behind plans for a massive terror attack in Addis Ababa.  Read More The Daily Maveric »

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