US State Department’s Strategic Mistakes in the Horn of Africa Continue

By Sophia Tesfamariam

BBC News reported in its 31 March 2006 excerpts from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice´s major speech on foreign policy delivered in Blackburn, one of her stops during her 2-day tour of the United Kingdom. According to BBC, after her speech, during a session of questions Ms. Rice said:

"…I know we’ve made tactical errors - thousands of them, I’m sure…But when you look back in history, what will be judged is did you make the right strategic decisions…I believe strongly that it was the right strategic decision… no-one should doubt America’s commitment to justice and the rule of law…"

I cannot begin to imagine what Ms. Rice considers "tactical errors" and "right strategic decisions", but as a victim of a past US mistake and one that knows only too well what these mistakes entail, allow me to illustrate to Condoleeza Rice and the US State Department where US policy for Horn is heading…United States´ strategic mistakes in the Horn of Africa and their human and material costs are a matter of public record. US integrity, credibility and the confidence of the people of the area in the US´ ability to forge international peace and security is at an all time low. US it seems, is not Africa´s friend, but rather its destroyer. From Nigeria in the West to Ethiopia in the East, US´ anchors have become not the stabilizing forces, but rather the destabilizing factors in their respective regions leaving observers to question the coherency of US policy for Africa.

STRATEGIC MISTAKE #1

The United States of America made a deadly, disastrous, and tragic strategic mistake on 2 December 1950 when it rallied its allies at the United Nations to adopt the unjust, unfair and criminal Resolution 390 V (A) that called for the federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia against the expressed wishes and aspirations of the Eritrean people. Supposedly, Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia for two reasons, to provide Ethiopia with an outlet to the sea and to secure US interests in the area. Here are the words of Ms. Rice´s predecessor, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who said:

"…From the point of view of justice, the opinion of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. Nevertheless, the strategic interests of the United States in the Red Sea Basin and world peace make it necessary that the country be linked with our ally Ethiopia…"

On 11 September 1952, Eritrea and Ethiopia formed a federation pursuant to the unjust and unfair General Assembly Resolution 390 (V). That was the beginning of a 40-year long strategic mistake, with immeasurable human and material costs.

It should be recalled that regime in Ethiopia at that time abrogated its obligations under Resolution 390 (V) and defiantly annexed Eritrea in 1962, forcing the people of Eritrea to wage a bitter and costly 30-year armed struggle for independence. The United Nations ignored the plight of the Eritrean people and the Western media remained mum as successive brutal and genocidal Ethiopian regimes flouted international law and UN Resolution 390 (V) and caused irreparable damage to Eritrea and her people.

For 30 years, as young men and women were murdered and entire villages bombed to the ground, and as an entire generation perished into the hills and mountains, valleys and shores of Eritrea and beyond, the US led international community remained deafeningly silent and actively promoted its strategic mistake.