Europe’s softening stand on Eritrea sparks fear in the TPLF

German officials meeting with President Isaias Afwerki

By Serawr

Europe’s softening stand on Eritrea, has sparked fear in the TPLF, the regime now ruling Ethiopia, according to report by ESAT News Amharic publication this week. The failing of the TPLF’s policy on Eritrea that emanates from Badme border conflict and the claim that Eritrea supports Ethiopian freedom forces, has confused the regime; the report stated, citing an information and documents it received from its sources; who work in New York, Ethiopia’s UN branch.

The report describes how the policy was drafted by a member of the TPLF and former General Director of International Organizations, who is now Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the Sudan, Mr Mulugeta Zewde, few TPLF officials and academics – reflecting the organization’s distrust of the other Ethiopian ethics. The policy that was drafted with the aim of referral of Eritrean leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC), extending the sanction on Eritrea and strengthening of the actions of the international community against Eritrea, has become ineffectual.

The report also revealed, that the TPLF regime is blaming some specific European countries for the failure of its policy. The TPLF carried out a frantic diplomatic campaign to make the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea enforceable. The fact that European countries including Norway, Germany, and Switzerland, have started a common work with Eritrea on the migration problem, and their push in the softening of the European Union stance on Eritrea, has become a major headache for the TPLF regime.

The report stated, the UN Commission on Human Rights that released a report claims including a use of “forced labor” by companies doing business in Eritrea and its recommendation holding individuals and groups to account, did not satisfy members of European Union; hence the EU has cooled down on the ideas of taking action against Eritrea. Furthermore, the support Eritrea received from China, Arab countries, some Latin America countries, Egypt and partly the Sudan, has made the issue less significant at the UN. This has extremely infuriated the TPLF officials.

The report noted that the TPLF made attempts using Djibouti and Somalia to pass a very strong resolutions against Eritrea at the UN, which also failed miserably. The report also substantiated, how the number of countries that supported the UN resolutions against Eritrea, reduced considerably in 2017 in comparison with the earlier years. While the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Poland, Greece, Ireland and Romania, were the only countries that supported the UN resolution in 2017, there were 2 major sponsors and 19 associate sponsors in 2016, and 7 major sponsors and 16 associate sponsors in 2015.

Having failed at the world stage and in particular with the softening stand of the Europeans, the TPLF is now turning to the African Union to draft a way to take action against Eritrean government. The report outlined the main goals of the TPLF, as taking the Eritrean case to the UN Security Council and refer Eritrean leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to take action against Ethiopian opposition forces. The report concluded by revealing that the TPLF is still exerting its utmost effort to revert Europe’s softening stance on Eritrea.

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