VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAE #0858/01 2891434
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161434Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8493
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 5998
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0164
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 2880
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0359
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0221
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4657
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA 0241
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1234
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1409
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0567
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS ASMARA 000858 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958 DECL:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO PINR SU ER
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT ISAIAS SPEAKS AT SIGNING OF ESPA 
 
 
1.(U) On the occasion of the signing of the Eastern Sudan Peace 
Agreement (ESPA) on October 14, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki 
again spoke out against the United States and the international 
community.  In his speech he blamed the U.S. for complicating and 
perpetuating conflicts and using them for financial gain.  He went 
on to advise the audience to seek domestic solutions to internal 
problems and not to pursue a path that will lead to external 
intervention.  His comments about the manipulations of the U.S. and 
the international community received enthusiastic cheers from the 
fundamentalist Islamists and Sudanese National Congress Party 
audience members. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: President Isaias's comments are nothing new.  He 
continues to present the United States negatively and explain U.S. 
action's as a deliberate undermining of Eritrea and other regional 
actors for the U.S.'s own gains.  His warning to the audience 
regarding domestic solutions to internal problems and avoiding 
external interventions might be interpreted as a statement of 
support both for the Government of Sudan, and the GOS's refusal to 
allow international peacekeepers in Darfur.  End Comment. 
 
¶3. (U) A GSE English translation of the speech delivered in Arabic 
follows below.  Begin text: 
 
Your Excellency President Omer Al Beshir 
Your Excellency President Ismael Orner Guelle 
Distinguished Leaders and Delegates of the Eastern Front 
Representatives of Friendly States and Governments 
Excellencies, 
Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
Allow me to extend, on this momentous occasion, my warmest 
congratulations to the people of the Sudan, to President Beshir, to 
the leaders of the Eastern Front as well as to the people of Eritrea 
and the peoples of our region as a whole. 
 
Allow me further to thank all those who contributed, through patient 
and capable efforts, to the concretization of the Agreement between 
the Government of National Unity and the Eastern Front that is being 
signed on this auspicious day. 
 
Excellencies, 
 
I believe it is imperative and timely to gauge this important 
Agreement - which constitutes one of the building blocs[sic] of 
comprehensive peace in the Sudan - in the context of the prevailing 
regional and international climate. The larger perspective is vital 
in order to appreciate the challenges and to marshal necessary 
efforts to ensure the effective implementation and sustainability of 
the Agreement. 
 
As Your Excellencies will agree with me, the Naivasha Agreement did 
not only constitute one of the primary pillars of Comprehensive 
Peace in the Sudan but also a historic achievement that laid the 
foundations of the whole edifice. In this perspective, I wish to 
underline that its full consummation at the end of the transitional 
period to deliver the desired result and its organic reinforcement 
through supplementation of the other building blocs[sic] will demand 
robust commitment and assiduous maintenance. 
 
Excellencies, 
 
It is important to realize that we are passing through dangerous 
times which can only arouse our concomitant awareness. Few 
short-sighted powers are plunging billions of people in the world 
into the abyss of perennial crisis and conflict in order to control 
and dominate the resources of our planet. These are indeed times of 
unprecedented injustice to secure international domination at the 
expense of fundamental individual and people's rights.  We cannot be 
oblivious to the subtle manipulations' underway to impart a 
different connotation to the concept of the "International 
Community" by reducing the forum to represent the interests of the 
only superpower and its ilk to the exclusion of all others. We 
observe, daily, dogged attempts to transform international and 
regional organizations into mere extensions or appendages of the 
Offices of major powers and micro-manage them through their 
intelligence agencies. Sadly, what is in vogue today is not 
"conflict resolution" but "the complication and perpetuation of 
conflicts". Fabrication of any pretext to satisfy one's selfish 
interests is being employed without scruples under the Machiavellian 
philosophy of the "end justifies the means".  It is indeed 
distressing to see peace processes degenerate into forums of public 
acrimony or for financial gain instead of promoting genuine and 
enduring solutions. 
 
Excellencies, 
 
Allow me to highlight two cardinal issues, among other important 
matters, on this auspicious moment and in the context of the 
prevailing dangerous international climate. 
 
The first is the absolute need to refrain from policies and acts 
that spawn internal crisis and conflict, and, to seek and secure 
domestic solutions to internal problems that may have been inherited 
or that may have arisen from misguided policies.  This will also 
involve the implementation of Agreements signed faithfully and 
seriously. 
 
The second is not to tread on an alley that leads to external 
intervention and to thwart overt or covert external intervention. 
Because, accommodation of or capitulation to external pressures will 
only exacerbate the situation, prolong the conflicts and entail 
sorrow and remorse. 
 
Excellencies, 
 
May I extend, again, my warmest congratulations and express my best 
wishes, on behalf of the people and Government of Eritrea, to the 
people and Government of the Sudan to transform this historic 
Agreement inscribed today on paper and on our hearts into a solid 
and unshakable building bloc [sic] of unity through proper care and 
maintenance. 
 
Thank you. 
 
End text. 
 
WROBLEWSKI