In this paper I will discuss the recent history of Eritrea, its high-level of corruption and its material support to terrorist groups and goals of destabilizing both the Ethiopian government and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG). Eritrea is a country that has, in the past and recent times, struggled economically, militarily, and also with maintaining good relations with its neighbors. The majority of its current issues can be traced back to 1993 when the country declared its formal independence from Ethiopia. This instability has caused conflict with the United States and allegations by both the United Nations and several Western Nations including the United States that Eritrea openly harbors and supports terrorist organizations. The Government of Eritrea (GOE) has been accused of anything from providing refuge of senior leaders of Al-Shabaab to supplying weapons to Somali Islamic extremists.
The main groups of import that the Eritrean government are accused of supporting are Al-Shabaab in Somalia and its opposition group Hizb Al-Islam, both of which seek destabilization of the TFG in Somalia and the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in the Horn of Africa. Additionally, the Islamic Courts movement (ICU) is also active in Eritrea with ties to Somalia. Eritrea has a violent history against Ethiopia and has fought several wars have been fought between the two countries with war dead into the hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, I will explain how instability in this region concerns U.S. interests and how material support and attacks from Eritrea have affected U.S. interests in the region.
To fully understand the modern conflict in Eritrea, I must briefly cover the history in the country and the region. Prior ...
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U.S. Department of State (2007) International Religious Freedom Report 2007 Retrieved from:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90096.htm
U.S. Department of State (2010) Background Note: Eritrea Retrieved from:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2854.htm
IRIN humanitarian news and analysis (2006) SOMALIA: Islamic courts set up consultative council Retrieved from:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=59444
Newsmax.com (2006) Somali Militant Urges Holy War on Ethiopia Retrieved from:
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/21/113509.shtml
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Black Star News (2011) Towards African Revolutions: Eritrea Retrieved from:
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The purpose of this document is to discuss the horrible acts one may recognize as the genocide in Somalia. One may deliberate regularly on the reasons or circumstances that lead to the mistreatment and killings of a whole country; how could this happen? Why are no other countries willing to step in and give aid to the Somali people whom are suffering on a daily basis? In reality, many concerns have been addressed, whether by discussions or actions. There may be different philosophies or viewpoints as to why the genocide was conducted and not stopped. Genocide is a cruel and inhumane event and is a world problem.
Before the war, Somalia had a well-functioning democratic republic government. Under the 1979 Constitution, the president held executive power. The president was the head and leader of the country’s sole legal political party, The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. Elected to serve a 7-year term, the president was nominated by the party’s central committee. Ever since the civil war in 1991, when the government collapsed, Somalia has been in a state of civil war and anarchy (“Somalian Government”).
The terrorist threat posed to United States (U.S.) interests within the Horn of Africa (HOA) is represented by one terrorist organization in particular, al-Shabaab. Areas of concern towards key strategic interests for the U.S. consist of armed conflicts, violent extremism, global trade, and maritime security in which al-Shabaab possess an influential capacity to disrupt, which effects political, economic, and social stability throughout region. As countries within the HOA continue to gain strategic importance to U.S. interest and policy makers, al-Shabaab and the various entities they collaborate with affect the stability of the region and remain a prevalent threat.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Issayas Afeworki each played a crucial role in the eruption of the conflict. Both ...
In May 1998, Eritrea crossed over the Ethiopian border attacking Tigrayan militia and security forces in the Badme region. This hostile act sparked the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. Upon realization that they were going lose...
"SOMALIA CONFERENCE - Facts, Figures and Major Problems of Somalia." Facts, Figures and Major Problems of Somalia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2014.
It’s no surprise that many people in Somalia were not okay with this system of colonial rule. In 1899, a group called The Dervish...
Last year, Eritreans formed the second largest group of migrants to Europe, after Syrians. These meager migrants feared their harsh dictatorship, which imprisoned anyone who breathed a word of dissent or tried to migrate. Bayin Keflemeka, an Eritrean nurse, explains the penalty many Eritreans will face if they are deported back to their country. “Eritrea is a total dictatorship. They can put us in prison for unlimited years. If we go back, we will die” (Kingsley). Europe has always been in the eyes of many Eritreans, where a wide variety of parliamentary governments represent and dedicate their attention to the will of the people. Although torture, execution, forced labor, or imprisonment may be frightening, Eritreans are willing to risk migration with the hopes of eluding a tyrannical
If the aid does not reach the people in time, suffering will increase and the death toll will mount. If Al-Shabaab continues to exploit the relief agencies, projects and future humanitarian relief efforts will be hindered or stopped all together. An option the United States may consider is set up liaison operations with the Somalia government and the Al-Shabaab leadership. This action can produce valuable intelligence as well as assist humanitarian agencie...
Poole, Walter S., The Effort to Save Somalia August 1992 – March 1994 p.20 (2005 August) General format. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/doctrine/history/somalia.pdf
Anonymous. "Somalia: 20 Years of Anarchy." BBC News. BBC, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
There are countries that are not as lucky as America, where people have their rights taken away from them, like in Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea has a very corrupt government. It has been said that the voting has been rigged so that the president will win the election as many times as he wants. Most of the power is in the executive branch, so the president has most of the power of the country and no one can say anything about what he wants to happen. He president will harass the opposing parties so that he will win (Williams). In the article Equatorial Guinea HRW (Human Rights Watch) says, “Corruption, poverty, and repression continue to plague Equatorial Guinea under President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979”. The “...per capita gross domestic product...” for Equatorial Guinea is $30,000, but yet most of the people live in poverty. The “...Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE)...” rule the political system, you could say that it is a monopoly. The president of Equatorial Guinea will have a say in court cases. The court cases that are sensitive get brought to him and he gets asked what he wants to do (Equatorial...). We should care about Equatorial Guinea because arrest without reason, torture captives and give little rights to women.
Over the last few years, the issue of corruption--the abuse of public office for private gain--has attracted renewed interest, both among academics and policymakers. There are a number of reasons why this topic has come under recent inspection. Corruption scandals have toppled governments in both major industrial countries and developing countries. In the transition countries, the shift from command economies to free market economies has created massive opportunities for the appropriation of rents, excessive profits, and has often been accompanied by a change from a well-organized system of corruption to a more chaotic and deleterious one. With the end of the cold war, donor countries have placed less emphasis on political considerations in allocating foreign aid among developing countries and have paid more attention to cases in which aid funds have been misused and have not reached the poor. And slow economic growth has persisted in many countries with malfunctioning institutions. This renewed interest has led to a new flurry of empirical research on the causes and consequences of corruption.
Many unsolved problems in many African countries, but the issue of the rise of corruption are disturbing, and the amends it has done to the polity are vast. The fear of fraud leads to restrict movement of documents in offices, slow traffic on the highways, port congestion, ghost workers syndrome, queues at passport offices, police extortion tollgates and gas stations, vote irregularities among others. Even the nutty people on the road remember the devastation caused by bribery - the funds allocated for their success disappear into some people pockets. Thus, some people believe corruption is the bane of many African countries. Corruption is the main obstacle to slow down, and knock African economy growing. The problem keeps happening in Africa, and the issue will hardly be solved.