In one of his rare televised interventions, this Sunday evening February 12, Eritrean President Issayas Afewerki exposed – for 90 minutes – his very personal vision of the conflict in Tigray, where his army intervened alongside that of the ‘Ethiopia.
Once or twice a year, Issayas Afewerki sits down opposite the hieratic interviewers of his state television and talks. He freely exposes his views, his analyzes on Eritrea and the world. Thus, for the first time on Sunday, he gave his vision of the Pretoria peace agreement, which ended the Tigray war in November. One peace “ imposed » to the Tigrayans by « their principals strangers, he said. For him, everything would have been premeditated by the United States to end a period “ of hope and optimism after the reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2018. And the Pretoria peace agreementwhich he hailed, would only be a desperate maneuver.
” Paper to sign »
“ In Pretoria, they were given a paper to sign… (Break) Everything had been fabricated by the Washington clique. Obasanjo, Kenyatta, the African Union, they were covers. The document had been prepared by the Washington clique, who asked them to sign and they signed said the Eritrean president.
It’s the ” Washington’s miscalculation which in 2020 would have inspired them enough confidence to start the war, he claims. And then peace would have spared them” total military defeat “. He referred to ” hundreds of thousands dead “tigreans and damage” never seen in the world caused by the war. But he blamed them entirely on his historic enemy, the TPLF, the ruling party in Tigray.
” Washington shenanigans »
From now on, the nuisance capacity of the TPLF is abolished, he rejoiced. And the allegations of crimes committed by Eritrean troops are, according to him, “ Washington’s shenanigans to hamper the implementation of the agreement ” And “ win time “.
These accusations were immediately dismissed by former US Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy, in charge at the start of the war. “ From the beginning, he replied, the American position has been to try to end the violence as quickly as possible. Period. »
►Also read: Ethiopia: why does the Eritrean army not withdraw from Tigray?