Isaias Afwerki, the President of Eritrea, criticized Ethiopia in an interview aired on Eri TV on Saturday. He said that Ethiopia built GERD (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) to humiliate Egypt and this is what Meles Zenawi, the late Ethiopian Prime Minister, told him. The President unequivocally declared the that the Ethiopian dam is the agenda of foreign forces, not Ethiopians. Egypt has been opposing the construction of GERD.
Answering to questions if Eritrea is upset at Pretoria Agreement that ended two year long war in Ethiopia, the president stated Pretoria Agreement is not Eritrea’s concern. He said those forces, which brokered the Pretoria agreement instead of implementing the agreement, advised the Ethiopian government to launch a disarmament campaign in the Amhara region. The president clearly stated the war in Amhara region of Ethiopia is unnecessary. The main problem in Ethiopia is foreign agendas and ethnic federalism, he claimed.
He talked about 2-year long war in Tigray and blamed Tigray People’s Liberation Front for starting the war. He said the Tigray war was inevitable, because TPLF had already made final preparations to launch the war. At Ethiopia PM insistence, he met Debretsion Gebremichael even though he knew the war was inevitable. The president also gave an advice to TPLF, not to repeat the same mistakes and look forward to learning from the past to pave a way for peace. During Tigray war, though Eritrean military supported the Ethiopian federal forces against Tigray forces, but Ethiopia-Eritrea relations deteriorated after Ethiopian federal government and Tigray fighters signed Pretoria peace deal in November 2022.
Talking about war in neighboring Sudan, he said Eritrea is neutral in this war. However several Sudanese news sources claim that Eritrea is training Sudanese armed group to fight in support of General Abdul Fattah al Burhan.
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