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| Africa: East |
| Sudan, Ethiopia, and Yemen form the Sana’a Coalition |
| 2003-12-30 |
| The Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa Othman Ismael has expected that Presidents of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen will officially sign a treaty for the foundation of "Sanaa coalition" during their meeting in Addis Ababa. Ismael told journalists in a statement on Saturday that leaders of the three countries will discuss the treaty, which provides for establishing the coalition, and will sign it on Monday if approved. Ismael explained that the presidency of the coalition will be transferred during the meeting from Yemen to Ethiopia, and the leaders will review a report from the ministerial council of the coalition for the foreign ministers of the three countries, during their meeting on Sunday over tripartite relations and regional security. On the other hand, Sudan’s ambassador in Sanaa, Othman al-Sayed, denied that the Sanaa coalition will be directed against any country or group, noting that it rather aims to strengthen relations among the three countries. This came in retaliation to press reports indicating that this coalition is a sort of alliance in challenge of Eritrea, a country in tension with the three said countries. Sudan’s denying it, a good sign that they may plan on gobbling up a piece of Eritrea to make up for their losses in the south as a result of the SPLA deal. Eritrea is the #1 enemy of Ethiopia too, so that fits. I’m not sure what Yemen gets out of the deal. One thing to keep in mind is that the Sudanese-backed al-Qaeda affiliate Eritrean Islamic Jihad has been up and running in Eritrea’s northern areas (i.e. the ones that Bashir likely plans to annex if it comes to that) for awhile now. The Ethiopian foreign ministry announced that the prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and the Sudanese President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will discuss means of strengthening political, economic and social relations among their countries. The Ministry added that talks during the summit which will start on Monday, and last for two days, and will deal with means of strengthening peace and security in the African horn. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #11 Raptor Ethiopia's always been mostly independent. Too far away for the classical world to get to it, too isolated for the Muslim world to get to it - they had to go through Sudan, which is still animist/Christian. Ethiopia was one of the earliest Christian countries, since Christianity didn't have to invade people to impose itself. Eritrea used to be part of Ethiopia, or tributary to it (before it was absorbed as a province in the early 1950s), and broke off when the Ethiopians kicked out the commies. Without Eritrea, Ethiopia is land-locked, not that Ethiopians have ever been mighty sailormen. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-12-30 8:30:22 PM |
| #10 "And I alone survived, to tell thee." -- Ishmael |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-12-30 4:03:58 PM |
| #9 Wasn't that area,Nth.Africa,under control of the Ottaman Turks at onetime,possibly the Romans,too. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-12-30 3:10:16 PM |
| #8 Hirua and Charles: Eritrea fought Ethiopia to a standstill in their last couple of conflict. Their country and their tribe / clan happen to be the same, unlike most of Africa. Gives them a little more morale. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-12-30 1:53:20 PM |
| #7 Has anybody developed a "Africa For Dummies". They're too busy living it to write it. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-12-30 1:50:18 PM |
| #6 Has anybody developed a "Africa For Dummies". I get lost on who is who (outside the idiotic Mugabe and Qaddaffffffffiiiiii?). Something that neatly identifies the countries (and part there of), factions (and fractions there of), armies, rebel "freedom" fighters, etc. It would be especially helpful to describe the 1000 year old axes that the warring groups are grinding. After awhile, I lose interest, because I just can;t keep up with it all. |
| Posted by: Tornado 2003-12-30 12:24:14 PM |
| #5 I don't know Hiryu. I'm sure they can save themselves through diplomacy. Afterall, they have, uh, sand to bargain with. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-12-30 11:57:38 AM |
| #4 Why am I thinking it'll soon be bye-bye for the Republic of Eritrea? |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2003-12-30 11:20:36 AM |
| #3 One can look at a map of the Hanish islands here. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-30 2:14:25 AM |
| #2 D'oh - just realized that I linked to a geoshitties page. We should exceed the site's bandwith after, say, five hits. In summary, Eritrea grabbed these islands back in '95/'96, and everyone else is pissed off. |
| Posted by: Dan (not Darling) 2003-12-30 1:53:05 AM |
| #1 --An internal memo within the Army of Dan™-- Yemen's beef with Eritrea concerns a handful of barren but strategically located rocks in the Red Sea called the Hanish archipelago. (Link to a mildly informative if not quite totally objective summary of the issue) |
| Posted by: Dan (not Darling) 2003-12-30 1:48:17 AM |
