FEATURE- Lingering suspicions complicate aid in Eritrea
By Ed Harris
GHEDGED, Eritrea, Aug 10 (Reuters) – As skinny donkeys wander about the thatch huts of Ghedged, a short drive from Eritrea’s Red Sea coast, Mohamed Mahamud watches the warm sand blowing through his village.
The seasonal rains may be falling elsewhere in Eritrea, but the earth is dry and cracked along the coastal strip from where mountains rise to 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) and more.
“We are hungry,” he says. “Our animals are dying, there is no food, and we don’t have other work to do.”
Persistent drought, economic stagnation, and regional tensions have made life hard for Eritrea’s 3.6 million population. The humanitarian needs — including food aid, water supplies and landmine clearance — are great.
But the government’s deep and lingering suspicions of the international community complicate relations with aid agencies which face a raft of restrictions on their activities.
“(Humanitarian interventions by the West) are aimed at plundering the wealth and resources and also the obstruction of the development of poor nations, propagation of corruption and the inculcation of the culture of dependence,” said a recent article on the Information Ministry website.
The roots of Eritrean suspicion go deep.
“It’s hard to think of another African country that was interfered with by foreign powers quite so thoroughly, and so disastrously, as Eritrea,” writes Michela Wrong, journalist and author, in her recent book on Eritrea, citing colonial intervention and persistent disregard for Eritrean aspirations.
FOREIGN SUPPORT FOR ETHIOPIA
After almost 70 years of British and Italian colonial administration, the international community attached Eritrea to the Ethiopian federation, then supported the Ethiopians against Eritrea which fought for 30 years to get its independence.
Today the single-minded, single-party Eritrean government blames the international community for not forcing Ethiopia to demarcate the Ethiopian-Eritrean border as both countries had agreed to do in a December 2000 agreement.
Many government members have bitter memories of the Ethiopians, and complain that massive international economic and developmental support for Ethiopia amounts to complicity with Eritrea’s most dangerous enemy.
“The revived but defunct game plan (of the international community) includes weakening Eritrea to a position where it would make concessions on the one hand, while on the other support and encouragement would be provided to the TPLF (Ethiopian) regime,” said Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki in a recent speech.
So, while globalisation may be the buzzword of the moment elsewhere, Eritrea talks of self-reliance.
“Our policy is that aid is not a long-term solution. It is something which should help the country to be self-sufficient,” Eritrea’s Information Minister, Ali Abdu, told Reuters soon after a proclamation was introduced in May to regulate non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“The proclamation was mainly made for transparency and accountability. The main purpose is that donors, NGOs, and beneficiaries should be accountable,” he said.
NEW RULES
Aid workers are still waiting to see how the new rules will shape their work in practice.
The proclamation increases the reporting requirements of foreign and local NGOs, requires a minimum size of NGO, prevents the United Nations from directly funding NGOs in Eritrea and, perhaps most significantly of all, taxes imports of aid.
But taxes on aid imports may contravene bilateral agreements with Eritrea’s government and be illegal under some donor laws, according to a list of questions drawn up by aid workers for discussion with the government.
In June, the U.S. government announced it would provide food aid to cover more than 100 percent of Eritrea’s estimated cereal food aid needs this year.
However, it is still unclear what the impact of the proclamation will be for the 2.3 million Eritreans, like Mohamed Mahamud, who are dependent on food assistance.
The sensitivities of the situation mean few aid officials are willing to talk.
“Even expat staff, diplomats and NGOs, shy away from taking a stronger stance against unacceptable government policies. Maybe they are afraid of losing their position,” said one diplomatic source, who did not want his name to be used.
While the Eritrean government recognises the potential benefits of international aid, it has a history of difficult relations with the aid community.
“Non-governmental organisations have played a commendable role during the liberation struggle of the people of Eritrea and after independence,” says the opening paragraph of the proclamation on NGOs.
But on separate occasions in 1998, 2002, and 2003, various NGOs have been asked to leave the country.
Earlier this year, Grassroots International, a U.S.-based NGO working in Eritrea since 1983 — before the country’s official declaration of independence in 1993 — pulled out of the Red Sea state, citing political repression as a reason.
Some 120 vehicles have been confiscated from U.N. and other projects so far this year, say diplomatic sources.
“We are seeing a big chunk of the expenses going on administrative costs such as cars. And this is minimising the effectiveness of aid,” said Information Minister Abdu.
Diplomatic sources say the confiscations are a breach of contract, and apart from work undertaken by U.N. peacekeepers, demining activities in Eritrea have come to a halt. “Among the donors, the feeling is increasing that this kind of breach of contract is not acceptable any more,” a diplomat said.