Eritrea says democratic progress slowed by regional ‘hostility’

ASMARA, March 18 (AFP) — Twelve years after independence, Eritrea still has a one-party political system and has not yet held national elections, a situation officials here say is justified by a regional “climate of hostility.”

Despite international criticism over the state of affairs, particularly from the United States, Eritrean officials say they are in no rush to enact reforms, particularly while border tensions with neighboring Ethiopia remain high.

“The overall climate of hostility is the main factor explaining why there have been no national elections,” said Zemehret Yohannes, a senior official in Eritrea’s lone party, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).

The PFDJ’s head of political affairs, Yemane Gebreab, said uncertainties following the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia also prevented Eritrea’s parliament from meeting.

But, he maintained the party was moving the country toward democracy even though such steps required patience due to Eritrea’s current position and fears political pluralism might endanger security in the Horn of Africa country.

“For democracy, we have done a lot, but it takes time,” Yemane said, noting that the war with Ethiopia had forced the postponement of scheduled national elections.

The war ended with a peace deal requiring both countries to accept as “final and binding” a border demarcation from an independent commission but Ethiopia has thus far refused to accept the ruling.

Because of Ethiopia’s stance, Eritrean officials say their country is in a state of “no war, no peace” that prevents national elections from being held, even as the country’s electoral commission works dutifully on a poll calendar.

But even without the lingering tensions with its neighbor, there are concerns that a headlong thrust into full democracy could destabilize the country.

“Political pluralism has its negative aspects,” Yemane said, noting that it could spark divisions among Eritrea’s half-Muslim, half-Christian population of an estimated 3.5 million that is split between nine ethnicities.

Only a minority of Eritreans are calling now for the political system to be opened up to other parties and Yemane said their voices would be “heard and respected” even if not immediately heeded.

That position has been decried by critics in the west, notably the United States which regularly criticizes Eritrea for its lack of democracy in its annual global human rights reports.

“The PFDJ is the sole political party in the country,” the State Department said in its most recent report on the country released in February. “Presidential and legislative elections have been continuously postponed.

“The constitution, ratified in 1997, provides for democratic freedoms, however, its provisions have not been implemented,” the report says.

Yet political pluralism is a stated goal of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) — which led the 1961 to 1991 independence struggle against Ethiopia — which transformed itself into the PFDJ in 1994 under the leadership of Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s first, current and only president.

Despite this, officials in Asmara see danger in the speedy implementation of the vow, noting the experience of neighboring states and other African countries they say may have embraced democracy to quickly.

This system “exists in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ivory Coast, but what has it done for the general people?” Yemane asked.

His rhetorical question does not go over well with democracy advocates, including one diplomat in Asmara who shares the concerns listed in the US State Department report.

“In other countries in Africa, at least there are the institutions to make democracy work one day,” the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. “But here, what is the trend?”

“During the 1990s in Eritrea, there was a process to prepare national elections, things were moving,” the diplomat said. “Now, no one talks of that any more.”