Credibility of International Crisis Group Questioned

An OEA Statement


September 21, 2010

ICG Report Leaves No Misinformation on Eritrea Unturned

If there is anyone--from among those who don’t wish Eritrea and the Eritrean people well—who has been waiting to see in one place all the avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, and straight out lies produced and disseminated by the TPLF, its lobbyists collaborators as well as its supporters the last decade and half, wait no longer; it has come out in the form of the latest International Crisis Group (ICG) report on Eritrea which leaves no misinformation of the last decade and half on this former Italian colony unused. It is a compilation of almost everything said or written to demonize Eritrea and its people and undermine their sovereignty since 1998 when the TPLF and its collaborators began to produce tons and tons of misinformation on the nation in a vain attempt to achieve what they couldn’t achieve militarily in the border war. When you mix, blend, and marinate this pile of vile in a pseudo-analysis designed to accentuate the negative,

you get the latest ICG report on Eritrea, a 37-page document tightly packed with misinformation widely disseminated in the past.

What is even more disappointing is that this full-throttle attempt to vilify this young African nation is coming at a time when the world, from the UN Secretary General on down, is commending this young African nation’s which is still trying to recover from 40-years of war with Ethiopia. Just recently, Eritrea and Djibouti signed a peace agreement negotiated by the Government of Qatar to resolve their border dispute. Other organizations praising Eritrea’s actions to bring about stability in the region are: the European Union and the African Union.

What is also dismaying is that the ICG was expected to use its resources and reach to contribute to the discourse on the search for peace in the Horn, instead it has come out with a pile of misinformation unprecedented in its magnitude and its hostility towards the nation--misinformation that is likely to warm the hearts of those who don’t want to see peace in this peace-starved region of Africa. This is not the work of a group that tries to be objective, balanced and fair in its approach. This in fact disqualifies this crisis group from being considered as a legitimate, credible actor in the search for peace in the troubled Horn of Africa or any other crisis-ridden area.





Organization of Eritrean Americans – (OEA)