AFWERKI: CONFLICT IS WEST’S WEAPON

Exactly 63 years ago this week, Eritrea began its war for independence from Ethiopia.
On September 1, 1961, resistance fighters started a campaign to liberate Eritrea from Ethiopian rule in a conflict that would last almost 30 years.

Here, Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki argues that conflicts in Africa serve external interests at the expense of Africans.

Indeed, divide and conquer proved an invaluable strategy for the colonisers as they set foot on the continent. Communities’ differences were amplified, stoking conflict, and in the dysfunction, European imperialism was cemented.

With a formula that’s worked for decades, there was little reason for the West to give up stoking division. We see it today in the fights between Nigerians and South Africans or between Algerians and Moroccans. While entities like Israel and the US benefit from increased weapons sales or aligned policies, the division is instead detrimental to the building of a dignified Africa.

He proposes a different approach to solidarity, cooperation, and economic development among African nations, claiming that Africans are ready for this as they are tired of marginalisation.

Ending the cycle of intervention and sinister plots to destabilise Africa’s nations and people.