Mereja.Forum

[Fiyameta]

As part of the 2018 peace process, both Eritrea and Ethiopia sat down for a high-level discussion on Ethiopia's use of the Eritrean Assab Port.

At Ethiopia's insistence, a UAE diplomat joined the discussions and proposed a new roadmark for the Assab Port, which seeks a 50-year port operations contract granting the UAE 95% stake in the port, while Eritrea holding 5% stake.

Eritrea, of course, outright rejected the UAE's proposal due to its neo-colonial nature that seeks to exploit the country. Eritrean diplomats brought up Djibouti's case, where the UAE had a 100% ownership of Djibouti's port and shared only 5% of the profits with the ruling elite.

The UAE diplomat argued that, the deal offered to Djibouti had helped the ruling elite amass wealth without lifting a finger.

Ethiopia, having just received a $1 billion dollar loan from the UAE, its diplomats expressed their support to the UAE's proposal and urged the Eritrean diplomats to accept the deal and gain personal wealth.

Eritrea walks out of the discussion, with its diplomats saying "SHAME ON YOU!"

[AbyssiniaLady]

Djibouti's case, where the UAE had a 100% ownership of Djibouti's port and shared only 5% of the profits with the ruling elite.

You are a waste of oxygen & the stupidest troll on mereja.

the deal offered to Djibouti had helped the ruling elite amass wealth without lifting a finger.

You are obviously stressed by envy and jealousy.

a UAE diplomat joined the discussions and proposed a new roadmark for the Assab Port, which seeks a 50-year port operations contract granting the UAE 95% stake in the port, while Eritrea holding 5% stake.

A pathological liar.

[Abdisa]

At the beginning of 1998, our country Ethiopia's external debt stood at $10 billion dollars, half of it inherited from the Derg regime.

From 1998 until TPLF's overthrow in 2018, Ethiopia had to borrow $1.6 billion dollars from the IMF every year to pay the UAE for using Djibouti's port services. During this time, Ethiopia had incurred $32 billion dollars in external debt, while the UAE profited the same amount of money from Djibouti's port.

It is understandable why the UAE is holding grudges against Djibouti for terminating its lucrative port operation contract. It is also clear why the UAE has become fixated on the Eritrean port of Assab. But for our country Ethiopia, whether we use the Djibouti port or the port of Assab, we will continue to pay $1.6 billion dollars a year, so it doesn't make sense why we Ethiopians have to promote UAE's agenda in the region when there are no benefits in doing so.

[Fiyameta]

When Eritrea was charging the UAE half a billion dollars a year to park its naval fleet at the Assab Port, there was no contract signed between the two countries that would allow the UAE to park its navy ships there indefinitely. When Eritrea asked the UAE to leave in 2021, it confiscated all the UAE-built port infrastructure at the Assab port.

I think it was Deqi Arawit who angrily said, "We Tegaru Ethiopians pay the UAE $1.6 billion dollars a year to use Djibouti's port, and the UAE uses our hard-begged money to pay Eritrea half a billion dollars a year in parking fees."

By George, he's got it!