The UN sanctions have tremendously helped Afwerki, known worldwide as "The merciless butcher to his own people", to reinforce his tyranny on the Eritrean people in general and the army in particular, by shaping the psyche of the Eritrean people.
As soon as the UN Security Council Resolution 1907 was adopted by the Security Council on 23 December 2009, Afwerki had created a deep mistrust and hostility among Eritreans towards the outside world. He pointed the finger at the West and made Eritreans believe that their identity and territorial integrity were attacked by the West and they were in war with the West.
By influencing and manipulating the mindset of the ordinary Eritreans and the strategic thinking of a number of Eritrean elites, he succeeded to make Eritreans believe that Eritrea was in war and, therefore, they had to bear with his regime, however bad it was.
The survival of Afwerki's dictatorship is a perceived ongoing defensive war among Eritreans. in other words, the belief among Eritreans that they've a number of enemies (even though no one else can see these) and that Eritrea is in a permanent defensive war - and thus someone is needed to defend it.
Although the sanctions have been lifted and the war with Ethiopia has ended, Afwerki continues to capitalise on this perception of the Eritrean people that their country has many near and distant evil enemies that are ready to destroy Eritrea and they should better stick with Afwerki's ruthless regime, rather than being destroyed by such fictive enemies rehearsed by Afwerki himself.
For instance, we all know that Eritrea is no longer in war with Ethiopia, and Djibouti is even ignoring Eritrea's presence in the region, yet many Eritreans would still tell you that they're in war.
Afwerki has been exploiting this false belief and paranoia among Eritreans that there are enemies out there to destroy Eritrea and its people.
Could you imagine, if since his trip to Russia, he has been parroting that the US is a threat to Eritrea, and the worst is that shallow-minded Eritreans are believing this!
This on-going fearmongering of Afwerki has helped him exploit the psychological makeup of Eritreans in order to monopolise power and strengthen his never-ending tyrannical dictatorship.
Not only is he an egregious con artist, but also, he has a ton of blood on his hands.
