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H. L. D. Mahindapala
29 August, 2007
Yesterday Ethiopia accused Norwegian diplomats of interfering in its internal affairs and expelled six diplomats serving in Addis Ababa. They have been ordered to get out by 15 September and the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wahide Belay told the media that only an ambassador and two others can remain in their posts.
The international community, including the UN, has been engaged in a long-running border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The UN peace-keeping force has failed so far to keep the warring parties apart and the bill has reached $1 billion and is rising.
Norway too has stepped in with it claims of being experts in peace-making. The Ethiopian government, however, has accused the Norwegians of meddling in its internal affairs and supporting the Islamist rebels in Somalia and insurgent groups active in Ethiopia as well as Eritrea.
This is not the first time that the Norwegians have been kicked out of the Afro-Asian countries. Norway wanted to play a key role in peace-making Nepal where the Maoists were waging a terrorist war against the elected government but the Norwegian negotiator, Erik Solheim, who offered his services, was asked to keep away.
Nepal rejected this offers of help from Norway shortly after Sri Lanka accused the Norwegians of being “salmon-eating busybodies.” Sri Lanka was fed up with the partisan role played by Norway and was asked to go home. But they were brought back under international pressure.
The failure of Erik Solheim, the leading peace-facilitator in Sri Lanka, was mainly due to his partisan role in taking sides with the internationally banned Tamil Tiger terrorists. He was operating hand-in-glove with the Tamil Tiger chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham who used to leave behind heavy liquor bills in hotels where peace talks were held for his buddy, Erik Solheim to pick up.
Solheim was also accused by the most successful military commander of the Tamil Tigers, “Colonel” Karuna, of financing the Tamil Tigers and assuring the Tiger leader Prabhakaran of support in his separatist war against the Sri Lankan government. Solheim denied it as “lies” but Karuna insisted that he was an eyewitness to the deals. Besides, in the peace talks held in Geneva the government negotiators were shocked by the openly partisan role played by Solheim.
In the latest development in Ethiopia, Wahide said that Norway had been warned on several occasions not to interfere in the internal affairs, particularly in Ethiopia-Eriteria border conflict.
Wahide said that his government had been most reluctant to take this action and would be willing to reconsider if Norway was prepared to "rectify its mistakes and be more helpful in the region".
BBC quoted him as saying that Norway had been pampering "spoiler forces" in the region - naming Islamist rebels in Somalia and insurgent groups active in Ethiopia as well as Eritrea.
According to the BBC the row has been caused by Norway's support for the next round of border talks with Eritrea to be held at UN headquarters in New York, an idea rapidly vetoed by Ethiopia.
Political commentators note that Norway hides behind the skirt of the Western powers and try to manipulate events in Afro-Asian countries assuming that it knows what is best for the natives.
BBC also quoted Norway's deputy foreign minister Raymond Johansen as saying: "They claim we are undermining the national security by our involvement in the peace and reconciliation in the Horn of Africa. We have no interest of our own in the conflict and have maintained an open and frank contact with all the parties involved," Johansen said.
Political commentators note that this is standard response of the Norwegian Foreign Office. They claim to be a small nation with no interests of political expansion but they seek to gain a foothold in trouble spots claiming to be experts in peace-making either as a front of Western interests or to increase their influence with billions of petro-dollars. The Ceasefire Agreement signed in Oslo, for instance, between the Tamil Tiger terrorists and the Sri Lankan government is seen as a subtle move for Norwegians to gain access to fishing and oil resources in the Indian Ocean.
This Oslo agreement has ended in bitter failure with the Tamil Tigers violating 98 per cent of its terms and conditions, according to the Scandinavian peace monitors.
The Norwegian media too has been silent on the failure of the Norwegian government to make a serious and credible impact as a peace-maker. They merely reproduce the press releases issued by its Foreign Ministry. So far only Ny Tid (New Times) of Norway has exposed the partisan role of Norway in dealing with parties engaged in conflict zones.
The Ny Tid said in a report on November 26, 2006 that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave 17.5 million Norwegian Kroner to the LTTE between 2002 (the year it arranged a ceasefire in Sri Lanka) and 2004. The newspaper said the financial support to the LTTE is continuing and would reach an estimated 25 million Kroner or $375,000 by the end of this year.
The Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) too has been made a tool of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. PRIO sends its “researchers” to trouble spots to explore means of influencing the political process to advance the partisan objectives of Norway rather than studying objective conditions necessary for peace-making. For instance, a peace researcher from PRIO produced a report on Sri Lanka recommending that the Buddhist monks should be encouraged to support the Norwegian initiatives and accordingly Erik Solheim and allied local NGOs have begun to cultivate the Buddhist temples by pumping funds in the name of promoting Buddhism, hiding the political objective of winning them over to mouth their propaganda.
The latest diplomatic slap from Ethiopia has come as a shock to the Norwegians who had fancied themselves as respectable do-gooders in a troubled world.