INTRO:  ERITREA'S PRESIDENT SAYS HIS WAR WITH NEIGHBORING 
ETHIOPIA IS  NOT  ABOUT RIVAL BORDER CLAIMS, IT IS ABOUT CULTURE.
AS V-O-A EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT SCOTT STEARNS REPORTS, THESE 
FORMER ALLIES IN THE HORN OF AFRICA HAVE MADE THE WAR PERSONAL.

TEXT:  THE TWO MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS CONFLICT HAVE KNOWN EACH 
OTHER FOR YEARS.  ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAYAS AFEWORKI AND 
ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI GO BACK TO THE MID-1980'S 
WHEN THEY FOUGHT TOGETHER AGAINST ETHIOPIAN LEADER MENGISTU 
HAILLE MARIAM.

AT THE START OF THIS WAR LAST MAY, REGIONAL DIPLOMATS FELT THE 
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESIDENT ISAYAS AND PRIME MINISTER
MELES WOULD CALM ANY MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT RIVAL BORDER CLAIMS.
DAYS AFTER FIGHTING BEGAN, THE MEN SPOKE ON THE TELEPHONE.

BOTH SAY THEY TRIED TO CONVINCE THE OTHER THAT WHAT WAS GOING ON 
ALONG THE BORDER WAS A MISTAKE, THAT THE TWO SIDES SHOULD PULL 
BACK AND AVOID MORE FIGHTING.  BOTH NOW BLAME THE OTHER FOR 
REFUSING TO SEE REASON, EACH SAYING THEY ACTED TO PROTECT THEIR 
COUNTRY FROM FOREIGN INVASION.

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS HE AND PRESIDENT ISAYAS HAVE NEVER BEEN
THAT CLOSE, THAT THEIR PREVIOUS ALLIANCE WAS PURELY POLITICAL.

                     ///  MELES ACT ONE  ///

         WELL, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
         I HAD WITH ISAYAS WAS BASED ON  NOT  THINGS PERSONAL.  
         SO THE BASIS OF THAT FRIENDSHIP WAS ESSENTIALLY 
         POLITICAL.  IT'S  NOT  BECAUSE WE ARE GOOD NEIGHBORS. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

ONCE THEY SUCCEEDED IN TOPPLING THE MENGISTU GOVERNMENT, PRIME 
MINISTER MELES SAYS HE AND PRESIDENT ISAYAS PRETTY MUCH WENT 
THEIR OWN WAYS AS ERITREA DECLARED ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM THE REST
OF ETHIOPIA.

                     ///  MELES ACT TWO  ///

         THE PILLAR OF THAT RELATIONSHIP WAS THE RELATIONSHIP 
         BETWEEN TWO GOVERNMENTS AND TWO MOVEMENTS, AND WHEN THAT
         FALLS OUT, THERE ISN'T MUCH OF A PILLAR LEFT.

                        ///  END ACT  ///

BOTH SIDES HAVE CRANKED UP AN OFTEN-VICIOUS PROPAGANDA WAR, 
PERSONALLY ATTACKING EACH OTHER'S CHARACTER AND MOTIVES.  PRIME 
MINISTER MELES SAYS THE ACTIONS OF ERITREA'S GOVERNMENT ARE  NOT 
THE ACTIONS OF A SANE MAN.

PRESIDENT ISAYAS DESCRIBES THE PRIME MINISTER AS "TIMID," A MAN 
WHO, HE SAYS, SPENDS TOO MUCH TIME IN MEETINGS.  PRESIDENT ISAYAS
SAYS THE WAR IS A RESULT OF THE INFERIORITY THAT PRIME MINISTER 
MELES AND OTHER ETHNIC TIGRAYANS FEEL TOWARD PEOPLE WHO MIGHT 
CHALLENGE THEIR LEADERSHIP.

                    ///  ISAYAS ACT ONE  ///

         THE TIGRAYANS GENERALLY HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT THEY HAVE 
         BEEN DEHUMANIZED AND UNDERMINED OR NEGLECTED BY THIS 
         SPECIAL GROUP.  IT IS A VENDETTA.  IT IS A REVENGE THAT 
         THEY ARE DOING NOW. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS PRIME MINISTER MELES IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH 
THE MAJORITY OF ETHIOPIANS ON WHOM TIGRAYAN LEADERS ARE NOW 
IMPOSING THEIR OWN CULTURAL ANXIETY.

                    ///  ISAYAS ACT TWO  ///

         IT IS A CULTURAL PROBLEM. IT IS A PROBLEM OF THIS GROUP.
         THIS IS  NO  HIDDEN AGENDA.  THIS IS A SMALL GROUP THAT 
         HAS DEVELOPED ITS OWN POLITICAL CULTURE AND HAS 
         DEVELOPED ITS OWN WAYS OF DEALING WITH THINGS.  I SAY 
         THEY ARE SCHIZOPHRENIC.  THEY HAVE NEVER HAD ANY 
         COMMITMENT TO ETHIOPIA. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS THE WAR IS  NOT  ABOUT TIGRAYAN 
CHARACTER. IT IS ABOUT ERITREAN AGGRESSION.

                    ///  MELES ACT THREE  ///

         THERE IS  NO  CULTURAL THING ABOUT INVASION.  THERE ARE 
         RULES OF THE GAME THAT APPLY ACROSS ALL CULTURES. ON THE
         BORDER, THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN  CLAIMS AND COUNTER-CLAIMS
         . ALL WE SAID IS, YOU DON'T SHOOT YOUR WAY INTO  AN AREA
         THAT IS BEING ADMINISTERED BY ANOTHER PERSON.  IT HAS  
         NOTHING TO DO WITH CULTURE AS SUCH.  IT HAS EVERYTHING 
         TO DO WITH ACCEPTING THE NORMS OF CIVILIZED BEHAVIOR AS 
         ACCEPTED BY EVERYONE ELSE. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS HE IS SURPRISED THAT AFTER SUFFERING SO
LONG FOR INDEPENDENCE, PRESIDENT ISAYAS WOULD LEAD ERITREA INTO 
WAR TO SATISFY WHAT HE CALLS THE PRESIDENT'S MISGUIDED GRAB FOR 
REGIONAL POWER.

                    ///  MELES ACT FOUR  /// 

         I WAS VERY DISTURBED THAT A PEOPLE WHO HAD GONE THROUGH 
         THE SUFFERING OF WAR FOR 30 YEARS, WHO WERE CRAVING 
         PEACE, WHO LIKE US WERE VERY POOR, EXTREMELY POOR, VERY 
         LIMITED RESOURCES AVAILABLE, WOULD BE RISKING 
         SQUANDERING ALL THIS ON THE ALTAR OF GRANDEUR. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

THIS DEEPLY PERSONAL CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO MEN AND TWO NATIONS IS 
BECOMING ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST WARS.  THERE ARE MORE THAN 
300-THOUSAND TROOPS ALONG A ROCKY BORDER WITH SOVIET-ERA TANKS 
AND FIGHTER JETS.  MILITARY OBSERVERS ESTIMATE MORE THAN 
40-THOUSAND DEAD IN LESS THAN A YEAR.  (SIGNED)

NEB/SKS/JWH

20-Apr-99 8:37 AM EDT (1237 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America