Ethiopia should militarily oust Eritrean President: Ex-army chief says

Lt. Gen. Tsadkan Gebretensay

ESAT News (June 5, 2017)

A former Ethiopian chief of staff says the regime in Addis Ababa should utilize all means necessary, including military force, to depose Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki.

Lt. Gen. Tsadkan Gebretensay made the sabre-rattling remark in an interview with Addis Zemen, the daily state-run Amharic daily, in which he also said the Ethiopian regime should play a key role in “isolating Isaias from his people.”

It is not the first time that Ethiopian regime officials, including the Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, as well as retired generals, have made war rhetoric threatening to invade Eritrea. Nonetheless, Eritrean officials have been brushing-off repeated war mongering by their former comrades in arms.

Gebretensay said Eritrea’s economy has been boosted up by its economic and military ties with Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The former chief of staff said this has pumped up Eritrea and the country has remained a threat to Ethiopia.

He said relations between the two countries would not change for the better as long as Isaias Afeworki is in power.

There has so far been no official reaction from Eritrea.