On Thursday a story appeared under this headline: “UAE-backed Egyptian forces arrive in Eritrea.”
This was how the story began, I reproduce the story in full at the end of this article.
Following coordination with the United Arab Emirates, Egyptian forces arrived in Eritrea today, Al Sharq has reported. The forces are armed with modern technology and heavy armoured vehicles. Sources told Al Sharq that a meeting was convened between the UAE, Egypt and the Sudanese opposition representing groups in Darfur and eastern Sudan. There are no reported military confrontations.
The military presence in Eritrea may be a response to Sudan allowing Turkey to take over Suakin Island in Sudan temporarily last year, as part of a broader Turkish engagement policy in Africa. Suakin was once Sudan’s largest port and governed by the Ottoman Empire but has fallen into disuse since the creation of Port Sudan in the 20th century just 60 kilometres to the north.
The suggestion that Egyptian forces had arrived in Eritrea, and were training Eritrean troops at their military academy at Sawa, carried by Al-Jazeera, was denied by the Eritrean government spokesman.
Since then I have been able to confirm that there are NO Egyptians at Sawa, nor any other foreign troops.
So who carried the allegation of an Egyptian presence in Eritrea come from?
The answer is MEMO or the Middle East Monitor.
Middle East Monitor
This is a London based news organisation, working out of a building called ‘Crown House’ on the North Circular Road.
An investigation by the Daily Telegraph indicated that Crown House (and another London building) are the European hub of the Muslim Brotherhood, with around 25 organisations operating from them. [Full article below]
As the paper reported:
“Other organisations at Crown House are Middle East Monitor (Memo), a news site which promotes a strongly pro-Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region.
Memo’s director, Daud Abdullah, is also a leader of the Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas. Memo’s “senior editor”, Ibrahim Hewitt, is chairman of Interpal, the Hamas and Brotherhood-linked charity.”
Muslim Brotherhood misinformation?
In a previous article I explored the complex links between the Muslim Brotherhood and the states of the region.
This has resulted in two competing camps.
On the one side are states that support the Muslim Brotherhood: Turkey, Sudan, Qatar and the Palestinian group, Hamas. On the other side is Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt.
Eritrea has clearly thrown its lot in with the second group, led by Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and the UAE have a base in the Eritrean port of Assab and have use of Asmara airport. There are also reports that Eritrean troops have been involved in the war against the Houthi in Yemen.
So is MEMO – and its Muslim Brotherhood backers – attempting to plant misinformation about Egyptian troops in Eritrea?
And to what end? Watch this space.
Article from MEMO in full
UAE-backed Egyptian forces arrive in Eritrea
January 4, 2018 at 3:08 pm
The military presence in Eritrea may be a response to Sudan allowing Turkey to take over Suakin Island in Sudan temporarily last year, as part of a broader Turkish engagement policy in Africa. Suakin was once Sudan’s largest port and governed by the Ottoman Empire but has fallen into disuse since the creation of Port Sudan in the 20th century just 60 kilometres to the north.
Al Sharq reported that, according to diplomatic sources, Turkey is planning to build a military base on Suakin Island. It opened a military base in Somalia last year, deploying 200 troops to train local Somali forces. Relations between Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Khartoum have been strained as a result of Turkey’s presence in Sudan.
An Egyptian military source denied that there were plans to establish a base in Eritrea back in May last year. Media reports in Sudan claimed that Egypt communicated with Somalia and Djibouti to establish a base for 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers.
Throughout 2017, Egypt was trying to put together an African lobby in a bid to defend its position on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam. Egyptian experts claim that the dam will harm Cairo’s access to 55.5 billion cubic metres of River Nile water. However, Ethiopia insists that the project will have a positive effect by assisting Egypt and Sudan with electricity generation.
The construction of the dam began in 2011. It is located 15 kilometres east of the Ethiopia-Sudan border and has been a major cause of political tension between Egypt and Ethiopia. The reservoir of the dam is expected to hold 70 billion cubic metres of water, which will help to solve Ethiopia’s own power shortages. Once in operation, the dam will be Africa’s largest hydro-electric power station.
Article from the Daily Telegraph in full
How the Muslim Brotherhood fits into a network of extremism
The Muslim Brotherhood’s objective is to replace secular democratic government with an Islamic caliphate under sharia law
The Government is preparing a major clampdown on organisations linked to the terror group Hamas after the long-awaited publication of its review into the Muslim Brotherhood.
The review, by the former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, has been delayed for months amid disputes about how strongly it should say the Brotherhood is linked to terrorism.
It is expected to say that the Brotherhood, a multifaceted organisation, is not itself a terrorist group and should not be banned, a verdict most analysts agree with.
However, the report will dismiss claims by the Brotherhood that there is “no evidence” of links between it and terrorism. “There are clear links and Jenkins will trigger further action against some Brotherhood and Hamas-linked groups,” said one official source. Many of the groups have already been squeezed by removing their bank accounts.
Only a summary of the Jenkins report will be published. However, a separate investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found a number of clear overlaps between the Brotherhood’s UK operations and those of organisations linked to Hamas, which is banned as a terrorist organisation throughout the Western world. In particular, it is striking how often they appear to share premises.
One person involved in counter-extremism said: “When you start forensically going through the names and locations, there’s no way the Brotherhood can keep up the denials.”
The Sunday Telegraph has established that the main hubs for the Brotherhood’s operations in Europe are Westgate House, a serviced office block at the Hangar Lane roundabout in Ealing, west London, and Crown House, about half a mile north of it on the North Circular Road.
The two buildings contain at least 25 organisations linked to the Brotherhood, or to Hamas. A third building very close by – Pinnacle House on Old Oak Common Lane – houses Interpal, another major charity which has had close links to the Brotherhood and Hamas. Interpal is banned by the US government as a terrorist organisation.
Crown House, above, and, below, Westgate House, both in London, are the Muslim Brotherhood’s main hubs in Europe
Interpal is allowed to operate in the UK after claiming it has broken its links with Hamas, a claim accepted by the Charity Commission.
However, its managing trustee, Essam Mustafa, was pictured just over a year ago accompanying the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on an official visit in Gaza. The two were later filmed clapping and singing together. Mr Mustafa is a former member of Hamas’s executive committee.
The organisations based at Westgate House include the Cordoba Foundation, described by David Cameron as a “political front for the Muslim Brotherhood” and run by Anas al-Tikriti, the key spokesman and lobbyist for the Brotherhood in Britain, though he claims not to be a member himself. The Cordoba Foundation’s office is on the seventh floor of the building.
Mr al-Tikriti states openly that “the Brotherhood supports Hamas. I believe that if you are occupied you need to fight back.” Mr al-Tikriti co-founded a group called the British Muslim Initiative with a senior commander in Hamas, Mohammed Sawalha, and a Hamas “special envoy,” Azzam Tamimi.
The seventh floor of Westgate House also houses the Muslim Charities Forum, an umbrella body for 10 British charities, at least six of which have funded Hamas organisations and most of which can also be linked to the Brotherhood.
The Muslim Charities Forum was stripped of £250,000 in Government grants in December in what the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, described as a decision to “cease funding any organisation that supports or is linked to individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence.” More than £100,000 of the grant has already been paid, however.
Six of the Muslim Charities Forum’s 10 members are or were members of the Union of Good, also known as the 101 Days Campaign. The Union of Good is designated by the US Treasury Department as a terrorist organisation created by the Hamas leadership “in order to facilitate the transfer of funds to Hamas”.
The Union of Good is chaired by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a key intellectual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who has twice turned down offers to become its political leader.
Mr Al-Qaradawi, who is banned from the UK, is a strong supporter of suicide bombings, describing Israeli civilians as legitimate targets. The Union of Good’s founder and general secretary was Essam Mustafa, the managing trustee of the British charity Interpal.
Members of the Muslim Charities Forum include Muslim Aid, which has admitted funding organisations run by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Islamic Help, which works closely with a Hamas front organisation in Gaza; Muslim Hands, which also funds Hamas front bodies; and Human Appeal International, accused by the FBI, CIA and in the leaked US diplomatic telegrams of funding Hamas and of other terrorist links.
The Cordoba Foundation’s Anas al-Tikriti
The Brotherhood’s objective is to replace secular democratic government with an Islamic caliphate under sharia law. Members swear an oath of allegiance declaring that “the Quran is our constitution” and “to die for the sake of God is our greatest objective”.
The Brotherhood’s leaders insist that it works democratically – albeit to secure the replacement of democracy – and says the British Government review is a form of “pandering” by Britain to Gulf dictatorships.
Hamas’s 1988 founding charter states that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine”, but the British government has tended to treat Hamas and the Brotherhood as unconnected.
The organisations based at Crown House comprise broadly the Brotherhood’s UK outreach wing. They include the Palestinian Return Centre, the Brotherhood campaign group with the closest links to mainstream politics.
The PRC last month met David Quarrey, director for the Middle East at the Foreign Office, according to its website, and was also present at the Labour Friends of Palestine annual dinner in November, addressed by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Many MPs have spoken at its events.
The PRC has close links to the Brotherhood, sharing directors with the Muslim Association of Britain, the Brotherhood’s main declared British affiliate.
However, it is also claimed by the Israeli government to be “Hamas’s organisational branch in Europe” whose members are “senior Hamas leaders who promote the movement’s agenda in Europe”.
The PRC denies these claims. However, it has regularly hosted Hamas leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, at its annual conferences.
Other organisations at Crown House are Middle East Monitor (Memo), a news site which promotes a strongly pro-Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region. Memo’s director, Daud Abdullah, is also a leader of the Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas.
Memo’s “senior editor”, Ibrahim Hewitt, is chairman of Interpal, the Hamas and Brotherhood-linked charity.
Another organisation at Crown House is the Emirates Centre for Human Rights (ECHR), also set up by Anas al-Tikriti. Its website was registered to his wife, Malath Shakir. Its founding director, Abdus Salam, is the husband of Mr al-Tikriti’s sister.
The ECHR has co-organised at least two meetings at the House of Commons with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights. The ECHR’s director, Anas Mekdad, has personally tweeted supporting recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. He is the founder of AlMakeen Network, a UK-based website which also publishes articles praising the Brotherhood, Hamas and suicide bombings.
Other extremist organisations based at Crown House, though not formally linked to the Brotherhood, include the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA), which sends extremist preachers around British universities and mosques.
Both Westgate House and Crown House have other tenants and there is no suggestion that all their tenants are Islamists or extremists.
I was a little surprised by the stark news that the Egyptian military garrison was stationed at Sawa. I was surprised because the Egyptians throughout 20th century tried to weaken Ethiopia using proxy forces, previously Somalis and now Eritrea. So, I was a bit skeptical of its authenticity. Now I understand it is “fake news” as the popular phrase goes. So the Ethiopians can continue their slumber for some time, since whether the Ethiopians like it or not, appreciate the danger or not, foreign forces are stationed at their doorstep. Saudi and UAE forces are in Assab. The pretext is that they are carrying out a war against the Houthi from Assab. Well, that may be true. But this strategy does not exclude that Ethiopia is on their radar screen as well. It makes little difference whether the Egyptians are stationed at Sawa or elsewhere in the neighborhood as long as the Arab forces are amenable to serve other Arab interests to the detriment of Ethiopian long-term national security interests.
How did Ethiopia get here? First and foremost one would observe the obsession of the Ethiopian leaders with economic development and willful neglect of other governmental responsibilities. This huge policy error led to the invasion of Ethiopia by Eritrean forces in May of 1998. Eth was caught flatfooted. As a result, thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans perished in these skirmishes. The Ethiopian leaders are committing another huge error by not taking care of these problems in time.
It takes two to tango. If you insist that you will not wage war on anyone in spite of the enemies continuous destabilizing measures is only postponing the inevitable.
That was the right comment. Ethiopian government seems to let Eritrea do what ever it wants (even kidnap Ethiopian)
The reason why Egyptian soldiers settled in Eritrea is not without potential reasons, despite of the fact Egyptians are not happy with the Renaissance dam which is being constructing by Ethiopia, they need reconnaissance at the front war area before war break away,,if Egypt have never had internal security problems,it would have stroke Ethiopia out of the blue,how ever Egypt looks like at the horns of dilemma and noncommital to react at once with its white elephant powerful troops,.Playing fake game in politics is not odd. intimidating and lying is the best policy in politics. president alsisi looks has magnitude pressure from his people to condemn the dam project as the Nile river is vital of life for Egyptians.the only thing they can use their power and energy to halt this dam not to continue by misleading Ethiopians and creating violence in side of the country by arming rebels and creating turmoil in cities and borders.this is their best bet.military options are dangerously precipitate chaos and worst condition in Egypt and Egyptian people.
Egypt and Ethiopia have a long history of mutual relationships; most of the time peaceful but dotted with war and deceit. Since its conversion to Christianity in the first half of the fourth century AD, Ethiopia received its bishops from Alexandria until 1955, when it broke its religious dependency with Egypt. During this long period of religious connection, the relationship was fraught with misunderstanding and conspiracy.
The Egyptians knew very little about what Ethiopia could do and could not do with the continuous flow of the Nile. For some reasons when the Ethiopian rain arrived late and therefore the floods arrived in Egypt late as well, they were motivated by a profound existential fear that Ethiopia was diverting the flow of the river with the intention to deny Egypt access to the waters of the Nile River and its lifeline. This phantasy was medieval thinking and soon Egypt realized that Ethiopia did not have the means to divert the flow of the Nile River. Soon Egypt devised an instrument, 19th-century style European colonialism, by which to control the territories to include sources of the river. Part of this scheme was to send Egyptian troops led by European and American generals and occupied Ethiopian territory. This led to the war of 1875 and 1876 against Ethiopia. Emperor Yohannes crushed Egyptian troops at Gundet and Gura and maintained Ethiopian territorial integrity. So Egyptian grandiose ambition was stillborn.
The Egyptian current activity in the area is part of its antecedent historical delusion. What is different at this point is the immediate existential threat the Egyptians are attributing to the construction of the hydro-electric dam Ethiopia is currently building. Ethiopia has in a number of ways attempted to reassure them that its actions must not be construed to constitute an adverse effect on Egyptian well-being.