Eritrean President Vows ‘Patient Appraisal,’ No Hasty Reforms

(Bloomberg) -- Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki pledged to conduct a “patient appraisal” of the African nation’s “new political, economic and security situation,” as he ruled out hasty reforms after the end of a two-decade dispute with neighboring Ethiopia.

The two nations signed a peace accord in July, ending a stalemate following a 1998-2000 war that claimed as many as 100,000 lives and isolated the small Horn of Africa nation. Eritrea has since rebuilt relations with neighboring Djibouti and Somalia.

“Naturally, these are times of jubilation, lofty aspirations and euphoria,” Afwerki said, according to a transcript posted on the Ministry of Information’s website for the 28th Independence day celebrations on Friday. “We cannot make hasty and emotional conclusions before we collect adequate information, analyze these data comprehensively with patience so as to have a clear picture.”

Afwerki, 73, who has been in power since independence from Ethiopia in 1993, didn’t mention the possible release of detained opposition party members, journalists or religious prisoners. There are thousands of detained political prisoners in Eritrea, according to the Human Rights Watch.

The United Nations in November lifted sanctions placed on Eritrea in 2009 for backing armed groups including al-Shabaab in Somalia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Samuel Gebre in Abidjan at sgebre@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Cecile Gutscher

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