Dear Readers:

Asmarino Independent  presents the English translation of the letter forwarded by Eritrean Embassy to the Foreign Minister of Eritrea concerning the DC Embassy ongoing conversation with Mr. Herman Cohen on how to manipulate perceived “difference” between the State Department and the office of the Presidency.
Beyond giving us an insight into the thinking and working process of the Eritrean regime as represented by its Embassy in Washington DC it offers us a window into the regimes strategy to induce a difference between US and EU and between the branches of the US government in a desperate maneuvering to remove the UNSC imposed sanctions.

As usual, the use and throw regime, has accessed Mr. Cohen to do their bidding. How long this relationship will last is anyone’s guess. But the connection is in line with the usual PFDJ subterfuge approach. The issue is not about the Eritrean regime’s approach but about the bewildering behavior of a seasoned diplomat going to bed with the most repugnant totalitarian in Africa.

Here are the critical questions that flow from this document:

• Is Mr. Cohen a legally registered lobbyist for the Eritrean regime?
• If so has he filled the legally required report with FARA?
• If not why was he allowed to meet with the State Department  Principal Deputy Assistant Security of State for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum and Nancy Cohen, Director of East Africa in order to influence the foreign policy of the USA through direct intervention on behalf of a foreign government?
• How often did he have a meeting with Ambassador Tietlbaum and Nancy Cohen?
• Was this an officially logged (registered)   State Department meeting?
• Did Mr. Cohen meet with other decision makers –in State Department, Pentagon, the Executive branch –Office of the Presidency and the Congress?
• Did he do this as an individual or as the President and CEO of Cohen and Woods International?

We in the Eritrean Diaspora have the duty of methodologically following up the detail facts about the intervention to illegally influence the US foreign policy on behalf of a brutal tyrant.  We must expose this machination.  The voice of the people of Eritrea suffering under the brutality of PFDJ regime has to be represented.

We ask you to help us circulate this translation widely. Please forward it to your local representative, newspapers, human right organizations etc.

We will keep you posted on any development pertinent to this issue.

 Below is the English translation of the original memo written in Tigrigna.