ERITREA: ITALIAN OFFICIAL SLAMS SITUATION

Rome, 11 Jan. (AKI) - Italian foreign affairs undersecretary, Alfredo Mantica, has denounced the policies of the government of Eritrea, but says Italy will oppose moves to isolate the East African nation internationally. Mantica, in an interview published on Wednesday by the Catholic daily, Avvenire, said that Italy "cannot pretend not to see" what is happening in Eritrea, where the "choices made by the president, Isaias Afewerki, are impoverishing half of the country to below subsistence levels.""Objectively, since 1998, the situation [in Eritrea] has worsened from an institutional perspective, in human rights and democratic and religious freedoms," Mantica was quoted as saying."We are concerned that those subjected to [the Eritrean government's] choices, are the Eritrean people, but the government will pay the consequences," said the Rome official who in December met Afewerki.Besides its worsening internal situation, Eritrea is still locked in a territorial dispute with neighbouring Ethiopia, which in 1997 erupted into a bloody three year long war that killed tens of thousands of people on both sides. Tensions between Asmara and Addis Abeba have intensified in recent months, raising fears of a renewed outbreak of fighting. According to Manitica, Italy annually spends some 50 million euros in aid destined for development, agriculture, health and education in Eritrea, a former Italian colony."After the Palestinian territories, it is the largest amount of pro-capita aid that Italy delivers, our highest in Africa" said Mantica, explaining that the level of assistance had, despite Afewerki's poor track record, remained stable over recent years."We have tried to favour investment projects, but we haven't succeeded in kick-starting a single one," he said.While Mantica said that a "positive signal" came from neighbouring Sudan - where last year's peace agreement ending a decades long civil war in the country's south seems to be holding out - the tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia remained "dangerous".On Monday, the United States announced it was making a last-ditch attempt to end the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that a team of diplomats and military officers is being sent to the region with orders to spend 30 days bringing the two countries together.Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year fight. After the 1997-2000 war, the two countries agreed to accept the border drawn by an international commission, but Ethiopia has refused to withdraw from Badme, a town awarded to Eritrea.Late last year, Eritrea ordered UN peacekeepers to leave the buffer zone along the border