ABSTRACT
When Eritrea formally joined the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Cairo 1993, its newly elected president, Isaias Afworki, remarked at the summit, “indeed, the sad fact remains that the OAU has become a nominal organization that has failed to deliver on its pronounced objectives and commitments. In this regard, I must admit that we have sought membership in the organization not because we have been impressed by its achievement but, as a local proverb goes, in the spirit of familial obligation, because we are keenly aware that what is ours is ours.”2 This statement reflected a deliberate attempt on the Eritrean leader’s part to invoke family relations in order to show Eritrea’s kinship ties with other African states. On the other hand, the president was using the family metaphor to scold the OAU as a dysfunctional household, placing Eritrea as a new family member with a fresh vision — a family member convinced of its superiority and innocence. He invoked such an analogy, in part, to express Eritrea’s frustration with most OAU members who were not supportive of the Eritrean liberation movement during its over thirty years of bitter conflict with Ethiopia. Such a feeling of disappointment makes sense when one considers that the Eritrean case was never brought up as topic for discussion on the agenda of the OAU members.3 By making this statement, Afworki showed off his confidence as a newcomer to power, and as a man to contend with.
