That's what this says:
There have been nearly 13 years of lockdown in Eritrea, a period in which the country routinely dubbed "Africa's North Korea" for its militarism and defiant isolationism has virtually disappeared from global headlines. Isaias's support for fundamentalist groups like Somalia's al-Shabab -- one of the reasons for eroding relations with Washington -- has led the United Nations to impose sanctions on the country. Nowadays, even physically accessing what was once an African gateway to the Middle East and Europe is a challenge: Lufthansa, the only Western airline that serviced Asmara, Eritrea's capital, ceased flying there in October 2013, and the European Union has banned Eritrean Airlines for safety reasons.
Today, there is a growing sense that a crisis point is approaching. "Eritrea's definitely going to blow," predicts Selam Kidane, an Eritrean democracy activist based in London. "Isaias can't carry on like this for much longer."
So this is bad?
This prospect makes Western policymakers exceedingly jittery. Gazing across the Red Sea at Yemen and Saudi Arabia, blocking Ethiopia's access to the sea, and bordered by Sudan and Djibouti, Eritrea occupies a prime site in geostrategic terms. With South Sudan in the throes of a new civil war and Somalia's president struggling to pull together a dysfunctional nation, the last thing the Horn of Africa needs is another unstable country.
On the contrary. The last thing we need is a stable ally of Iran in the area. With the Eritrean government forging links with Iran, the stability of the current regime is what should make Western policymakers jittery.
Remember, while Gulf oil exporting states attempt to bypass the Strait of Hormuz to avoid Iranian interdiction efforts, interdiction efforts in the Red Sea can nullify that safety net.
And Iran has the capacity to act in the Red Sea because of their ties to Eritrea.
