Preventing another disaster: Ethiopia must respect the rule of law

As a result of the above USA position, the Eritrean people endured 50 years of political nightmare, including 30 years of armed struggle against a type of colonialism (Ethiopian) of the worst kind. The final victory of the National Liberation Struggle led to a referendum and the establishment of an independent country under the State of Eritrea.   The new nation despite all its limitation embarked on a successful national reconstruction effort, worked for effective cooperation and promotion of regional integration soon after independence. The new hope of peace, stability and development in the region was, however, dashed in 1998 when Ethiopia on the pretext of a border dispute invaded Eritrea .

On 13 April 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) delivered its final and binding verdict delimiting the border of the two countries. Within hours, the Ethiopian Government boasted of its victory on the battlefield as well as the courts; and called on the international community to apply pressure on Eritrea to accept the verdict so that demarcation could start without delay.

Almost three years on, demarcation has not taken place. On 19 September 2003, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi wrote a stunning letter to UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Anan, rejecting the final and binding ruling passed by internationally renowned judges, 50% of whom ware selected by Meles himself. After finding out that the small village of Badme was awarded to Eritrea , he characterized the work of the Commission as "illegal, unjust and irresponsible."  There lies the root cause of the Ethio-Eritrean conflict and other intractable myriad of problems in the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian leaders mentality of expansionism; a destructive mind with little respect for human dignity or life; a mentality that prioritizes the acquisition of arms to that of food; and now trying to be above the law and get away with it by hiding behind the cloak of 'dialogue' to change a final and binding border ruling delivered by an International Court.

  Phase of harassment and expulsion: 1992-1997:

By 24 May 1991 , the Eritrean people of 4 million achieved their objective of driving out of the country the occupying forces of Ethiopia . Independence was confirmed when 99.98% of Eritreans voted YES in a referendum held in April 1993 under the supervision of the UN.

The Ethiopians, however, would not rest. In 1992-93 , Tigrayan authorities in Northern Ethiopia (the constituency of the minority group holding power in Ethiopia ) started a series of "unilateral demarcations" inside Eritrean territory. Eritrean farmers in the area were penalized and their property confiscated for "illegal entry". The systematic harassment, destruction of property and expulsion of Eritrean farmers continued for several years and by 1997 the newly acquired land in the Badme (West) area and Adi Murug in the East were put under Ethiopian military control.

Several joint high-level meetings ended up in failure as the Ethiopian side insisted that the purpose of such meetings was for the Eritrean side to accept the line as demarcated by the Tigrayans. Eritrea's President Isaias Afeworki sent two hand written letters to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia on 16 and 25 August 1997, expressing his concern over the disputes in the border areas and urged him "to personally take prudent action so that the measure taken by Ethiopia will not trigger unnecessary conflict", but to no avail.

New Map of Tigray Region : The 17 October 1997 issue of "Weyin" magazine printed the new map of the Tigrai Kelil (Region), which was much more enlarged with the inclusion of large expanses of land carved out of Eritrea and two Ethiopian provinces (Begemider and Wollo). The new map was printed by the Ethiopian Mapping Authority and also appeared in the new Ethiopian currency. Despite Eritrea 's efforts to contain and resolve the problem, Ethiopia continued to bring under its occupation the Eritrean territories that it had incorporated into its map. The old colonial borders of Eritrea had been changed through 'unilateral demarcation' by the expansionist actions of the Tigrai authorities. All the elements of a border conflict were, thus, put in place.

Hostilities break out : The situation deteriorated when on 6 May 1998 , the eve of the meeting of the Joint Border Commission, Ethiopian troops fired on an Eritrean platoon on routine duty along the border around Badme. Several of its members were killed. This triggered off a chain reaction. To cover its expansionist agenda and invasion, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of aggression in Badme and demanded a pull back. Eritrea insisted that it had not crossed into Ethiopian territory and came up with a three-point policy which highlighted the importance of resorting to peace and legal means only and the demilitarization of the border areas.

Ethiopia declares war on Eritrea : On 13 May 1998, Ethiopia declared all out war on Eritrea . The Ethiopian Parliament and officials told the world that the area of conflict was Badme (West), but its actions were much wider than that. Huge military offensive were initiated on several fronts: at Zalambessa (Centre), the Assab border (East) and elsewhere along the 1000 km boundary.

The Ethiopian government immediately launched a virulent hate-campaign against Eritrea and Eritreans. It boycotted the use of Assab and Massawa port facilities and cancelled Airlines flights to Eritrea and severed postal and telecommunication connections between the two countries. It bombed Asmara , the capital, on June 5. Worst of all, more than 90,000 Eritreans from Ethiopia were expelled during the war.

It was clear that the Ethiopian government had a hidden agenda - to reverse the gains made by the Eritreans in all areas of development in the short period after independence. They had also declared their intention to occupy the port of Assab and enter Asmara to effect regime change on or before the Eritrean Independence Day of 24 May 2000. After three large scale offensives, the Ethiopian war machine ran out of steam and came to a grinding halt by mid-June 2000. A cessation of hostilities agreement was brokered on 18 June, followed by a comprehensive peace agreement on 12 December 2000, in Algiers . The UN, AU, EU, Algeria and the USA signed as guarantors of the Peace Agreement. The parties agreed the decision to be final and binding.

The Eritrea/Ethiopia Boundary Commission : On the basis of the Algiers Peace Agreement, EEBC was mandated by the two governments to delimit and demarcate the boundary, based on the pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902, and 1908) and applicable international law. In its delimitation decision of 13 April 2002 the EEBC has legally settled the issue of territorial sovereignty and gave a ruling for the definitive resolution of the conflict. However, having initially declared its acceptance of the EEBC's decision, Ethiopia started creating obstacles to the process of demarcation until it formally rejected it on 19 September 2003 (PM Zenawi's letter to the UN).

The entire world, except PM Zenawi and his government, agrees that the only way for sustainable peace is for Ethiopia to comply with its treaty obligations and cooperate with the EEBC for expeditious demarcation of the border. But today, just as in May 1998, Badme remains a mere pretext. Today, just as in 1950, the UN, in general and the USA , in particular are saying that " from the point of justice, Badme belongs to Eritrea , but since our allay Ethiopia has rejected it, Eritrea has to 'dialogue' with Ethiopia through the Special Envoy and concede that Badme belongs to Ethiopia ."

Justice must prevail and another disaster in the Horn of Africa must be prevented. The international community has to act swiftly and decisively to save the peace process and ensure regional peace and security by persuading and/or forcing Ethiopia to reverse its position, accept the rule of law and comply with UN Security Council resolutions. It must be noted that the border demarcation as the final stage of the peace process is meant to lay the foundation for the normalization of relation and promotion of confidence building measure between the two countries.

PS: Comments and Contributions are welcome