From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Jun 15 2009 - 14:24:27 EDT
Statement By H.E. Mr. Estifanos Afeworki Haile, the Ambassador of the State
of Eritrea to the Republic of Japan in the Seoul High-Level Meeting on
Piracy off the Coast of Somalia hosted by the Republic of Korea with
Contribution of Japan in Cooperation with the IMO on 9-10 June 2009
By
Jun 15, 2009, 13:06
Honorable Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor and pleasure for me to attend this high level meeting
addressing piracy off the coast of Somalia hosted by the Republic of Korea
with the Contribution of Japan in Cooperation with IMO. Please accept my
sincere gratitude for the warm welcome extended to me by the Government of
the Republic of Korea and the organizers of this meeting.
Allow me take this opportunity to share with you my government's perspective
of piracy off the coast of Somalia through this brief intervention:
First: Somalia turned from a relative peace to a chaotic situation after the
country was invaded by Ethiopia in 2006. There were adverse legal, moral,
political, historical, humanitarian and economic consequences of this
invasion and its implication to the stability and prosperity of the region
is still great. I am confident that you all agree with me that this invasion
contravenes international law and created precedence to disorder in our
region. The results of this invasion were directly and clearly manifested in
the sea off Somalia coast which turned in 2007 and 2008 into a hot spot of
piracy as well as an epicenter of illegal fishing, trade, trafficking of
drugs, weapons, people... etc in no time. It involved many interest group
and actors both from the hinterlands of Asia, Africa and other places.
Second: The need to cooperate within the framework of the United Nations and
other international organizations like International Maritime Organization
(IMO) to promote economic, safe, efficient and sustainable international
shipping and bring law and order in the Gulf of Aden cannot be questioned.
It needs no further explanation since Eritrea has been and is an active
member of this organization.
Third: As you know, Eritrea is located in between the latitudes 12 degree
45'N and 18 degree 03'N, and the longitudes, 37 degree 35'E and 43 degree
07'E. It possesses a mainland coastline of more than 1350 km along the
south-western coast of the Red Sea. The Eritrean coastline stretches from
its northern border with Sudan at Ras Kesar to its southern border with
Djibouti at Ras Dumera. In addition, the Red Sea of Eritrea contains more
than 350 islands that form a shoreline of more than 1,950 km. The area of
the Eritrean landmass is estimated about 124,000 square km and its
territorial waters cover an area of about 55,000 square km. The continental
shelf (down to a depth of about 200m) extends from the coast to a maximum
distance of 120 km east of Massawa, narrowing to about 20 km in the north
and south of the country towards Bab-el-Mendeb. Therefore, Eritrea has a
responsibility as well as obligation to ensure the safety and security of
this maritime route because it is vital to its own peace, security and
prosperity as well as safe conduct of international shipping. Eritrea
further expresses once again in this important meeting its open-ended
readiness to work and engage constructively with all coastal states in the
neighborhood to the safe conduct of maritime trade in the Red Sea and
beyond.
Fourth: Eritrea is aware of the proactive military steps being taken by many
countries in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean to mope up pirates
starting 2008. Eritrea is also aware that security of this important sea
lane is judged as critical and of concern for industrialized countries
imports of crude oil and maritime traffic of more than 20,200 vessels per
year.
Fifth: The GoE calls and pleads to all stake holders gathered today in this
important meeting to explore ways and means of making a change and to join
minds, hands and bodies together to make genuine bilateral and multilateral
efforts to maintain and build stability and ensure prosperity in the region
by looking into the root cause of the problem created by the invasion of
Ethiopia to Somalia in 2006 which triggered this active business of piracy
and contributed to illegal trade, trafficking of drugs, human, arms etc
including and not excluding a mass displacement of the population from their
livelihood off/on/from/to the coast of Somalia.
Last but not least, I would like to assure honorable delegates in this
meeting that Eritrea has no interest of supporting one group in Somalia
against another because this is against its national policy of peace and
security. Eritrea supports indigenous "all Somalia - one Somalia" solution.
Eritrea supports all genuine efforts of peace building in the region on
similar basis. All people in the region deserve equal respect and
understanding. I repeat all people and not selected few individuals.
I thank you all for your understanding and look forward to your cooperation.
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