THE EEBC DECISION TEN YEARS LATER AND ETHIOPIA'S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION:
OPEN LETTER TO THE UNSC
By Simon Tesfamariam
April 13, 2012
Dear Members of the United Nations Security Council, It is with utter
dismay that I write to you today on the tenth anniversary of the
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) final and binding
decision that awarded Badme, the casus belli of the 1998-2000
Eritrean-Ethiopian border war, to Eritrea. To this day, Ethiopia
remains on sovereign Eritrean territory, in contravention of the UN
Charter and international law. In fact, adding insult to injury, the
Ethiopian regime openly called for and carried out armed incursions
into Eritrea just last month, from March 15th to 17th, 2012. Instead
of condemning the attacks the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon merely
"urged both sides to exercise 'maximum restraint' and 'respect each
other's territorial integrity'" (Aaron Maasho, Reuters 3/17/2012).
This begs the question: why does he focus on "both sides" when only
one has taken illegal action? Secondly, how much restraint is enough
restraint? Eritrea has waited patiently for a decade, marked by the
flagrant injustices of its southern neighbor.
What are these injustices, exactly? At first, there was the flat out
denial of the EEBC decision in 2002 by the minority regime in Addis
Ababa, the so-called Tigray People's Liberation Party (TPLF). Then
there was "acceptance, in principle" and calls for "dialogue" in 2003
despite the fact that the EEBC's decision was "final and binding" and
that the original Algiers Agreement "expressly precluded the
commission from deciding matters ex aequo et bono."
Soon after, there was the resettling of Ethiopians in Badme, in
violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions. Losing the support
of its own population, the regime then turned on its own people,
committing genocide in Ogaden, Oromia, and Gambella and murdering 193
of its citizens during the 2005 elections. In 2006, while openly
harboring the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, an internationally recognized
terrorist organization, the minority regime illegally invaded Somalia
in the name of fighting terrorism. It remains in Somalia to this day.
All the while, the Eritrea-Ethiopia issue persisted on account of the
TPLF regime's refusal to allow for demarcation with pillars on the
ground, which lead to "virtual demarcation" in 2007. In accordance
with the law, Eritrea accepted the demarcation; Ethiopia did not. In
April of 2011, the TPLF regime called for the overthrow of the
Eritrean government, once again, in violation of international law.
Facing such brazen disregard for justice, Eritrea not only avoided
reacting to this provocation but also extended an invitation to
peace. As expressed by Girma Asmerom, Eritrean ambassador to the
African Union, "'Eritrea is ready to normalize relations with
Ethiopia' if Ethiopia vacates its territory" (William Davison,
Bloomberg, 4/29/11). However, Ethiopia did not and has not vacated
Eritrean soil.
To make matters worse, your Council chose to push forward the illegal
Resolution 1907 two days before Christmas in 2009 on the grounds that
Eritrea was providing arms to al-Shabaab in Somalia. In contrast,
Dumusani Khumalo, the chair of the UN General Assembly's Special
Committee, released the Somalia Report in 2009 that showed that at
least 80% of the arms available in Somalia came from Ethiopia or the
UN-funded Ugandan and Burundian soldiers representing the African
Union Mission to Somalia. Furthermore, the diplomatic cable from
November 28, 2007 entitled "Ogaden; Counterinsurgency Operations
Hitting a Wall" was sent by Ambassador Donald Yamamoto to Washington,
D.C. and it revealed that "the role Eritrea plays in Somalia...is
probably insignificant." Not only does this evidence vindicate the
Eritrean position and absolve it of any wrongdoing, but it also goes
to show that the sanctions targeted the wrong nation. As a result of
the embargoes on Eritrea, the emboldened TPLF regime purchased 200
tanks from Ukraine for $100 million last summer, at the expense of
4.5 million Ethiopians needing food aid during one of the worst
droughts in recent history (Interfax-Ukraine, 6/9/2011).
In spite of all the counterevidence arguing against Resolution 1907,
Resolution 2023 was passed on December 5, 2011, expanding the
original sanctions on Eritrea. In the lead up to the resolution was
the baseless Kenyan claim that Eritrea continued to traffic arms to
al-Shabab. On January 16, 2012, however, Reuters reported that the UN
Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea found these claims to be
false. Matt Bryden, the coordinator of the Monitoring Group, added
that "'multiple credible reports' show no flights have taken place at
the time specified" (Peter Clottey, Bloomberg, 1/17/2012).
Regardless, the resolution passed. The Eritrean president, Isaias
Afewerki, sent multiple letters requesting to present his nation's
case months prior to the resolution's deliberation in November, 2011.
Susan Rice, US Ambassador to your Council, opposed this request on
the grounds that it would create a "spectacle" and, instead, rushed
the vote "into blue" to illicit a faster action against Eritrea
(Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press, 11/30/12). With the
Ambassadors of Russia and China saying otherwise, Ambassador Rice
reluctantly granted President Isaias a visa and he was allowed to
speak. However, he was given only four days' notice and his speech
was set for a few hours before deliberation, making a mockery of the
entire deliberating process. Is this justice?
Thus, Eritrea has done all that a righteous nation can do under such
unjust circumstances. As an Eritrean-American, I ask that you repeal
and annul the unjust sanctions set in place and expanded upon through
the adoption of UN Resolutions 1907 and 2023, respectively. I also
ask that you stop ignoring the flagrant and ongoing violations of
international law by Ethiopia at the expense of the people of the
Horn of Africa. I further ask that you consider adequate punitive
measures in response to the TPLF's illegal actions in order to deter
future hostilities. Lastly, I ask that you fulfill your duties as a
guarantor of the Algiers Agreement. I expect much more out of the
UNSC, the world's highest governing body.
Sincerely,
Simon Tesfamariam
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Received on Fri Apr 13 2012 - 19:17:59 EDT
