[dehai-news] THE EEBC DECISION TEN YEARS LATER AND ETHIOPIA'S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION: Tenth Anniversary of EEBC Boundary Decision, Ten-Year Impotence of the UNSC
THE EEBC DECISION TEN YEARS LATER AND ETHIOPIA'S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION:
Tenth Anniversary of EEBC Boundary Decision, Ten-Year Impotence of
the UNSC
By Gebre Hiwet Tesfagiorgis
It is hard to believe that ten years have elapsed since the Eritrea
Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) rendered its decision on the
Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute. The Commission, comprised of five
jurists with impeccable credentials, rendered its delimitation
decision based on pertinent colonial treaties and applicable
international law as stipulated by the Algiers Agreement of December
2000, which was willingly entered into by the two countries. The
decision, resulting from a sound and cogent legal proceeding, is fair
and just, and should have been final and binding on the parties, as
stipulated by Agreement. The Commission's decision, as a legitimate
instrumentality of international law, emanating from a duly signed
Agreement, should also have carried the force of implementation. Yet,
ten years later, the decision is not implemented due to Ethiopia's
refusal to abide by the decision. And the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC), the international body whose mission is, maintaining
global peace and security has done nothing, manifesting its
impotence. The now virtually demarcated, yet not really settled,
border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia remains one of the core
issues primarily responsible for the perpetual lack of peace and
security in the Horn region of Africa. There can be no peace between
Eritrea and Ethiopia unless this border issue is resolved, and by
extension, no stability in the Horn region of Africa. The only
reasonable avenue for reconciliation and peace between Eritrea and
Ethiopia is the full implementation of the EEBC's delimitation
decision. At issue are the long-term peace and welfare of the peoples
of Eritrea and Ethiopia, and of the whole Horn of Africa. It will be
a tragedy if the UNSC, supposedly the enforcer and guardian of global
peace and security, sits on the sideline for another ten years
instead of playing an active role and taking appropriate actions to
see to it that the legal and sound EEBC delimitation decision gets
fully implemented.
Gebre Hiwet Tesfagiorgis, Ph.D., J.D.
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Received on Fri Apr 13 2012 - 19:52:57 EDT
