THE EEBC DECISION TEN YEARS LATER AND ETHIOPIA'S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION:
Organization of Eritrean Americans LETTER TO BAN KI-MOON
By OEA
Your Excellency,
As Americans of Eritrean descent, once again, we would like to
express our profound regret that 10 years after the Eritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary Commission's (EEBC) final and binding ruling on the border,
the Eritrea-Ethiopia border remains physically undemarcated and
Ethiopia is still occupying sovereign Eritrean territories in
defiance of the EEBC's delimitation and demarcation decisions. Not
only is this a violation of the Dec. 12, 2000 Algiers Agreement,
which the UN was a guarantor, it also continues to be at the heart of
the threat to peace and security to the entire Horn of Africa region.
Mr. Secretary General
Going all the way to December 1950, Eritreans have been repeatedly
betrayed by the United Nations. It has to be remembered that out of
53 African nations that were former colonies of European powers,
Eritrea was the only country that was denied its right to
decolonization. Instead Eritreans were handed to the rule of a
backward neighbor supported by two superpowers and Eritreans had to
fight for 40 years to reverse that UN injustice. The same UN
miscarriage of justice continues unabated today. While the UN
promised the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia that it will be a
guarantor of the Algiers Agreement, yet the UN has remained
deafeningly silent in the face of Ethiopia's illegal occupation and
refusal to implement the EEBC's ruling.
To add insult to injury, the UN Security Council, at the behest of
the United States, had recklessly chosen to impose sanctions on
Eritrea using fabricated excuses and blatant lies about Somalia. It
is clear the aim of these sanctions is to weaken Eritrea in order to
perpetually prop up the minority regime ruling Ethiopia in the
ongoing conflict between the two nations. To this end the minority
regime in Ethiopia has been emboldened to attack Eritrea and to brag
about it. This is precisely because of these sanctions why Ethiopian
authorities had bragged to journalists after their March 15
incursions that they think "The Eritrean defense force is not in a
position to launch an attack against Ethiopia and were they try to do
so, the results would be disastrous." Unfortunately Ethiopia's
patrons at the Security Council are providing a cover for it. This is
a reckless act. We also call on the UN to lift the unjust sanctions
that it has imposed on Eritrea based on lies fabricated by Ethiopia
and its powerful allies in the Security Council. As the March
Ethiopian aggression shows, these sanctions are giving Ethiopia a
green light to make reckless incursions into Eritrea and to openly
brag about them. Eritrea must be lauded for choosing a path of peace
instead of retaliating in kind; however, Eritrea's patience should
not be tested. If Eritrea decides to return fire with fire, there
could be another cycle of bloodletting like the world witnessed
during the 1998-2000 war. Definitely this is not what the peace
loving members of the UN Security Council would like to see,
particularly when they have all the power to stop it. Thus, it is
time the sanctions against Eritrea, which to begin with were based on
blatant lies, are lifted and the UN sends Ethiopia a clear and strong
signal that its warmongering and destructive posture towards its
neighbors, be it Eritrea or Somalia, will not be tolerated.
Under the sponsorship of the UN Ethiopia and Eritrea signed the
Algiers Agreement in 2000; there was hope then that this was going to
usher a new era of peace and tranquility for the region. All of this
has been shattered due to the refusal of Ethiopia to abide by the
final and binding EEBC ruling and the UN Security Council doing
nothing about it. It is now ten years since the EEBC ruling and the
UNSC has yet to take any meaningful action against Ethiopia. It is
evident that Ethiopia's refusal to abide by the rule of law was
hatched and nurtured in large part due to the acquiescence, tacit
encouragement and passive neutrality of some key members of the
Security Council. This was true with the UK when it encouraged
Ethiopia not to take the Decision as final and binding but to say it
"accepts in principle" and then open up the decision. Here is how
Chris Mullin, Britain's minister for Africa put it in 2004: "We are
looking to Ethiopia to accept the border decision in principle end
enter into dialogue, ... We are calling on Ethiopia to accept in
principle the decision to be on equal footing on moral grounds with
Eritrea, who are now having the upper moral ground." The US position
was even worse; as Ambassador Bolton exposed it: former Assistant
Secretary for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer's call was for the
Security Council was "to reopen the 2002 EEBC decision, which she had
concluded was wrong, and award a major piece of disputed territory to
Ethiopia." The same is true now with the current US Ambassador to the
UN, Susan Rice, whose wish is also to bypass the final and binding
ruling of the EEBC. She is quoted by one of the cables from her
office advising "Ethiopia to forge a new border demarcation plan" and
"that a third party could offer some legitimacy to the demarcation
project." This reckless taking sides with Ethiopia is what is
encouraging Ethiopia to hold hostage the ruling. It must be stop. As
a guarantor of the 2000 Peace Agreement the U.N. has the legal
responsibility to bring a peaceful closure to the now decade and half
old border conflict.
Once again we urge the UN Security Council to shoulder its
responsibility in take Ethiopia to task for failing to live by its
treaty obligations. Its continued occupation of Eritrean territory is
a recipe for more war and destruction. We also call for the immediate
lifting of UN sanctions 1907 and 2023. They were based on unfounded
charges and are punishing the victim Eritrea while the main culprit,
Ethiopia, is getting its way by trying to destabilize all its
neighbors. Enough is enough.
Sincerely,
The Organization of Eritrean Americans
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Received on Fri Apr 13 2012 - 20:09:58 EDT
