1. President Isaias Afwerki has affirmed to the OAU mission visiting
Asmara that Eritrea "remains firmly committed to a peaceful solution" and that it will "cooperate fully" with the OAU's peace efforts. The President urged the OAU to "focus on fundamental issues" as Ethiopia has been resorting to "diversionary and obstructionist practices." He stated that since the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia was a border conflict a lasting solution lay in the demarcation of borders and the resort to arbitration in case there was any controversy. President Isaias also reiterated Eritrea's call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the start of direct talks.
The OAU mission later met with a delegation of the Eritrean Government which formally presented Eritrea's position paper to the mission. The OAU mission arrived in Asmara on Tuesday and is scheduled to stay until Friday.
2. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Mary
Robinson, has expressed deep concern over Ethiopia's "serious violations of the rights and freedoms" of Eritrean nationals living in Ethiopia.
"I am deeply concerned by the violation of human rights of Eritrean nationals being expelled from Ethiopia, and particularly by the fact that their passports are being stamped 'expelled, never to return'," Robinson said in a statement issued Wednesday. She added that others who have been trying to leave have had their identity cards confiscated.
"These are serious violations of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Ethiopia is a party," she said.
The High Commissioner called upon "the government of Ethiopia to respect the rights of non-discrimination and freedom of movement, and to meet its obligations under the international covenants and other human rights treaties it has ratified."
Ethiopia has to date expelled over 6,000 Eritreans from the country. Of these, 1,500 professionals and business people, who were forced to leave their families, have arrived in Asmara. The rest, almost all farmers and their families are being resettled in western Eritrea. Ethiopia has also arrested over 1,000 Eritreans, including 85 university students who were in Ethiopia on an exchange program between the two countries. Thousands of other Eritreans have been fired from their jobs.
3. The Ethiopian government continues to beat its war drums despite
calls from the international community for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities. This was one of the central messages of the UN Security Council Resolution 1177(1998) passed on Friday, June 26, 1998, which "condemned the use of force" and demanded
"that both parties immediately cease hostilities and refrain from further use of force." The Council further called upon both parties "to avoid any steps which would aggravate tension, such as provocative actions or statements, and to take steps to build confidence between them, including guaranteeing the rights and safety of each others nationals."
Contrary to the spirit and tone of these recommendations, the Ethiopian government is now claiming, especially through its domestic mass media, that the Security Council resolution allows it "to use force to retake its occupied territory."
The Ethiopian government has used force to create facts on the ground on several occasions in the past year, including the occupation of Adi Murug in Bada, and incursions in the Badme area in July last year and the attacks that it launched against Eritrean units on May 6 this year that triggered the current conflict. But what it wants now is international legitimacy for the war of aggression that it is planning. But this is not forthcoming and the Security Council resolution does not contain ambiguous clauses that Ethiopia can misinterpret or misuse to promote its objectives of war.