Members of the Eritrean Civil Society Organisations (ECSO) are holding a massive peaceful demonstration in Asmara today, Monday 22 May 2000. The main objectives of the demonstration are:

• To CONDEMN Ethiopia’s invasion of a sovereign UN member state;

• To PROTEST AGAINST the continued betrayal of Eritrea by the UN and the International Community;

• To DEMAND the UN Security Council to take collective security measures and immediate punitive action to safeguard Eritrean sovereignty and restore peace; And

• To summon the attention of the international community to the human-made catastrophe facing Eritrea as the consequence of the Ethiopian invasion.

The rally will start at 0800 from the vicinity of the Expo compound and will go through the major avenues of the city before it reaches September 1st Square. The marchers will deliver open letters of protest to missions of the UN, OAU, the EU and Diplomatic Missions in Eritrea.

Steering Committee
Eritrea Civil Society Organisations (ECSO)

In the early hours of 12 May 2000, an invading Ethiopian army crossed the border into Eritrea using human waves to occupy a large portion of undisputed sovereign territory. The invasion unleashed against Eritrea is clear evidence that the territorial integrity of a UN member state has been breached. It is, therefore, binding upon the United Nations Security Council to acknowledge that Ethiopia has invaded the sovereign state of Eritrea.

From the outset Eritrea was seriously engaged in addressing the problem through various diplomatic and political means. In the process Eritrea had:

• accepted all OAU documents for peaceful resolution of the conflict;
• accepted all mediation efforts by individual governments and regional institutions;
• willingly offered the use of its seaports for humanitarian purposes in support of emergency response to the looming catastrophe in Ethiopia; and
• had responded positively to the UN Security Council demands to cease hostilities and military engagements.

Eritrea’s sincere readiness to be engaged in the diplomatic process did not earn it its rightful treatment and recognition by the UN Security Council. Instead what it got in response from the UN Security Council and the international community is:

• excessive tolerance to Ethiopia’s war mongering;
• intolerable silence on the blatant Ethiopian invasion of a sovereign land; and
• limited and very slow emergency response to the humanitarian tragedy.

Despite Eritrea's continuous effort to inform and warn the international community that Ethiopia’s agenda went far deeper than a border conflict, it is still a complete mystery to us why the international community and most notably, the UN Security Council cannot act according to the hard facts.

The consequences of continued inaction by the UN Security Council and the international community to reverse the unjust Ethiopian invasion of Eritrea will definitely:

• deprive Eritrea its legitimate right to territorial integrity and
self-defence;
• create a situation for an irreversible humanitarian catastrophe;
• prolong the conflict and create regional instability; and
• encourage state lawlessness that will cost very dearly to undo.

Therefore, we members of the Eritrean Civil Society Organisations:

1. DEMAND that the UN Security Council take collective security measures to reverse the Ethiopian invasion and restore peace.
2. DEMAND that the international community rise in response to the humanitarian tragedy and help to avert the catastrophe facing Eritrea.

Monday, 22 May 2000 Asmara