ENOUGH OF WAR: The Eritrean and Ethiopian Peoples Deserve to Live in Peace Too!

In its October 29 issue, THE EAST AFRICAN newspaper of Kenya (Re. "US May Not be Able to Fulfil Albright's Latest Promises") reported that there were hopeful signs that the US was committed to the peace process between the warring neighboring countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia. The article reports that "The Clinton Adminstration may nonetheless be planning to send a Marine detachment to help police the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea once the two countries reach a peace agreement." I wish to God that this is indeed true, and that the end of this senseless war is in sight.

Alas, just last week the Ethiopian Government made allegations that Eritrea has launched military offensives against it. What was more alarming was that these allegations of war come right after the Ethiopian Prime Minister has assured the Organization of African Unity (OAU) special envoy, the Algerian Ahmed Ouyahia, and UN under secretary Louise Frechette, that the the Eritreo-Ethiopia border conflict would be resolved peacefully. Ethiopia's allegations of fresh fighting are then clearly meant to derail the peace process at a time when the OAU and the UN are making additional efforts to urge Ethiopia to accept the path of peace. It is to be remembered that the Ethiopan regime had also assured UN Special envoy, Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, that Ethiopia was all for peace right before they started their offensive last February 6. In fact, at that time the pretext was that Eritrean war planes had bombed Adi Grat, a small broder town in Tigrai region, the home of the TPLF, the ruling minority ellite in Ethiopia. Credible journalists had confirmed then that this phantom aerial bombardment never took place!

Eighteen months into this most stupid border war, Ethiopia has consistently shown itself to be intransigent in rejecting the path of peace and engaging in a senseless war against its tiny neighbor Eritrea. The Organization of African Unity has been involved from the start of the conflict in the mediation effort to bring about a peaceful resolution to this needless war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Now the OAU has come up with three documents that the whole world accepts as a fair means of ending this war. The OAU peace proposal is also supported by the UN, the United States and the European Union.

Eritrea has unequivocally accepted the OAU peace proposal. Sadly, Ethiopia continues to drag its feet and reject the OAU peace proposal. Lately, while the whole world is waiting eagerly for it to sign the peace deal, Ethiopia has been engaged in heavy war perpetration. Credible news sources as well as intelligence reports from the ground indicate that Ethiopia has been spending millions, if not billions, of dollars, including the hiring of North Korean missile expert mercenaries, as it gets ready to launch yet another offensive against Eritrea. It is estimated that so far in the war between the two countries 70,000 soldiers have died from both sides. Over 65,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin have been deported in Ethiopia's version of "ethnic cleansing." Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been internally displaced by the war in the border region in the two countries. In pursuing its futile war against Eritrea, Ethiopia is also destabilizing the entire Greater Horn of Africa region, including the spread of border skirmishes to neighboring Kenya and Somalia.

What makes Ethiopia's rejection of peace and heavy war preparation obscene is that it is taking place at a time when 7 million Ethiopians are facing the worst starvation in decades and nearly 3 million Ethiopians are infected from the AIDS virus. Ethiopia expects the international community to foot the bill of feeding and caring for its people while it squanders close to a million dollars a day from its meager resources on a senseless and futile war against Eritrea.

It is about time that the international community, and in particular the Organization of African Unity, the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan, say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH to Ethiopia, and start applying meaningful pressure to it in the form of withholding all foreign aid (except emergency food aid) as well as political and diplomatic censure for Ethiopia to cease all hostilities and accept the OAU peace proposal. Otherwise Ethiopia is going to continue to brazenly disregard all peace efforts and continue on its war path. And the consequences of a fresh war this time are going to be too horrendous as to make previous war causality figures seem small by comparison.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have been through 30 bloody years of war before, which ended in 1991 with the independence of Eritrea. The brutality and horrific loss of human life and the resulting destruction of the two countries from the previous war is still fresh in the memory of their peoples. War can never be a solution. This current senseless war between Eritrea and Ethiopia must stop before it is too late. Their long suffering peoples deserve to live in peace. Peace-loving people everywhere must help to end the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia and end the pain and misery that their people are suffering from.

In solidarity,

Elias Amare Gebrezgheir
zebhier_iertra@hotmail.com