Article 9 (a) (2.1) [of the Technical Arrangements] provides for the prohibition of deportation from the areas where civilian administration has been restored. How does this square with the sovereign right of a state?"

These are Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's words. The OAU Technical Arrangements clearly prohibits deportations, however, the Prime Minister on behalf of his government is asking, "how does this square with our sovereign right to deport people for not liking the color of their eyes?" Yes it is as shocking as it sounds. The world is hoping to make peace and Ethiopian leaders are hoping to continue their human right abuses.

Here is Article 8 of the Framework Agreement. Ethiopia had "accepted" it without "Ifs and Buts" as early as November 1998.

8(a) At the humanitarian level, the two Parties commit themselves t to put an end to measures directed against the civilian population and refrain from any action which can cause further hardship and suffering to each other's nationals";

Under this proposal deportation is out of the question. It is a measure directed against civilians that causes "hardship and suffering". Didn't Ethiopian leaders know what they were accepting prohibited deportations? May be not. Well the Technical Arrangements leaves no room for ambiguity. Along the letter and spirit of the Framework it both explicitly and implicitly declares that neither Eritrea nor Ethiopia should harass, mistreat, detain or deport civilians.

The question that needs an answer is: are Ethiopian leaders ready to end "measures directed against the civilian population"? Is the minority TPLF regime willing to "refrain from [taking] any action which can cause further hardship and suffering" against civilians? Can the Tigrayan leaders of Ethiopia live by the commitment that is being asked of the peace process? Can they? No, Eritreans do not think so; but let's see:

If the civilian population is to feel safe and secure, then "displacement and deportation" should stop. This is what Article 9 (a2.1 & a.2.2) of the OAU Technical Arrangements specifically requires. A country that doesn't have an official policy of "expulsion", "deportation", "displacement" or "ethnic cleansing" should see no problem with either the spelling or the grammar of this basic human rights requirement, unless we are talking about Ethiopia.

The Technical Arrangements also want both Parties to commit to the facilitation of "human rights monitoring". Again there should be no reason for concern on this requirement. A Party that is confident of its human rights record and is certain that it hasn't done any thing wrong shouldn't worry if international human rights organizations come to investigate government policies and acts, unless we are talking about the TPLF.

Apparently both the prohibition of deportations and the deployment of human rights monitors are scaring the hell out of Ethiopian leaders. It seems the specifications of Article 9 are not sitting well with the Woyanes either. To make sure they have read it right they asked the OAU to clarify this prohibition. Here are Woyane's own words:

Article 9 (a) (2.1) provides for the prohibition of deportation from the areas where civilian administration has been restored. How does this square with the sovereign right of a state to take measures to remove any national security threat to the nation?"

One issue is clear; Ethiopia is obsessed with this "sovereign right" of the disputed territories. The Framework, Modalities, and Technical Arrangements had made it clear that no body will have "sovereign right" to the disputed territories before demarcation. Yet, the TPLF leaders have to mention it again and again. The TPLF leaders are interested in this phrase for two reasons. First if they get any loophole in the clarification on this phrase they will come back and ask for a new delimitation based on their illegal map of 1997. Their wish after that is to go straight to a demarcation that makes the disputed territories their own. Second reason is that if they can establish "sovereignty" over the disputed territory then they will surely deport Eritreans from the area. On this regard we have to know that people that are displaced from both sides of the international boundary around Badme are of Eritrean origin. They are farmers that moved there in the past 20-30 years.

Why are they interested in deportation at a time when people are taking about peace? It appears that either our Ethiopian neighbors do not understand the meaning of the peace proposal they accepted in November, or they simply don't want to make peace. Of course every Eritrean's guess is the latter.

I don't think they will be happy with human rights monitoring either. We have to remember that they condemned UN High Commissioner for Human rights, Mary Robinson, for her statement against their deportation of Ethiopians of Eritrean heritage. They had attacked the US State department because it spoke against their expulsions. They had also gone out of their way to denounce Amnesty International for its damning report on their acts and policies. Will they now allow human rights monitors to investigate all their actions? It is highly unlikely.

The Ethiopian leaders' audacity to ask for "a right to deport more people" reminds us of the Tigrigna saying "anen HaSiruni ebl nsuKe tedebiru yisEsE". This is indeed outrageous. It is a sign that Seyoum and Co. are not willing to make peace with the Eritrean people. How else can we understand their fresh desire to deport more people for "security reasons" from areas they might administer for less than six months? To be more exact, if demarcation goes smooth, they will be administering some of the disputed area less than 121 days. It is their hateful and evil mind that is making them look for a green light to deport more nuns, newborn babies, and elderly. All of course will be deported as "security risks". There is another catch to this calculation. If the OAU now says yes "you can deport", then they will use it to argue that all their previous illegal expulsions were also "just" and thus do not have to pay for their illegal act. As far as I am concerned it is better to trust the Devil than the Woyane.

Restitutions for the Deported

Here is the second part of Article 8 of the Framework for Agreement:

"8 (b) the two Parties also commit themselves to addressing the negative socio-economic impact of the crisis on the civilian population, particularly, those persons who had been deported;"

Is the minority government of Ethiopia ready to address "the negative socio-economic impact of the crisis on the civilian population, particularly, those persons who had been deported"? In other words, is the TPLF led government of Ethiopia ready to compensate all those who were expelled for no other reason but their national origin? Is the Tigrayan Administration ready to allow all the farmers it expelled from Badma since 1992 to return to their land? Is the Prime Minister of Ethiopia ready to pay restitution to all those innocent Ethiopians he expelled for not liking "the color of their eyes"? According to the Framework Agreement and Technical Arrangements all deportees, be they farmers or urban dwellers, have to be compensated for every dime and cent of what they have lost. Will Ethiopia sign the peace deal on the table knowing all these consequences? We have to wait and see.

As early as December, when it asked the OAU for clarifications, Eritrea had specifically asked the OAU on the issue of redressing the human rights violations. Here is one of the questions:

"What will be the role of the OAU in ensuring that these violations [deportations] are redressed?"

The answer it got from the OAU was:

"The OAU, with the cooperation of both parties and with the assistance of the United Nations and other relevant institutions, will help the parties to address all aspects of the dispute, including the humanitarian problems generated by the dispute."

The mechanism of this answer is now spelled out in the Technical Arrangements.

14. Consistent with paragraphs 8(a), 8(b) and 10 of the Framework Agreement, the Parties commit themselves to addressing all humanitarian concerns resulting from the conflict, particularly the issues of those persons who have been deported or displaced, as well as the socio-economic consequences of the dispute.

"For their part, and in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Framework Agreement, the OAU and the United Nations, working closely with the International Community, will endeavour to mobilize resources to assist in addressing such concerns.

"The Parties agree to refer any specific claim on such issues to an appropriate mechanism of arbitration for binding resolution, should efforts to negotiated settlement or mediation not succeed.

If the Parties are unable to agree on the appropriate mechanism of arbitration within a period of three months starting from the signing, the UN Secretary General, in consultation with the OAU Secretary General, will determine the appropriate mechanism of arbitration."

These are the steps of the mechanism envisioned to address the humanitarian issues. As clarified to Ethiopia, these Technical Arrangements are not subject to any amendment. This notwithstanding, Ethiopia had asked the following question for clarification on Article 14.

Article 14 of the Technical Arrangements envisage arbitration on humanitarian issues and issues concerning the socio-economic consequences of the dispute if the Parties fail to settle it through bilateral negotiations or mediation. Will individuals have direct access to the arbitration mechanism or will their cases be espoused by their respective government? Will the mechanism have the mandate to handle and decide cases concerning:

• Ethiopian property taken by the Eritrean Government at the ports if Assab and Massawa,
• destruction of public infrastructures like schools, clinics, public administration buildings, religious and cultural objects and private property of all kinds in the areas occupied by Eritrea since 6 May 1998,
• disappearances and killings of civilians in the occupied territories of Ethiopia etc."

The second question shows that Ethiopia is trying to reintroduce its March 1999 condition through a back-door manipulation. After Ethiopia retook Badma and before its humiliating defeat at Egri Makel, it had tried to up the ante for a peace deal with Eritrea. Through a letter to the UN Security Council and on its public declarations it had tabled the following pre-conditions:

"Furthermore, in light of the huge loss of lives, the humanitarian crisis and the destruction of property caused by the Eritrean aggression, Ethiopia will insist, as it already has done in a letter by its Prime Minister to the President of the Security Council on 8 March 1999, that Eritrea bears full responsibility for all these damages. This is the road to peace and to the successful implementation of the Framework Agreement."
-- Office of Government Spokesperson March 10, 1999

"If Eritrea is genuinely willing to accept the OAU Framework Agreement and settle the conflict peacefully, it must: ... bear full responsibility for the loss of lives, the humanitarian crisis and the destruction of property that has resulted from its unbridled aggression."
-- Office of Government Spokesperson March 12, 1999

This was designed to run away from responsibility. Of course this was before Egri Makel. It was at a time when the world thought Ethiopia got Badma by defeating Eritrea. It was before the world got a chance to witness the real story. The human wave attack that made Eritrea to leave Badma was used to clear a path to Asmara. Reporters had witnessed a carnage whose equal had never been seen before. Ethiopia had violated the human rights of Ethiopia's poor soldiers, non-Tigrigna speaking Ethiopians. Tens of thousands of peasant soldiers were forced to be human-mine-sweepers and cannon fodder and their sacrifice was dismissed as "Eritrea's PR ploy". We are talking here of a minority government that doesn't the decency to mourn its own soldiers. The world had condemned this as an awful human right abuse. We had read none of these conditions since Ethiopia's disastrous loss at the Tserona front. Well what do we know? We are seeing those same preconditions trying to sneak in the pretext of questions for clarification. The OAU's clarification is as clear as it could be. What Article 8(b) of the Framework Agreements allows is in, what it doesn't is, out. Here are the words:

"Without prejudice at this stage to the issues that can be raised by any Party, it is important to specify that: The scope for this is set out in most general terms under paragraph 8-b of the Framework Agreement and under paragraph 14 of the Technical Arrangements"

In short will Ethiopia use these and other excuses to run away from a peace deal that the world is desperately looking to arrange? We have to wait and see.

One thing has to be clear. If the peace agreement were going to be implemented, no action that causes hardship and suffering should be allowed. Would the TPLF leaders live with such a condition? Investigations on human rights abuses ought to be conducted, and the guilty Party has to pay for its actions. Would the Woyane be willing to face justice?

In the past few years, as the minority TPLF government of Ethiopia was embarking and orchestrating its shameful campaign of "ethnic cleansing", it had forgotten one reality: that a day of reckoning will come. TPLF leaders should have paused to consider that their evil policies of hate, acts of expulsions and robbery would be brought to justice. They cannot and should not get away with murder. They have to pay for the 60 or so villages they dismantled along the border. In addition they have to compensate the more than 65,0000 Ethiopians of Eritrean origin they arbitrarily expelled. To use their favorite label on them, they cannot be allowed to use the "law of the jungle". After all these are not "ktra Dedebit" (the banditry of Dedebit, the base during their armed struggle). Each and every human right abuse they orchestrated on people of Eritrean origin should be and will have to be investigated thoroughly and redressed appropriately.

The TPLF's despicable human rights abuses have to be addressed and justice should be served. The minority government of Ethiopia should be forced to refrain from arbitrarily expelling Ethiopian citizens. The minority government in Finfinie (Addis Ababa) shouldn't be allowed to terrorize people because of their ethnic origin or their physical characteristics.

The world shouldn't allow civilian internees to suffer in Ethiopia's concentration camps like those in Blatien and Dedesa. This means the more than 1500 civilian detainees should be released immediately. Ethiopians of Eritrean origin should live and work without the risk of being ill-treated for their national origin and those responsible for the ill-treatment and deportations should be brought to justice.

The Eritrean people and government should continue to uphold the protection the Eritrean National Assembly gave Ethiopians in Eritrea. These people should be free to live and work in Eritrea. They should also continue to leave Eritrea if that is their wish. Eritrea and Eritreans should continue our exemplary behavior of not wanting to revenge.

For now we are glad that Ethiopia got no permission to continue deportations.