** This is an INDIVIDUAL Eritrean's VIEW on how the OAU should be addressed. Should NOT to be confused with the official address. **

Ladies and Gentleman:

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to address the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as a private Eritrean citizen. It would be tractable and compliant with the OAU historical addresses to annunciate our unfounded achievements and profess non-existent accomplishments. However, I owe it to the African people in general and Eritreans in particular to be frank and reveal the facts as they are. I believe it is this lack of veracity and integrity of past and present members that has placed our Organization into this predicament. We can only rectify this Organization when we deliver the truth, confront existing impediments heads on, and provide constructive criticism whenever necessary. That is the only way to redeem ourselves from repeating the same problems over and over again, as we have witnessed in the history of our Organization.

In this spirit of constructive criticism, allow me to share my sentiments.

Although the history of the OAU is built with bricks of failures upon failures, I will limit my discussion to the examples of the current Ethio-Eritrean conflict. When the Ethio-Eritrean conflict erupted in May 1998, the United States and Rwanda brought a proposal to the two nations. The US-Rwandan proposal addressed the fundamental issues, however, lacked the details that have since proven to be necessary. Following this

proposal, the OAU provided its offices to mediate and resolve the conflict peacefully. Ignoring the sordid OAU track record on bringing a lasting peace, Eritrea opted to give the Organization a chance to reform itself and change its perception. As time will tell and as I will elaborate next, this was evidently a naove and miscalculated decision.

In its first deliberation, the OAU re-presented the same US-Rwandan proposal without the essential details. The Organization even repeated the warped request of unilateral withdrawal of Eritrea from its own territory. At this juncture, it was transparent to most Eritreans that the OAU was going to keep its perfect record of nil on its score of problem resolution. However, the Eritrean government decided to give the OAU the benefit of the doubt and continued to fully cooperate by showing utmost flexibility including the unilateral withdrawal from 'Badme and its environs' as a pre-condition to a cease-fire and implementation of the remaining OAU points.

After Eritrea formally and fully accepted the OAU proposal, Ethiopia came with other pre-conditions and its own interpretations of the proposal. The Eritreans have formal clarification, from the OAU, that state 'Badme and its environs' to mean "the area surrounding Badme Town." However, Ethiopia claimed 'Badme and its environs' to mean different. There was nothing vague about the meaning of the phrase "Badme and its Environs", because the OAU had already given a written clarification on the meaning of that phrase. All the OAU had to do was repeat the same clarification that was earlier given to Eritrea, to Ethiopia and insist on an instantaneous cease-fire and expeditious implementation of the remaining points.

However, it took many months and tens of thousands of innocent lives for the OAU to resolve this non-existent issue. Eritreans are still waiting for the answer to be given to Ethiopia, because Eritreans already have the answer. After months of anxiously waiting to get the OAU's response, Eritreans read with shock, a letter from the OAU Chairman to our president, requesting that we withdraw from, "all occupied Ethiopian territory". Eritreans will only say, "Shame on you Mr. Chairman and shame on you OAU". What else can be said on the decision by the OAU Chairman to claim Eritrean territory at best, disputed territory at worst to be "occupied Ethiopian territory". If it is already decided that it is an Ethiopian territory, what is the purpose of delimitation, demarcation or even mediation?

My fellow members let me ask the following questions:

1. If more than 60,000 of your citizens, relatives and friends, were expelled under the nose of OAU, and yet the OAU remained silent, would you still be members of this Organization?

2. If your country was forced to fight a war that was consistently initiated by another member country, and the OAU remained silent, would you still be members of this Organization?

3. If the capital city of your country and other areas, not even close to the disputed area, were bombed and the OAU said nothing, would you still be members of this Organization?

4. If your country's Ambassador was expelled and the Embassy raided in the same city were the Headquarters of the OAU resides, would you still be members of this Organization?

5. If more than 1500 of your citizens were arrested without any charge and the OAU remained silent would you still be members of this Organization?

6. If the chairman of the OAU requests that your country withdraw from its own territory, would you still be members of this organization?

7. If OAU is mediating a border conflict and its Chairman believes the disputed area belong to the other country, would you still allow the OAU to be the mediator?

The above are not a theoretical scenarios for Eritrea. Believe it or not, they actually happened and are still happening as we continue our meeting. As most people with clear conscience and integrity would, we Eritreans are ashamed to be members of such an Organization that allows such atrocities to happen in front of its eyes. We all have three choices:

1. To remain as members in this corrupt, bankrupt and semi-dead Organization

2. To over-haul it, and create an efficient, corruption-free Organization with a vision for peace and development of all Africans

3. To disengage ourselves from this unproductive and ineffective Organization

The first choice is not choice for us. We, Eritreans, can not in good conscience remain in an Organization that lacks vision, integrity and leadership. The Organization of African Unity is neither organized, nor African nor united.