Press Release
President Receives Security Council Delegation

President Isaias Afwerki today met the UN Security Council delegation that is visiting Eritrea and Ethiopia.

President Isaias expressed Eritrea's appreciation of the visit, which underlined the continued commitment of the international community to the peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia. President Isaias thanked the troop contributing countries and all those involved in ensuring the success of the UN mission. The President noted that, in spite of intermittent obstacles faced in the past, the UN mission has, by and large, been able to discharge its mandate. "I can only hope that whatever hurdles we may face in the future would be less complex, or at any rate, more manageable, and that we will soon enjoy the enduring peace that our people deeply cherish and deserve so much," the President added.

President Isaias emphasized that the peace process could have unraveled at several critical junctures. Fundamental tenets of the Agreements were never observed and at times willfully violated by Ethiopia.

The Temporary Security Zone, which is the cornerstone of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, could not be established due to Ethiopia's refusal, in contravention of Article 14 of the Agreement, to redeploy its troops, the President clarified. As a result, more than 60,000 Eritrean civilians remain to this day stranded in makeshift camps, unable to return to their homes and villages.

The President further noted that Article 8 of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement provides for prompt demining activities by both Parties "with a view to creating the conditions necessary for the deployment of the Peacekeeping Mission, the return of civilian administration and the return of population as well as the delimitation and demarcation of their common border." This vital treaty obligation, likewise, remains unfulfilled by Ethiopia, which for no plausible reason has still refused to provide UNMEE with detailed landmine information.

Similarly, the release of POWs and civilian detainees remains blocked by Ethiopia in contravention of Articles 1 and 2 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

To some extent, these violations have occurred because of UNMEE's and the international community's attitude of leniency towards Ethiopia, the President stressed. The unbalanced approach led, over time, to controversies that ought, under the Agreements, never to have arisen.

Whereas Article 11 of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement is unequivocal on Eritrea's right to deploy police and militia in areas of the TSZ to which internally displaced people are to return, the recent Security Council Resolution unfairly urges Eritrea not to exercise this right, apparently in order to placate Ethiopia. Eritrea has also been unfairly blamed for not accepting a substantially revised version of a Temporary Security Zone, President Isaias explained.

The President however noted that no useful purposes would be served by dwelling on the past. "The challenges of the future are totally different. The delimitation of the boundary, in accordance with colonial treaties, by the Boundary Commission in March will have resolved, in juridical terms, sovereign title of each country. The Boundary Commission's decision should set the tone for immediate de-escalation and concrete measures of confidence building. There will be not conceivable reason for either country to amass or maintain troops along the common border. UNMEE's presence itself will be phased out, probably progressively, in a matter of months, after the decision of the Boundary Commission. Both governments will thus need to take constructive steps to pave the way for meaningful coexistence, in the absence of a buffer zone and a UN peacekeeping force, on the basis of respect for one another's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the President explained.

President Isaias reassured the Security Council delegation that Eritrea has no hesitations on embarking along this road, and that it shall continue to cooperate with the Security Council to ensure the full success of the peace process.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 24 February 2002