Ethiopia's New Pretexts for Rejecting the OAU Framework

The Ethiopian regime has put forth new preconditions in order to reject the OAU Framework.

In this regard, the Ethiopian regime maintains in its statement of March 12: "... any demilitarization can take place when Eritrea:
i) withdraws immediately and unconditionally from all the Ethiopian territories it has been occupying since 6 May 1998;
ii) accept the reinstatement of Ethiopian civilian administration in these areas, and;
iii) bear full responsibility for the loss of lives, the humanitarian crisis and the destruction of property that has resulted from its unbridled aggression."

These outrageous allegations are not to be found anywhere in the OAU Framework Agreement, to which Ethiopia had earlier acknowledged its solemn acceptance. It is clear that Ethiopia is deliberately distorting the Framework Agreement and reading from a new script in order to torpedo the prospects of peace.

In order to set the record straight, the Government of Eritrea wishes to underline the following:
* In the first place, which Ethiopian territories are in question? How are these so-called Ethiopian territories being claimed? Because they fall under established Ethiopian boundaries or because Ethiopia claims them outside the established colonial boundaries?
* Can administration be conceived outside the context of sovereignty?
* Eritrea has never occupied or claimed any Ethiopian sovereign territory. It cannot therefore be asked to withdraw from territory it has not occupied or claimed.

It must also be borne in mind that Eritrea has consistently been asking the OAU to demand that Ethiopia make known the totality of its claims. Ethiopia has adamantly refused to do so in the past. Indeed, in the clarification that the OAU High-Level Delegation provided to Eritrea on January 26, 1999, they informed us that "Ethiopia has indicated that it will submit its claims when the issues of delimitation, demarcation and, if need be, arbitration are addressed." Hence, why the change of heart now?

The Ethiopian regime further maintains that Eritrea must bear full responsibility for the consequences of the war. This claim is too ludicrous to merit serious response.

Indeed, it is Ethiopia which has wantonly and callously violated Eritrean sovereignty, international law and covenants to which it is a signatory by:
* invading Eritrean territory in July 1997 and forcibly bring the Eritrean Baba region under its administration;
* issuing unilaterally a new map in October 1997 that redraws Eritrea's international boundaries;
* attacking Eritrean units in the Badme area on 6 May 1998 thereby triggering the current conflict;
* launching the first air attack on Eritrea's capital on June 5, 1998 and breaking during its offensives last month the moratorium on air strikes that the United Nations has called on both sides to respect;
* targeting civilians and economic installations in its air raids;
* employing over 200 mercenaries in direct fighting against Eritrea; and,
* cruelly deporting en masse and without due process of law over 53,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin while illegally detaining over 1,500 others in Blatten and other concentration camps.

Thus, it is Ethiopia which bears full responsibility for the war and its consequences.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 13 March 1999