Ethiopia: Strange Ways for "Setting the Record Straight"

The Addis Abeba regime has done it again. A statement entitled "Setting the Record Straight" which it issued yesterday, March 22, 1999, is replete, in typical fashion, with distortions and pure fabrications.

Consider the following Ethiopian allegations:

1. "Eritrea invaded Ethiopian territories in May and June of 1998." The real facts are:
* Ethiopia invaded the Bada region (Adi Murug) of Eritrea in July 1997 to dismantle by force the Eritrean administration. This prompted the Eritrean President to write a letter to Ethiopia's Prime Minister protesting the use of force to create facts on the ground. Eritrea subsequently suggested the formation of a Joint Border Commission at senior levels of both governments.
* Ethiopia published an illegal map in October 1997 incorporating large tracts of Eritrean territory in the Badme, Tsorona and Bada areas. This was an act of aggression in violation of international law.
* Ethiopia triggered the clashes that occurred in May when about sixty Ethiopian army troops completely encircled a group of ten Eritrean officers who were in the Badme area and opened fire. Four were killed and three wounded. This unprovoked attack led to spiraling clashes in the subsequent days, with both sides bringing reinforcements and a final showdown on 12 May 1998.
* Ethiopia declared war (through its Parliament) on May 13, 1998, to subsequently unleash military action against Eritrea on the Burie and Zalambessa areas in late May and early June.
Hence, it is Ethiopia which has violated international law to launch unprovoked attacks against Eritrea and to acquire by force territory of a sovereign neighboring State. That is why Eritrea insisted from the outset, and Ethiopia attempted to block unsuccessfully, on an investigation of all the incidents that led to the current crisis. This has now been incorporated in the OAU Framework Agreement as operative paragraph 7.

2. "The OAU Framework Agreement for peace requires Eritrea to withdraw its troops from all occupied Ethiopian territories." Again, this is a pure lie. Ethiopia is obviously reading from a new script. Otherwise, the relevant paragraphs in the Framework Agreement and the written clarifications provided to Eritrea by the High-Level Delegation on January 26, 1999, read:
* "Eritrean armed forces presently in Badme Town and its environs should be redeployed as a mark of goodwill and consideration for our continental organization; it being understood that this redeployment will not prejudge the final status of the areas concerned ...
* Environs refers to the areas surrounding Badme Town
* Eritrean redeployment from Badme Town and its environs should be immediately followed by the demilitarization of the entire border, through the redeployment of the forces of both parties along the entire border, to positions to be determined subsequently, as part of the implementation process of the Framework Agreement."

3. "Ethiopia has only selectively deported those Eritreans posing a threat to its national security; it has not indiscriminately deported Eritreans."

If Ethiopia can maintain that the inhuman deportation of over 54,000 ethnic Eritreans out of a total Eritrean community of 130,000 is selective and not indiscriminate, then obviously Ethiopia is not operating on the same wavelength with internationally accepted human rights conventions and norms. Moreover, deportations have not stopped (about 1,000 poor farmers long resident in Tigray were deported last week) although the tempo may have slowed down due to the resumption of hostilities. In any case, the UN Human Rights Commission, the OAU Ambassadorial Committee, Amnesty International and a host of other humanitarian organizations have found Ethiopia guilty of gross human rights violations and there is no point in pushing this issue further.

4. "Ethiopia has no interest in Eritrean land. If Ethiopia had wanted to encroach on Eritrea's territory, it would have never fully supported the 1993 referendum."

Eritrea won its independence through a difficult struggle of 30 years and by making precious sacrifices. All the same, the EPRDF had morally supported Eritrea's legitimate right to independence. This position was right then and will remain untarnished so long as Ethiopia does not have second thoughts. But to put things in proper perspective, one must also recall that the EPRDF was able to enter Addis Abeba and defeat Mengistu's army with the pivotal support of Eritrea's mechanized divisions which stayed long in the capital to help stabilize the new government.

5. Ethiopia talks a lot about "Eritrea's setback in Badme." Eritrea did not mince its words and it was the first to announce, on February 26th, to its public and the international community when it decided to withdraw after the Ethiopian army penetrated some of its positions at a very high human cost. In contrast, Ethiopia never disclosed to its people its huge losses in Badme which remains off limits to the local and international press. Moreover, Ethiopia continues to deny the devastating defeat that it has suffered on the Tsorona front last week, misinforming its people on the occurrence of the battles. The presence of 200 mercenaries who are serving as pilots and in the air defense units of the Ethiopian Air Force is sufficiently well documented to merit no further explanation.

Ethiopia's propaganda campaign in the past ten months has been anchored on two pillars: i) recourse to the distortion and fabrication of facts and events so long as these appeared to serve its purpose; and ii) attempts to render them credible through sheer repetition.

This unscrupulous strategy may have worked initially. But, as a seasoned diplomat based in Addis Abeba observed recently, "the official lies, which are becoming increasingly transparent with time, are an embarrassment to the diplomatic community and, in the long run, damaging to Ethiopia itself."

In the event, it is high time that the Ethiopian government heed these sentiments and get down to the real business of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict rather than embarrassing itself and its international audience through transparent lies.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 23 March 1999