Ethiopia is at present occupying undisputed sovereign Eritrean territory in the western part of the country including the regional capital, Barentu. Ethiopia unleashed its invasion--which has so far resulted in the displacement of over 500,000 people--last Friday while peace efforts were underway by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the UN Security Council.

Ethiopia is now putting forth ludicrous arguments to justify its invasion.
Ethiopia claims that it was forced to go to war because "the peace process hit a brick wall due to Eritrea's intransigence." This allegation is not borne out by the facts. Impediments to the peace process were not put by Eritrea, which has accepted all the OAU peace documents in good faith, but by Ethiopia which rejected the implementation plan.

The fact is Ethiopia abused the peace process in order to buy time until it finished its military preparations. As it may be recalled, Ethiopia's Prime Minister openly stated last June that "the offensive will be launched at the appropriate time when preparations are complete; it will not be brought forward or delayed by a day." In pursuit of this agenda, Ethiopia resorted to dilatory tactics to frustrate the peace process until it felt that it was in a position to launch its military invasion.
Even if a peaceful solution were not possible, Ethiopia has no legal right to invade Eritrea to "regain" disputed border posts. But this is what Ethiopia is telling the international community! This is indeed what Ethiopia's Prime Minister insinuated yesterday when he told the BBC, "We do not share the opinion of some military experts who suggest that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. On the contrary, it may be that the indirect route is the shortest route."
Meles is in effect saying that it is justifiable and more expedient to invade and occupy an entire country to "regain" disputed territory along the common border.
Leaving aside the practicality of this military option and its grave consequences to regional peace and security, nobody can accept the repugnant logic that Ethiopia's Prime Minister advances to justify the naked invasion that his regime is perpetrating against a sovereign country.

Ethiopia's invasion is in contravention of the Charters of the UN and the OAU and violates UN Security Council Resolution 1298 which reaffirms, among other things, "the commitment of all member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Eritrea and Ethiopia." Accordingly, the international community must strongly condemn Ethiopia's invasion without equivocation.

Ethiopia is also trying to hide its agenda by arguing that it "had supported the referendum in 1993 and was the first country to recognize Eritrean independence." This is true as a historical fact. But it does not mean that Ethiopia may not suffer a relapse of its earlier malaise to entertain territorial ambitions against Eritrea. More importantly, if we are talking about historical facts, we must recall that it was Eritrea's major military part which helped the current regime gain power in Ethiopia at the time by defeating the Mengistu regime in Addis Ababa. At any rate, acts speak louder than words and Ethiopia's current acts betray a hidden political agenda that has nothing to do with a border dispute.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 19 May 2000