Press Release
Eritrea Rejects Any Tampering with the OAU Framework Agreement

Ethiopia has yesterday published the private letters that the OAU Chairman sent to the Eritrean President on May 11 and May 20 respectively. How Ethiopia obtained copies of these private letters remains a mystery. The fact is that Ethiopia appears to have an inside track to the workings and documents of the High Level Delegation. Indeed, this is not the first time; Ethiopia also received the full report of the OAU Ambassadorial committee last year while Eritrea remained in the dark.

In regard to the letters, what is obvious is their contradictory content although they were written within a space of nine days. The first letter speaks about Eritrean redeployment from "Ethiopian territories occupied after May 6." The second letter retracts the grave error qualifying it as "our clear and renewed understanding is that this redeployment will not prejudge in any manner the claims held by either party regarding these areas." So are we talking about "occupied territories or contested territories?" What is the location of these areas relative to the established boundary between the two countries? The truth is that all these areas fall within Eritrea's recognized boundary although they appear to be incorporated in Ethiopia's new and illicit map of 1997.

Moreover, the letter are in complete contradiction with the official clarifications that the High Level Delegation provided to Eritrea on January 26, 1999, requesting, inter alia, "the redeployment of the troops of both parties from the entire boundary" with the exception of Badme from which Eritrea was expected to make a unilateral withdrawal as "a mark of good will" to the OAU.

They are also in complete contradiction with the Terms of Reference of the OAU Ambassadorial Committee of last June which was confined to the "collection from the two Parties and any other appropriate International Organization and Agency, information which would make it possible to determine the authority which was administering Badme before 12 May, 1998." Eritrea then sought, in vain, to extend the mandate of the Committee to include all areas under dispute. But the OAU High Level Delegation declined the request insisting that its mandate was confined "to ascertaining the situation in Badme." How come these letters now appear to grapple with issues that the High Level Delegation has consistently refused to investigate?

It must be borne in mind that the OAU Secretariat remains inaccessible to Eritrea as Eritrea's Ambassador to the organization was expelled illegally by Ethiopia in violation of the Vienna Convention and the Headquarters Agreement. Yet, these letters and "new recommendations" on the conflict continue to be drafted in Addis Ababa by people with little or no access to the second party.

These appalling acts sadden Eritrea. In the event, Eritrea wishes to underline once more that it will not accept any tampering with the Framework Agreement under any guise.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 7 July 1998