Is the international community trying to punish Eritrea for Ethiopia’s sins?
By: Naizghi Zekarias
April 15, 2004

The current Ethiopian regime has no interest in peace when it comes to Eritrea. It is obvious that everyone in the international community knows that Badme belongs to Eritrea, even the regime in Ethiopia knows that. This regime believes that it needs to maintain the current no war no peace situation as long as the international community allows it for internal political consumption. The TPLF regime believes that the best way to deny peace between the Eritrean and Ethiopian peoples is by usurping and occupying a land that does not belong to it, thus Badme.

The intransigence of the Tigrayan regime in Addis Abeba/Mekele, however, is more than just for political survival. It is meant to damage the Eritrean economy in the hope that this will bring down the current Eritrean government. The grand scheme of this regime is therefore to encroach on Eritrea’s sovereignty, to turn Eritrea into a chaotic Ethiopian satellite state like current Somalia.

Only Ethiopia can commit genocide and get away with it, like in Gambella. Only Ethiopia can commit gross human rights violations, with the international community looking the other way, like in the case of the more than 80,000 people of Eritrean descent who were stripped of their possession, degraded and discarded simply because they just happened to be of a certain ethnic group. Only Ethiopia can commit ethnic cleansing with impunity like the expelled Eritreans and the Anwak of Western Ethiopia while the world stood by and watched. Only Ethiopia can terrorize neighboring communities without any fear of any criticism from the international community, like in Somalia and other neighbors.

It seems that the international community is punishing the victims of Ethiopia’s atrocities through their silence, through their massive economic aid which turned out to be military aid in disguise at least in the case against Eritrea. By claiming there is an impasse in the current situation, the international community is simply covering up for the Ethiopian regime to disregard whatever resolutions the UNSC might pass against it. This is simply to equate the offending party with the law abiding side. The international community is pretending that both Ethiopia and Eritrea are reneging on the Algiers agreement. Eritrea has been pleading for the demarcation to proceed while Ethiopia has refused to cooperate, convinced that the international community will support it through their ambiguous statements and tacit approvals. By letting the s! ituation drag on, the international community is punishing Eritrea for Ethiopia’s crimes. Both the international community and the Eritrean people are being held hostage by the current regime in Ethiopia; the difference is the international community is a willing hostage while Eritrea is not. If the international community does not follow through with its obligation under the Algiers Agreement then why would rogue regimes like the one in Ethiopia bother to respect agreements they signed as final and binding?