Mr. Legwaila J. Legwaila - Amnesia, Distortion or Diplomatic
Game?
By: Sophia Tesfamariam
April 9, 2004
Over the last couple of years, if you are like me, you have become cynical as
you read the weekly UNMEE press briefings because they did not accurately reflect
the situation on the ground. As a matter of fact, if you take the weekly press
briefings and bundle them together, you can cut and paste to put together the
quarterly reports of the UN Secretary General. These reports which are full
of contradictions; they conveniently leave out the facts and present instead,
deliberate distortions. In any case, considering that the April 1, 2004 was
the first press briefing attended by Legwaila Joseph Legwaila since UNMEE's
mandate was extended in March of 2004, I decided to read it in its entirety.
I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I got the sense that Mr. Legwaila
had changed his tone and that this time he was more forthcoming about the facts
as we know them.
In the past, as if Ethiopia (which is paying over $1 million per month for lobbying)
needed an added spokesperson, Mr. Legwaila seemed to speak for the Tigrayan
Prime Minister of Ethiopia. In July of 2003, he even went out of his way to
tell us that Ethiopia would abide by the EEBC ruling. Here is what he said:
“Ethiopia has problems with some parts of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission
(EEBC) decision… It is also public knowledge that Ethiopia has reaffirmed its
commitment time and again to pursue its disagreement with the Boundary Commission
legally, that is, through the EEBC legal process…it is not the intention of
Ethiopia to assert whatever demands it has against the Boundary Commission through
a re-initiation of the conflict between it and Eritrea…"
I don't know if Legwaila was just testing the waters or if he was laying the
foundation for the Tigrayan Prime Minister Melles Zenawi to challenge and reject
the EEBC decision, because it was less than two months after he publicly vouched
for Ethiopia, that the leader of the minority regime wrote the infamous September
19th , 2003 letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan wherein he called the independent
Border Commissions' decision “totally illegal, unjust, and irresponsible” and
then proceeded to insult the prominent Commissioners. But that was not all,
contrary to Legwaila's statement, Melles Zenawi urged Mr. Kofi Annan “to set
up an alternative mechanism”.
I don't think I need to write about what happened next, except to say that the
UN Security Council and the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commissioners both responded
in their respective letters of October 3, 2003 and October 7, 2003 rejecting
Melles Zenawi's views and assertions. Unfortunately, the Secretary General who
had lived in Ethiopia for several years, and has Ethiopian advisors and friends
did not do so. And we know what he did next. So much for Legwaila's vouching
for the deceptive minority regime in Ethiopia!
Just for the record, contrary to what Mr. Legwaila insinuates, there is no such
thing as an EEBC legal process that allows for the two parties to appeal or
revisit the decision. After expensive and extensive deliberations, the Border
Commission has delivered its final and binding decision on April 13, 2002. Both
parties are treaty bound to accept and abide by the decision.
Mr. Legwaila, unlike his previous briefings, even though he distorted the main
tenets of the Algiers Agreements, was crystal clear on most of the Articles
enshrined in the agreements. In the April 1, 2004 briefing from Asmara, the
capital of Eritrea, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Legwaila
Joseph Legwaila impressed me with his knowledge of the Eritrea Ethiopia Border
Commission (EEBC), and the prevailing issues when he clearly stated:
• That the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commissions decision is final and binding.
• That it is not Eritrea but rather Ethiopia, that has rejected the final and
binding decision
• That demarcation is the sole responsibility of the EEBC
• That there will not be an “alternative mechanism”
• That the international community would not re-open the EEBC decision for re-negotiation.
• That Eritrea never asked Nigeria or Angola to mediate
• That the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Gerhard Schroeder,
during his visit to Addis Ababa also called on the Ethiopian government to implement
the EEBC decision “before the Kingdom comes”.
• That UNMEE has created conditions along the border conducive for the demarcation
of the border
Mr. Legwaila was even familiar with, and articulated well, the letter written
by H.E. President Isaias Afwerki to all the 51(minus Ethiopia and himself) members
of the African Union:
“…asking them to put pressure on Ethiopia to cooperate in the implementation
of the decision of the Boundary Commission…”
In spite of the crystal clear statements made on April 1, 2004 which I have
enumerated above, Mr. Legwaila, for reasons I don't know, call it amnesia, deliberate
distortion or diplomatic game, knowing full well that Article 14 of the Algiers
Agreement clearly stipulates that:
"…the OAU and the UN commit themselves to guarantee the respect for this commitment
of the parties. This guarantee shall be comprised of measures to be taken by
the international community should one or both parties violate this commitment,
including appropriate measures to be taken under Chapter 7 of the Charter of
the United Nations by the Security Council".
Mr. Legwaila goes on to say:
“…the stalemate is not the responsibility of UNMEE…the Security Council realizes
that unless the Parties themselves decide to carry on with the implementation
of the Agreements they signed in 2000, there will be no solution to their problem.
In other words the peace process will collapse. If the Parties themselves, in
pursuing their very best interests, are not prepared to cooperate with the Boundary
Commission to demarcate the border, then the border will not be demarcated…because
they cannot be forced to do what they do not want to do as sovereign states”
What a shame. Mr. Legwaila should not have made such an irresponsible statement.
As a seasoned diplomat and UNMEE head he knows:
• That the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement was signed by Eritrea and Ethiopia
in Algiers on June 18th, 2000 in the presence of heads of states and prominent
individuals.
• That the Algiers Peace Agreement was signed by Eritrea and Ethiopia in Algiers
in December 2000, in the presence of President Bouteflika of the Democratic
Republic of Algeria, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, OAU Secretary General, Salem Ahmed Salem, and European Union
Special Envoy, Renato Serri who also signed the Agreement as guarantors and
witnesses. I don't think they traveled all the way to Algeria for a photo opportunity.
• That the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the parties on June
18, 2000 and the Agreement between the Government of the State of Eritrea and
the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, signed on December
12, 2000 in Algiers are binding and complimentary, and they are often referred
to by the UN Security Council as the Algiers Agreements.
• That when a sovereign territory of a sovereign nation is illegally occupied
by another country, it is not left to the two parties to resolve the problem,
that is why we have international law, that is why we have the UN Security Council
and Chapter 7.
As I have stated before, Melles Zenawi's apartheid regime in Ethiopia has been
emboldened not just by the international community's inaction, but also by the
wrong and potentially dangerous political statements and views advanced by folks
like Mr. Legwaila, who want to sideline or dilute international law, in a futile
attempt to absolve Melles Zenawi and his minority regime of its legal obligations
under international law and treaties.
Mr. Legwaila, we do not have a stalemate. What we have here is blatant disregard
for international law by the Tigrayan minority regime and the reluctance of
the UN Security Council to enforce its own resolutions and decisions by taking
appropriate punitive actions against the culprit. The EEBC demarcation directives
and orders which are already in place must be strictly adhered to and implemented
without further delay. Eritrea has accepted the final and binding decision and
is cooperating and abiding by the Border Commission's demarcation orders and
directives. Therefore, it is Ethiopia that is obstructing the process, not Eritrea,
and Mr. Legwaila you know it and you have said it. Eritrea has not done anything
to stop the demarcation process from proceeding. By the way, expeditious demarcation
of the border will save the UN the over $200 million dollars, that seem to be
frustrating you!
Mr. Legwaila, after going all the way to international arbitration, and after
the millions invested by the international community, instead of advising the
UNSC to use all available legal enforcement instruments at its disposal, I hope
you are not implying that they should slug it out. I hope you are not propagating
“might is right”, and I hope you are not preaching that the law of the jungle
must prevail over the rule of law.
Mr. Legwaila, as you well know, whether a country is big or small, under international
law it does not have the right to occupy sovereign territory of another country
by defying international law and UNSC guaranteed arbitration. In this case Ethiopia
is occupying Badme and other sovereign Eritrean territories, thus making it
not a bilateral issue, but rather one that must be handled by the UNSC and the
international community.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!