May 5, 2002
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And the Title
goes to: ERITREA
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M. Filli A. |
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This is, was, and remains the
final, binding and unanimous decision of the five-man EEBC (The Hague)
heralding and reaffirming twice Eritrea’s undisputed Title to, yes , Badme and its environs as pronounced on April 13, 2002 loud and clear, without
any shadow of doubt, in black and white, and with flying colors! This was
covered in Chapter V in general and paragraphs V5.91 and V5.95 in particular.
V5.91 summarizes the Commission’s findings regarding the Western Sector based
on Eritrea’s colonial history concluding that there was nothing that shakes
Eritrea’s solid claim of any thing and every thing west of the Setit/Tomsa to
Mai Anbassa/Mereb classic straight line (point 6 to point 9, which by the way
is also one of Eritrea’s claim lines!(see V5.15): |
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“5.91 The Commission has examined the
major elements in the course of events since1935: the Italian invasion of
Ethiopia; the outbreak of the Second World War; the British military occupation
of Eritrea; the post-war developments including the treatment of the
political future of Eritrea; the creation of the federation between Ethiopia
and Eritrea; and the eventual termination of that federation. However, the Commission can perceive nothing in that chain of
developments that has had the effect of altering the boundary between the
Parties. The boundary of 1935 remains the boundary of today.”
Emphasis is
mine. |
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Map:
Shaebia.org Then the Commission examined the |
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“prescriptive acquisition” either, and explained conclusively and unequivocally in V5.95 as follows: |
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“5.95 These references represent the
bulk of the items adduced by Ethiopia in support of its claim to have
exercised administrative authority west of the Eritrean claim line. The Commission does not find in
them evidence of administration of the area sufficiently clear in location,
substantial in scope or extensive in time to displace the
title of Eritrea that had crystallized as of 1935.” Again, emphasis is mine! |
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Thus, as explained in Chapter V, The Hague is not silent about Badme but as loud and clear as it can only be on paper but it has certainly didn’t feature Badme in a smart move to avoid any unnecessary adverse socio-political reaction of Ethiopia that might jeopardize the whole peace process for one, and for two, the first mandate of the EEBC is to delimit the international border between Eritrea and Ethiopia by drawing a map, as they did by joining points 1 to 41, and to let the corresponding towns and villages fall where they may, not to feature them! Next, points 1 to 41 will be marked on the ground and the international boundary between the two countries will be physically established once and for all. |
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Although
there is no ambiguity about The Hague verdict, the Woyanés live in a trance of denial to the extent of tampering with
defiance as demonstrated by their recent closure of their border to UN and
the futile demand for removal of its commander. Another sign of Woyanés life in a trance of denial was demonstrated when they
came out claiming Badme because it was not featured in Eritrea. That is
stupid because Badme is not featured in Ethiopia, either? They were
immediately supported by eritrea1.org, which editorialized that “there is
nothing to contradict Ethiopia’s claim of Badme”. That is a blatant lie for,
as stated above, Chapter V contradicts and refutes Woyanés claim of Badme in no uncertain ways and beyond any
reasonable and unreasonable shred of doubt. |
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The
Hague decision has driven another close ally of the Woyanés, Paul Henze, into a trance of denial of his own, as
well. He came out proclaiming that Eritrea has lost not only territories but
also the “war” against Ethiopia. Mr. Henze is entitled to his opinion but he
is dead wrong on both counts of his assertions. Eritreans submitted to
peaceful and legal adjudication of our international border demanding what is
only justly ours. The recent EEBC decision was a complete vindication for
Eritrea in the Western and Eastern Sectors by all legal standards while the
Central Sector was adjudicated by a more or less 50-50 split decision.
Translation: The Commission adjudicated that only part of what Eritrea
claimed in the Central Sector was justly ours, while the rest was only
apparently but not justly ours in the first place! Ditto to Ethiopia! So,
does it make sense to speak of lost Eritrean territories that did not justly
belong to them in the first place? Utter nonsense! In my humble opinion, even
the Central Sector is a victory to Eritrea because it presents only apparent
loss of territories that weren’t justly ours in the first place. |
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You see Mr. Henze, The Hague verdict
did not make a noticeable dent in the size and general outline of the map of
Eritrea despite your egregious assertions that “This decision says, in
effect, that Eritrea’s territorial claims had no validity”? To the contrary,
that is a clear vindication of Eritrea’s territorial claims, sir. |
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Now to Mr.
Henze’s blabber about “the war that Eritrea lost to Ethiopia”. First of all,
Eritrea has never waged a war against Ethiopia but used military means to
defend and protect the people and country against successive, various and
varying Ethiopian invasion of our country ever since the start of our
liberation struggle, 1961, without venturing outside of our now conclusively
determined international border. While Eritrea has neither motives, capability,
nor any reasons to invade its mightier neighbor south of the border or
anywhere else, land-locked Ethiopia has all the motives, reasons and
capabilities to invade a small northern costal state of Eritrea: Compulsive
obsession with Access to Sea, Assab-Menia. Hence, it is utterly preposterous
to speak of “Eritrean invasion of mightier Ethiopia”. |
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Badme was only a pretext to Woyanés attempt to invade, conquer, and to possess the port of
Assab including the Eritrea Danakil deserts to fulfill their eternal dream of owning their own “Sea Port”. Invasion is for
the invaders to succeed or fail and for the invaded to defend against by all
means necessary, to foil, to halt, and to repulse. And Eritrea has achieved
this, Mr. Henze, thanks to our martyrs, the valiant Eritrean Defense Forces
and the Eritrean people. Saturday, April 13, 2002 is good news to the peoples of both countries because it brings peace and closure to unnecessary military confrontations and ushers a new era of good neighborly coexistence between the two countries in particular and the horn of Africa in general. PS: Click for detailed map of Badme & Environs (slow download!)
by Simon Stefanos. Eternal glory to our martyrs Long live Eritrea. M. Filli A. is the sole
bearer of the responsibility for this article. |
