ETHIOPIA: The
Foreign Minister’s delusion
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M. Filli A. |
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December 21, 2001 Initially, the Ethiopian Foreign Sinister, Seyoum Foonfoon, found
it irrelevant to attend the proceedings in The Hague due to his ignorance and
disrespect for the standard protocol of the opening cession of any such
hearings and the relevance of the issue at hand. 10 days ago, he told his
domestic news consumers that Ethiopia has hired top-notch and expensive
lawyers to make its case, implying that “the case is in the bag”. Now, 10
days into the hearing, the FM left for The Hague in a hurry, to make it to
the remaining 2 days of the hearing because their case was falling apart. He
said he wants to reaffirm to the tribunal his delusion about the pertinent
colonial treaties prior to the final decision of the court: He stated that
“Ethiopia accepts the colonial treaties but not the corresponding maps of
1900, 1902 and 1908”. That is an absolute delusion because the main crux of
colonial treaties is to secure territories, which is accomplished by
demarcation, which is then documented in the form of a map. Hence, the map is
an inextricable component of the colonial treaty for it is a recorded proof
of how the colonial territory is secured. Thus, ‘Yes to colonial treaty,
and No to the corresponding map’ is nothing but a fallacy. Another delusive statement of the FM was: “Italian maps reflected the unilateral interests of
colonial Italy..”What a joke!Colonial powers
drew colonial borders arbitrarily and based solely on their own interest and
Italy is no exception; because drawing colonial borders based on the
interests of the colonies and their people would defeat the purpose of
colonialism. “…and could not serve as an
authorised international boundary” That is utter nonsense. “The entire borderline between Eritrea and Ethiopia was
demarcated through three separate international treaties made between Italy,
Britain and Ethiopia (bilateral and trilateral) on July 10,1900; May 15, 1902
and May 16, 1906 respectively.. Official Ethiopian maps (made by the US
Mapping Mission and the former Soviet Union) of the country made during the
Haile Selassie and Mengistu periods further illustrate that the colonial
boundary defined between Eritrea and Ethiopia in accordance with the treaties
above was not altered in any way. These borderlines are the only ones
accepted by international law” Furthermore, the Foreign Sinister
added that “ the maps of the Ethiopian governments "were not only
mere duplications of the maps of colonial Italy, but also served as internal
administrative borders considering Eritrea as an integral part of Ethiopia". This has only rhetorical significance because
Eritrea has never been an intgral part of Ethiopia, ever. This is a reference
to the time between 1962 – 1991 when Ethiopia annexed Eritrea illegally and
unilaterally and declared it as its 14th province.It is a shame
that he even brings this up, for he knows that this was the time of Ethiopian
colonial occupation of Eritrea. This is the kind of crap the Border
Commission will not consider. “The
Ethiopian government hopes that the ruling of the international court of
arbitration would not be subject to political considerations and compromises”
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