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To: Editor,
The Boston Globe |
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12/13/2002 |
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Eritrea never
been part of Ethiopia
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Dear Editor: |
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While you are entitled, rightly
or wrongly, to the story in your editorial “Caution
in Eritrea” which ran on page A18 of the Boston Globe on 12/12/2002,
it is egregious and you have no basis of any kind, whatsoever, for your
assertion that Eritrea was “part of Ethiopia until it gained independence in
1993 following a 30-year war”, unless you want to justify and validate
forceful annexation of a Nation State, which I seriously doubt? |
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Sir, allow me to reiterate the
obvious, all African countries as we know them today including Ethiopia, were
established definitively as separate Nation States as a result of
Colonialism: End of Feudalism and ethnic territorialization, and the
emergence of Nation States and National identity. There existed no Nation
States or countries in Africa prior to the advent of Colonialism (The
Scramble for Africa). - No Eritrea, No Ethiopia. |
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Eritrea was first established
as a Nation State by Italian Colonialism together with its sister Italian
colonies of Somalia and Libya. At the end of Italian colonialism and at the
time when the fate of former Italian colonies was decided, Somalia and Libya
were granted national independence while the question of the Italian colony
Eritrea remained unresolved because of the geo-political and strategic
significance of Eritrea to the global strategy of The Arabian Peninsula,
where 2/3 of world oil reserves lied. Hence, Eritrea was denied national
independence; instead Eritrea was transferred by the colonial powers to
British colonialism for the period 1941 – 1951. At the end of British
colonialism, in light of the strategic significance, and against the
expressed will and wishes of the people of Eritrea, the UN decided in 1952 to
federate Eritrea with Ethiopia for a period of 10 years, at the end of which
the people of Eritrea would be given a chance to decide over their political
fate via a referendum. In 1962, with the silent consent of the UN and USA,
and again against the expressed will of the people of Eritrea, Ethiopia
unilaterally dissolved the “Federation”, forcefully annexed Eritrea and
declared it to its 14th province, similar to the way Iraq
attempted to annex Kuwait and declare it to its province, 1991. |
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In fact, according to
colonialists’ agreements at “The Conference of Berlin (1884-1885)”, annexing
a territory, putting up occupier’s flag, effective administration, and
defense of the territory meet the requirements for a colonial territory. That
is exactly what Ethiopia accomplished in Eritrea. Faced with the deaf ears of
the international community and the UN, Eritrea was left with the only option
of waging a 30-year war for political national self-determination, which was
effectively attained in 1991 and not 1993. The referendum of 1993 was a sheer
diplomatic formality to bring closure to the UN resolution that called for
national referendum on self-determination [UNGA Res. 390 A (V)]. |
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International relationship in
general and relationship between neighborly countries in particular is
strictly a matter of foreign policy and is based on mutual interests and
respect for territorial and national sovereignty and the principles of
non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. Relationship between
Eritrea and Ethiopia cannot be different than that. |
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Dear editor, your above quoted
assertion is hence not only baseless but its implication (Secession of
Eritrea from Ethiopia) is utterly unfounded and Eritrea has never been part
of Ethiopia. The issue of our seaports is not a mere matter of control
but they are inextricably bound to Eritrea’s territorial and national
sovereignty. “The Scramble for Africa” produced a landlocked Nation State of
Ethiopia. |
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Sir, with all due respect, you
got the geopolitical history of Eritrea, knowingly or unknowingly, completely
wrong. |
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New jersey, USA |