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January 4, 2002 |
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To whom may not already know: Eritrean independence was attained at the end of 30-year
struggle by the sheer power of military force, not through deals,
negotiations, or charitable act, and it is irreversible. Eritrea has
been accepted as a full-fledged member nation of the UN and OAU based on
territorial sovereignty as set by colonial treaties that created and
unequivocally defined its nationhood and colonial borders like all other such
countries. Those well-defined and documented colonial borders have not
changed an iota of an inch despite various and varying colonial occupation of
our country that lasted over 9 decades until 7 years into our independence
(1998) when it was blatantly violated by the Woyané Regime (Ethiopia) as a
pretext to wage a war of aggression against our country in an attempt to
reverse our independence. With that
in mind, colonial borders, though sacrosanct, are drawn arbitrarily. Hence,
international border disputes are not uncommon and the Eritro/Ethio border conflict
is no exception. Agreements or Accords to resolve such conflicts peacefully
via third party are entered into by the national governments, not opposition
groups, of the countries involved. Accordingly, the Algiers Peace Accord
I.
Was
accepted in its entirety and signed by the national Governments of Eritrea
and Ethiopia
II.
Is
binding and the verdict of Border Commission can not be appealed
III.
Dictates
that the Border Commission bases its decision only on the colonial treaties
of 1900, 1902, 1908, pertinent international law, ex aequo et buono, which
rules out decisions made based on any other considerations, whatsoever,
outside the provisions of Section 4.2 of the agreement.
IV.
Provides
for Guarantor Nations, USA, EU, UN, OAU, ALGERIA, that will make sure that
the verdict of the Border Commission gets fully implemented.
V.
Allows
the deployment of UN Peacekeeping Mission (UNMEE) with a wide range of
mandate including the assurance of the progress of the demarcation as
designed. The
Algiers agreement is for real. There are no loopholes of any sort, no room
for political or any other kind of maneuvering, it is final, and it will be
implemented. It is only about demarcating our sovereign borders by a white
line, poles, etc, based on mutually accepted and agreed upon colonial
treaties. The Border Commission has been accepted without any reservation
by both parties as the sole and ultimate authority that will decide over the
limitation and demarcation of our sovereign borders based not on all kinds of
documents presented to them but only on the mutually accepted colonial
treaties cited in the Algiers peace accord. At the end of The Hague hearing,
our government came out confident, reassuring, and calm, while the Ethiopian
government came out grumbling and nervous, understandable. Ethiopian Opposition Groups, better fringe
organizations, in the Diaspora took advantage of their government’s
discontent in the Hague and have orchestrated a major hullabaloo protesting
The Hague hearings for one and only on reason: It is a cheap ploy to
gain publicity, for they know that the Border Commission does not
make its decisions based on the moods and whims of opposition groups and
primordial Abyssinian stories. Furthermore, their intention is to create the appearance
of controversy over the issue, and to engage Eritreans in a fruitless
“ Letter Writing and Online petition-signing” competition. To
this effect and opportunely they also launched a new radio station, which wouldn’t
have had a chance otherwise, in the Washington DC area as a propaganda
Station for their future political activities as well. The entire hullabaloo
about The Hague is futile unless Eritreans engage in it, for, as they say,
“it takes two to tangle”. Our
government has accepted the Border Commission without any reservations and
has also pledged to abide by its decisions. It has the full trust of our
government and there is no reason why its jurisprudence should be questioned
and its fairness doubted. We are in The Hague not begging for but
demanding justice based on solid facts and the spirit and letters of the
Algiers Peace Accord. It is not about the independence of Eritrea but
about resolving border dispute between two independent countries. Landlocked
countries may have right to sea access But
no right to conquer our sea ports and possess They
must come to terms with coastal neighbors Work
out equitable contract to use their harbors I
am just a person made in Eritrea A
country, eternal envy of Ethiopia ERITREA WILL PREVAIL Dr. M.
Filli A. Author: mfilli@hotmail.com
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