UN held hostage by Ethiopia |
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By
M. Filli A. |
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2
Oct 2003 |
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Ethiopia is threatening to start a war and is holding the UN and the international community hostage unless its egregious demand to overturn in its favor a final and binding international ruling is met. The ruling was made by a UN-sponsored, independent, and international Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) and favors Eritrea. |
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Following over two years of unnecessary and bloody border war and under the pressure of the international community, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to resolve their border dispute peacefully by submitting to legal arbitration and signed the Algiers Peace Agreement to that effect on Dec 2000 under the auspices of international organizations/Guarantor Nations (UN, USA, EU, AU) and the presence of international Head of states and other dignitaries. In that Agreement, both countries agreed in writing: |
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1. that the decision of the EEBC shall be final and binding, hence cannot be appealed; |
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2. that they will accept the ruling of the EEBC |
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3. that the EEBC shall base its judgment based only on the colonial treaties ( 1900, 1902, 1908) and applicable international law |
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4. that the EEBC is precluded from ruling based on “ex aequo et bono”. |
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5. that a group of Guarantor Nations (USA, EU,AU, UN , ALGERIA) shall implement the EEBC decision by force should one of the two countries renege on the Agreement by invoking chapter VII of UN Charter |
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Come April 13 2002, the EEBC pronounced its verdict, Eritrea accepted it , while Ethiopia engaged in an “accept and deceive” drill in a futile attempt to reopen the case for almost 18 months until Sep 19 2003 when the PM of Ethiopia, in a letter addressed to UN Security Council via the UNSG, formally and officially declared his country’s blunt rejection of the EEBC verdict and threatened to drug the UN into a war if Ethiopia’s demands are not met: Voiding the EEBC verdict, dissolution of the EEBC and replacing it with alternative commission constituted according to Ethiopia’s wishes, and re-adjudicating the case. This irresponsible act of Ethiopia, though regrettable, shouldn’t pose a problem to the UN because the Algiers agreement does provide effective remedy for this kind of blatant and grave noncompliance; and Ethiopia by its action is voluntarily calling for it: Invoke Chapter VII of UN Charter, pull the trigger and shoot down the noncompliant culprit as stipulated in the Agreement. Meles Letter to UN Security council |
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Currently, Ethiopia is waging a campaign of misinformation about its provocative rejection of the EEBC verdict. First the PM from Tokyo and then the FM from New York are now blabbering about “finding peaceful political and diplomatic solution to the problem”. Firstly, what problem? There is no problem. The problem was the Eritro-Ethiopian border dispute which has already been adjudicated in a legally final and binding verdict on Apr 13 2002 and the verdict is out: Eritrea has accepted it, while Ethiopia has finally and formally rejected it and must face the consequences per the Algiers Agreement. Secondly, what peaceful solution? The only peaceful solution here is accepting the EEBC verdict and allowing its peaceful implementation. Other than that Ethiopia’s blabber about peaceful solution only means awarding Ethiopia’s rejection of the EEBC verdict. But there is no award for rejecting EEBC ruling but severe punitive measures and forceful implementation of it per the Agreement. And that is not a peaceful solution by any sane standard? |
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Having said that, the Algiers agreement is not an optical illusion that appears different to different people depending on their visual acuity or an imaginative hypothesis that people interpret according to their whims, it is real, tangible, scripted in black and white and is available for everyone to read. The Algiers Agreement has been carefully crafted and designed to only succeed and provides the pertinent remedies for all kinds of possible noncompliance including that what the international community is faced with today. I, therefore, urge and call upon the Guarantor Nations and the UN again to follow the example of HR2760 of the US Congress and to start executing the provisions of the Algiers Agreement to its fullest extent. |
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Eritrea will prevail |
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