Eritrea repels Ethiopia’s 5-point attack on Algiers peace accord

By TED

7 Dec 2004

It is preposterous for any one to talk about “Ethiopia’s peace plan, peace proposal, or peace initiative” in referring to Ethiopia’s latest (25 Nov 04) announcement of

“The Five-point proposal for resolving the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea” when it clearly constitutes a brazen 5-point attack on the Algiers peace accord (Items #3, #5) covered in a thick shroud of re-phrased provisions already imbedded in the Algiers peace accord (Items #1, #2, #4). This shouldn’t surprise any one because the only thing that stands between Ethiopia and its defiant attempts to reverse/renegotiate in its favor the legal decision that settled shared border with Eritrea conclusively is the crack-proof Algiers peace Agreement, which dictates that the decision is final and binding and hence must be accepted unequivocally.

While the international community has been fighting back Ethiopia’s attacks on the Algiers agreement by passing repeated resolutions calling for strict adherence to Algiers, Eritrea crushed Ethiopia’s Five-point attack simply by debunking it: A statement issued by the Eritrean Ministry of foreign Affairs on Saturday, 3 Dec 2004 labeled Ethiopia’s 5-Point tale “hollow in practice” and dismissed Ethiopia’s offer of “Acceptance in principle” as “not only one step backward. It constitutes a serious violation of the Algiers Agreement, which stipulates without equivocation that the decision is final and binding”. Further, the statement said, “this is not the time to entertain or float new initiatives or “proposals”. This is a time to demarcate the boundary, which should have been happened much earlier in accordance with Peace Agreement” and called upon the international community “to bring pressure to bear on Ethiopia so as to ensure the full and unconditional respect of the Algiers Agreement, full compliance with the Boundary Commission Decision of 13 April 2002, withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from sovereign Eritrean territories, and expeditious demarcation of the boundary”.

Today, Tuesday, December 07, 2004, Eritrea’s president joined the fray reiterating his Ministry’s statement and said Ethiopia’s latest offer “contains nothing new and would only drag the peace process backwards”. He also said Eritrea will accept no alternative to a 2002 ruling by an independent commission on the border dispute.

Ethiopia’s 5-point offer is not a proposal for but a blatant attack on peace in disguise.