Eritrea/Ethiopia: Demo vs. gov’t. when all are on
same page
02 Jan 2005, EDnews – It
is weird but true again. When it comes to the Algiers peace agreement and the ruling
that settled the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia accordingly, the
government and opposition parties in Ethiopia are and have been all on the same
page: They are all in denial of the Algiers peace accord and in defiance of the
border ruling even as we speak. The two sides have, though, adopted their own
way of expressing it.
Being an election year,
stance on Eritrea is very crucial. The government of Ethiopia reiterated its
denial & defiance of the Algiers peace accord by issuing what it put out on
25 Nov 2004, which was by all accounts, by Ethiopia’s own admission, and
manifestly a 2-point plan to destroy Algiers peace accord in the name of peace
sugar-coated with 3 items from Algiers, which are treaty obligations that
Ethiopia must have long met and for which Ethiopia scored cheers from some
nations and by continuing to speak of “the dispute with Eritrea” in clear
defiance of the Boundary Commission’s ruling that settled the dispute
conclusively and irreversibly.
The opposition reiterated
its denial and defiance of Algiers by making sure that the cheers and applaud
for the sugar-coating of the plan don’t lead to eventual implementation of
Algiers peace accord and as the media today reported staged a 50-60,000-man
demo attacking the plan for that thereby registering its anti-Algiers position
just like the government did.
The demo being a protest
against the Algiers peace agreement, there is no reason not to believe that it
could have been orchestrated by the government in disguise not only because it
is in its own interest but also to pressure Ethiopia’s international patrons not
to attempt to compel Ethiopia to comply with Algiers.
That is all there is to
the hype over “demo of Ethiopians slamming/against peace plan”: Two sides of
the same coin. On 25 Nov 2004, the government expressed and reiterated its
anti-Algiers stance the way it did. And today, 02 Jan 05, it was the opposition’s
turn to do the same by doing what every opposition does: Bringing the folks on
the streets, Demo.