Eritrea/Ethiopia: Govt., detractors join to renege on Algiers peace accord

 

Analysis

 

3 January 2005, EDnews - Yesterday, the detractors of the government in Ethiopia (aka opposition groups) joined the government in its attempt to renege on the binding agreement for peace with Eritrea it signed in Algiers by rallying reportedly 50,000 people behind them on the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.

 

It is egregious and has absolutely no basis, whatsoever, for the media to report that as a demonstration against the government’s plan/initiative/move for peace with Eritrea.

 

There isn’t and there can’t be a plan/initiative/move for peace with Eritrea but the Algiers peace agreement that stands firmly even to this minute that Ethiopia accepted as the only mechanism for peace with Eritrea and to which Ethiopia has committed itself in writing and under the witness of the int’l community to only abide by. Ethiopia even demanded and was granted the guarantee of the major powers that the Algiers peace accord will be strictly adhered to whereby Ethiopia also agreed and accepted as well that non-compliance will have severely tangible consequences.

 

Let there be no mistake, when it comes to the Algiers peace agreement and the ruling that settled the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia accordingly, the government and its detractors in Ethiopia are and have all along been 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 only difference being the way how each side manipulates that to serve its own political interests.

 

While the opposition is blunt about it, the government in Ethiopia goes about its attempts to renege on Algiers deceptively: It labels its actions as plan, initiative, or move for peace with Eritrea knowing that no one can be against that, when in reality there can’t be any thing but the Algiers peace agreement for that purpose, runs around restating the obvious like “there is no alternative to resolving disputes via dialogue/negotiation” or “ proposal to resolve dispute with Eritrea via dialogue/negotiation instead of war” again knowing that nothing can beat that, when in reality there is no dispute but Ethiopia’s defiance of the ruing that settled the dispute the way Ethiopia wanted it but didn’t turn out in Ethiopia’s favor.

 

For all that, there is no better example than that what Ethiopia recently put out with the label “5-point point peace initiative to resolve the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea”. Again, no one can be against that. But right there, the title already negates that the dispute has already been settled in flagrant defiance of the Algiers peace agreement. The rest of the “peace initiative/plan/move” consists of a 2-point plan that manifestly and even by Ethiopia’s own admission violates cardinal tenets of the Algiers peace agreement in the name of peace on two counts sugar-coated with 3 items from the Algiers agreement, which are treaty obligations that Ethiopia must have long met. 

 

Knowing that the only standard for peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia is the long established and accepted Algiers peace agreement, there can’t be then any talk of “peace initiative/plan/move” when referring to what Ethiopia offered on X-mas Day 2004 but a 2-point plan to destroy the Algiers peace accord in disguise, and that is exactly what the government in Ethiopia wanted it to be. It is a shame for the international media to sell that for its disguise instead of exposing the underlying evil.

 

It’s “election” year in Ethiopia, they say, and Eritrea is the trump card.

 

The opposition groups got the government’s disguised ant-Algiers message, but they are not going to take the diplomatic trickery surrounding it lying down. So, they attacked the government’s message for its disguise by blasting the government’s move for not going far enough to annihilate Algiers peace agreement completely while at the same time remaining on the same page with the government in reneging on Algiers peace agreement, which the government doesn’t necessarily object but won’t do it for fear of international repercussions- hence rather letting the detractors do it; and that explains why the demo was so large (by some media account and Ethiopian claims now up to 150, 000) and was conducted incident-free. With that and as far as the “elections” are concerned, the government and its detractors are on the same page in Eritrea-politics, which is what the government wanted to achieve in the first place; therefore, advantage government.

 

Contrary to media reports, that is all there is to the weekend demo in Ethiopia and not something against “peace plan/initiative/move” with Eritrea because as explained above what the government put out on 25 Nov04 was not that but something clearly designed to destroy that, which in turn the detractors didn’t object but wanted to maximize -  Team EritreaDaily (TED) on this 3rd Day of Y2K5