Eritrea/Ethiopia: PM at a loss to explain his
defiant stance
13
January 2005, EDnews - Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi today
voluntarily disclosed the crux of Ethiopia’s “5 point peace fraud.” He told the BBC that his country's border with Eritrea must be
moved. By all accounts, this constitutes blatant defiance of the ruling of an
independent international commission that has long settled the border dispute
conclusively and irreversibly.
When confronted by BBC’s “TalkingPoint” program, Ethiopia PM
was totally at a loss to explain his defiant stance on the decision that
resolved the border dispute with Ertrea.
When
pressed by the BBC's Talking Point programme on whether the key town of Badme
was in Eritrea, as the commission ruled, he refused to be drawn.
That is a liar’s excuse.
Meles is on the record saying “no one in his right mind can accept a decision
that puts Badme in Eritrea” and even in his November proclamation he left no
doubt about Ethiopia’s non acceptance of the part of the border decision that
puts Badme in Eritrea when he spoke of
rejecting only 15% of the decision and his insistence not to accept the
ruling “as is”. So, the direct answer is a clear no but he won’t say it because he wants to lie about it. Other than
that, If Meles had accepted the border ruling, the right answer would have been
clear, loud and unequivocal YES. How does Meles lie about it? By giving generic
and confused answers to such inquiries as below:
But when
asked whether he now accepted Badme as part of Eritrea, he said:
"When it
comes to implementation we feel that it is necessary that we make adjustments
here and there with a view to coming up with a boundary that both sides can
live with." But there is no new boundary to come up with. The Boundary
Commission, upon which both countries conferred sole authority to come up with
a boundary that must then be accepted unequivocally by both sides, has long
come up with a boundary that exists in
the form of its decision of 13 April 2002, which decision, once pronounced, does
not allow any adjustments by mutual agreement of the two parties. Both
countries have apriori agreed to live with decision of boundary commission
wherever the chips may fall? What is Meles blabbering about? Isn’t his Foreign
Minster glob trotting duping every Head of state that Ethiopia has accepted the
border decision? There can’t be any more talks but deeds once Ethiopia accepts
the border ruling?
Further
pressed on the issue, he said:
"It would
be impossible for me to negotiate this issue in public on television, but the
point is, there has to be some give and take, there has to be some adjustments
on the basis of the boundary commission decision." But the basis of the boundary commission
decision does not allow “some give and take” or any adjustments because the
decision is final and binding as Ethiopia demanded and wanted it to be. What
basis is Meles talking about? There is no other basis that would allow him have
it Ethiopia’s way? Hasn’t Ethiopia reversed its position from rejecting to
accepting the border decision? Or is Ethiopia saying accept, but?
When
asked to confirm that in his view it was still up for negotiations, that it was
not finally resolved, he said: "Yes we have to address all of these issues together." Wait a minute. Wasn’t it only on 25
November 2004 that PM Meles said Ethiopia disputes only 15% of the decision and
“the demarcation of the remaining 85% can start right away”? Today, PM Meles is
talking about re-negotiation of the entire ruling? What is going on? Ethiopia’s
PM at a loss to explain even what he stands for? Where in the world does acceptance of a court’s ultimate decision
mean renegotiating the entire decision? Don’t tell me Ethiopia, for that’s what
makes Ethiopia recalcitrant and hence defiant.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4171941.stm