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THE COST OF ETHIOPIAN BLOOD A Press Release by the Irob Community in North America, August 9, 2003 On July 17, 2003, the Security Council convened in New York to discuss the serious and potentially explosive process of boundary demarcation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The people of Irob held our collective breaths because any decision from New York may directly or indirectly affect the lives of innocent country men and women of Ethiopia. We then read the Security Council’s press release: The meeting started at 10:18 a.m. and adjourned at 10:26 a.m. www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sc7817.doc.htm Our collective heads bowed in extreme dismay and unparalleled anger. In addition to the Security Council’s discussion of this issue for a mere 8 minutes, there was not a single word directing the Boundary Commission, UNMEE, or the Secretary General’s Special Representative Legwaila Joseph Legwaila to consider the uproar of a nation of 67.6 million people regarding Irob and other rightfully Ethiopian territories. The Security Council’s statement was nothing but insensitive to inhabitants that may be adversely affected in the border areas. All of us can see that the United Nations, the African Union, and the United States, the guarantors of the Algiers Agreement, have demonstrated ZERO respect for Ethiopia’s legitimate request to rectify the Boundary Commission’s erroneous ruling of 13 April 2002. 1. Our Disagreement with the Prime Minister’s Views Several weeks ago, The Reporter, an Ethiopian weekly magazine that is no stranger to the government of Ethiopia, published several interviews of Irob natives in Ethiopia. The Irobs boldly rejected any decision, whether it comes from the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission or the governments of Ethiopia or Eritrea, to divide the Irob minority ethnic group into two. Their courageous rejection of the Prime Minister’s statement that the people of Ethiopia fought for "the sanctity of law and not land" is an inspiration to Ethiopians, who have found the statement of the Prime Minister to be highly offensive and completely unacceptable. The Irob Community declares its unfettered support these individuals and the residents and people of Irobland. The Irob Community also supports the senior leadership of the state of Tigray. Dr. Solomon Inquai’s rejection of the Boundary Commission last week when he said that "they cannot come, we will not let them demarcate, because everybody is against this" is an _expression of the true sentiment that is held by the entire people of Ethiopia. So is Tigray’s President Tsegay Berhe’s warning about the pending demarcation. The statements of these Ethiopians is not at all belligerent but is simply an outcry for justice for the long term interest of both the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Prime Minister likes to say that statements such as those made by Dr. Solomon is "not only wrong but also anti-people". We strongly disagree. His argument ignores the possibility that even judges can be above the law. Can they not succumb to incompetence, confusion, ignorance, fear, pressures, and other human failings? If their decision was so just, why is the Ethiopian government logging one appeal after the other? Why is the ancient wisdom of Ethiopian villagers and shemageles less wise and less judicious than that of the members of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission? Why has Ethiopia turned into a double-scheming, inconsistent and pauper state? The Irob Community continues to support peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea, but rejects that it be conditioned on Ethiopia’s loss of ancient Ethiopian territories. It should not be based on defunct colonial treaties that create, among other things, non-existent rivers such as the Muna. We should not be misinterpreted: our community supports peace between the two countries as long as Ethiopians, particularly the Irob minority is guaranteed, among other things, the following: a) that our peace, security, and right to determine and assert our Ethiopianess will be assured, b) that the peace process will ensure the return of abducted Irobs and immediately address their loss committed by the treacherous government in Asmara, and c) that Ethiopia’s national interest, including it’s access to it’s natural and historic outlet, the Red Sea, would be respected. Given the developments at the Security Council and the Ethiopian government’s silence regarding the people of Irob, the Irob Community is forced to announce its complete rejection of the demarcation. Therefore, for the sake of genuine peace between the two countries, we must endorse a policy of non-recognition of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. We have known and stated all along that if the boundary is demarcated according the 13 April 2002 decision, it will be done at gunpoint by the federal government. This position is now the official position of the Tigray administration. But despite the courageous and valiant position of the Tigray administration, we have heard information from Tigray that the people of Irob are being told by officials and cadres that they have to prepare to move from areas that they currently inhabit for the sake and sanctity of the law. We remind the Ethiopian government that it has sent Ethiopia’s youth in their productive and prime years from all over Ethiopia, to die in Irobland, Zalanbessa, Tsorona, Badme, Badda, Bure, etc. to protect their beloved nation from foreign invasion. Can we dare tell these young men, who have traveled from as far as Gambella, Borena, Harar, Benshangul, Somali, Awassa, and Bahr Dar and are now buried in the hills and valleys of Irobland and the plains of Badme, Tsorona, and Bure, that they did not die for their land? Mr. Prime Minister, do you think that your Boundary Commission and the United Nations understand the cost, the cost in blood, that it took to safeguard Ethiopia’s territorial integrity? Never forget that the judges that you regard so highly are accountable only to the agreement that created them, the Algiers Agreement. But never forget, that you are accountable to the people of Ethiopia, who look to you for justice. 2. Our Recommendation to the Government and to the Spokespersons of the Government We urge that the government of Ethiopia be consistent and truthful in its dealings with the people of Ethiopia. We demand that it speak in unequivocal and unwavering language regarding its position on Irobland and other Ethiopian territories. It should do so through official lines, and not by cadres, messengers and “legal experts”. By saying this, we want to point out that if the government is using Dr. Solomon and Ato Tsegay as mouthpieces for its own underhanded policy, it is nothing but a shameful, infantile and deceitful way of handling this issue. What is sadly ironic is that the government’s statements were official, consistent, direct and unwavering when it sent the children of Ethiopia into the battlefield. What a shame that this consistency has been replaced by back bending to pressures of the western world!! For the sake of durable peace not only between Ethiopia and Eritrea, but also amongst Ethiopians, the government of Ethiopia is urged to boldly and officially reject any recommendation, request or demand from The Hague, the Security Council, the European Union, the African Union, or the United States of America, that asks Ethiopia to hand over a sliver of Irobland or any Ethiopian territory to Eritrea. The Community views any such act to be the highest act of treason. We regard statements issued by the government’s so-called "legal experts" that claimed that Ethiopia asked for territories that it never administered for purposes of legal strategy as either falling in the same pattern of inconsistency and incompetence at best, or outright deception at its worst. We are not thieves nor are we aggressors. We take this occasion to appeal to all Ethiopians to stand shoulder to shoulder on the side of the peoples of Irob, Afar, Badme who are in danger of being deprived of their Ethiopian citizenship. We are the seekers of the truth and justice for the people of Ethiopia. |