Dawit Habte
Recently, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1907 imposing an arms embargo on the State of Eritrea and travel restrictions and an asset freeze on members of the Eritrean political and military leadership. The members of the Eritrean political and military leadership whose travel will be restricted and assets frozen will be designated by the Committee on Somalia sanctions, a Committee established by UNSC Resolution 751 (1992). The resolution
an be seen as the world governing body's encouragement of the Ethiopian
government to continue occupying sovereign Eritrean territory. Ethiopia's
breach of international law and norm and the UN's inability to be a fair
arbitrator and guarantor of international law have become an obstacle in all
dealings between Eritrea and the world's governing body, the United Nations Security Council.
The international community blessed Eritrea’s independence through a United Nations observed referendum in which 99.8% of Eritreans voted for independence from Ethiopia
after a bitter and costly 30-year war. For the next three years, Eritrea
and Ethiopia coexisted well; both countries were even using the Ethiopian Birr and were in an exemplary regional cooperation. In 1997 Eritrea decided to issue its own currency, the Naqfa, (Naqfa is an Eritrean town associated with Eritrea’s tenacity and survival in its long struggle for independence).
Shortly thereafter a border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia erupted. Ethiopia,
stating that its "national pride" had been challenged once more by a
smaller neighbor, mobilized and equipped its army with the latest military
hardware in the market, thanks to the western donors who subsidized Ethiopia’s
operational budget to the tune of billions of dollars. Eritrea, on the other hand,
declared that it would not fire the first bullet hoping that the initiatives and peace
proposals circulating around would bring a peaceful solution.
After Ethiopia had armed itself to the teeth, on May 12, 2000, the Security Council
passed Resolution 1298, banning weapons sales to both Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eritrea
paid dearly for its decision not to fire the first bullet and for thinking the
international community had a conscience. The heavily equipped Ethiopian army
went beyond the contested border areas and invaded a large swath of Eritrean territory.
They destroyed developmental structures worth millions, including farm
industries, hospitals, public building and bridges. They desecrated a cemetery, digging up the
graves and shipping the coffins to Ethiopia. They bombed a power generating plant in Massawa along the coast, the civilian airport in Asmara (the capital), and several churches along the border. They dynamited a stele at the Metera archeological site that dated back thousands of years and had early Geez
inscription. Over a million Eritreans were internally displaced.
The two countries signed a cessation of hostilities agreement on June 18, 2000, and the
fighting stopped. On December 12, 2000, in Algiers, both countries signed a UN, European Union, African Union and US sponsored and guaranteed peace plan that submitted the border dispute to a "final and
binding" arbitration. They formed the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), composed of four imminent jurists chosen by the two countries (two each) and a fifth member, the President,
chosen by the 4 other political units.
The EEBC was housed in the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration offices. On April 13, 2002, the EEBC rendered its "final and binding" delimitation decision of the border. They awarded the contested
town of Badme, the flash point of the war, and all the adjacent areas to Eritrea. Ethiopia, after
filing numerous appeals on the decision which failed, rejected the EEBC border
delimitation decision altogether.
The United States government pushed the United Nations to side with Ethiopia
and pressured the EEBC to reconsider its decision in order to give Ethiopia
more territory, but the EEBC refused to budge. Finally when the EEBC saw that Ethiopia
was not going to cooperate and guarantee the security of the UN cartographers
to demarcate the border, it decided to demarcate the border virtually. On November 30, 2007, the EEBC
submitted its final and binding virtual demarcation to the United Nations for
depository. The virtual demarcation had coordinates of more than 140 primary
pillars that constitute the physical demarcation of the border. The EEBC then
announced that it would dissolve itself as of December 1, 2007.
Throughout this process, Ethiopia refused to accept the "final and binding" EEBC border delimitation
and demarcation decision. Ethiopia occupies sovereign Eritrean territory to this day. The United States,
using its veto power, has consistently shielded Ethiopia from an international condemnation.
To add to the encouragement it received from the UN resolution, Ethiopia is now lobbying for a major economic embargo against Eritrea so that the Eritrean-Diaspora cannot support their families.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, during his interview with Ethiopian journalists, claimed
that UNSC Resolution 1907 contains a clause that "restricts persons of
Eritrean origin who are citizens or residents of the United Nations member
states from supporting the Eritrean government financially or through any other
resources." Prime Minister Zenawi seemed to downplay the heart and soul of
the resolution, the arms embargo, while adding clauses of his own making. The section of the resolution to which Prime Minister Meles Zenawi referred simply states that "travel restrictions and
an asset freeze should apply to individuals, including but not limited to, the
Eritrean political and military leadership, so designated by the Committee on
Somalia Sanctions, as well as to governmental and parastatal actors and
entities privately owned by Eritrean nationals living within or outside
Eritrean territory, so designated by the same Committee." UNSC Resolution
1907 does not make any reference to the relationships between the government of Eritrea and its
people and friends in the Diaspora directly or by implication. The Prime Minister
has distorted the letter and spirit of the resolution for political expediency.
Without having to distort it, UNSC Resolution 1907 is licentious and unscrupulous. The world governing body has opted to isolate Eritrea while the UNSC itself provides "political, moral and propaganda
support" to Ethiopia, a country that has invaded two UN member states. In May 2000 Ethiopia
exercised its "right to preemptive strike" in order to defend its "national pride" and invaded Eritrea.
In December 2006, the United States backed the Ethiopian government’s invasion of Somalia
using the same "preemptive strike." With UNSC Resolution 1907 as a political shield, what will stop Ethiopia
from exercising yet another of its "right to preemptive strike" against its archenemy Eritrea?
Only time will tell.
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