Appeal for a Fair Judgment
Irob Community in North America
P.O. Box 5533
Arlington, VA 22205
There are wide spread rumors that Irobland and some other Ethiopian territories liberated last year by the Ethiopian armed forces with immense sacrifices might be ceded to Eritrea. We hope that the rumors are false. The reader may wonder why the rumors give us grave concern. As a community whose family members and relatives have endured horrendous ordeals for the past three years, we cannot easily ignore the rumors.
Before Eritrea invaded Irobland in the spring of 1998, the Irob people alerted their authorities that the Eritrean invasion was imminent. However, they were ignored. As the world knows, soon after that, the Irob people's well-founded apprehension came to pass, and the area was invaded at the end of May 1998. After the invasion, our community and Irob groups in Ethiopia including the Irob clergy, as well as a Voice of America reporter who happened to be in the area at the time, reported the invasion right away. Even then, the authorities did not inform the Ethiopian people and the world that Irobland was one of the Ethiopian territories invaded by Eritrea.
This lack of acknowledgement of the invasion of Irobland continued for a long time. Consequently, our people were killed, tortured, imprisoned, and uprooted from their land. Their homes and all resources of survival were stolen, vandalized and destroyed. Neutral observers like Dr. Anne Waters-Byare, Mr. Wray Witten and others reported witnessing these facts. Despite this, the authorities continued to talk about Badme and other invaded areas, ignoring the occupation of our native land and the ordeal of our people. We felt alone and abandoned.
We were elated when the Ethiopian armed forces liberated our land from the terrible occupation of two years. But since the two governments' agreement for a cease-fire and the creation of the so-called Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), our elation has been replaced with anxiety. Soon after the establishment of the TSZ, which was supposed to be completely on the Eritrean side of the border, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and the Eritrean government protested, claiming that the Ethiopian armed forces had been spotted inside the TSZ. Two villages inside Irobland (Auda and Makata) were mentioned in this context. At the time, we voiced our concerns about the claim, including our dismay that the Ethiopian government presented the area as "administered by Ethiopia" instead of emphatically asserting that the area is sovereign Ethiopian territory. The statement we issued at that time can be viewed on Ben's Web site at http://www.ethiopiafirst.com/news1.html thanks to the Webmaster who posted this and our other communiqués in a timely fashion.
Some weeks ago, we heard reports of some skirmishes between the two armed forces in Irob villages near the border. How is this possible if the Eritrean army is supposed to be at the other end of the TSZ, 25 KM away from the border as mandated by the agreement? Moreover, the UN Secretary-General in his report to the UN Security Council on September 5, 2001 said that there was disagreement between the two governments about the location of the TSZ and mentioned the Irob area in the report. Our anxiety was exacerbated when the French paper 'Le Monde Diplomatique' (12/06/2001) revealed that "the whole of Irob had been left inside the buffer zone" when the TSZ was established. It is no wonder, then, that the Irob villages of Auda and Makata were mentioned in the dispute, and that there was news of recent skirmishes inside Irobland. Our concerns stem from these factual circumstances.
Why are our people and land repeatedly neglected? Why does not the Ethiopian government clearly and emphatically state that Irobland has always been, and will always be, an integral part of Ethiopia, and that Eritrea has no legal, traditional or colonial basis to claim Irob? If they need the facts, they can refer to the archives and consult the people concerned. In addition, we have extensively written on this matter individually and as a community over the last three years. We feel that there is a disregard for our people and land, and wonder if the neglect is intentional.
Some Eritrean leaders insinuated that the Eritrean government invaded Irobland for strategic purposes and not because of any claims. For example, Professor Asmerom Legesse of Eritrea, in an interview he gave to the VOA's Amharic service in September 1998, stated that his government occupied the Irob region, not because it claims it, but for other purposes. Whatever the enemy's objectives may have been, what is puzzling is the Ethiopian government's unclear stand regarding this matter after it won the war and removed the invading army from the area.
As we explained many times, the Eritrean government has no basis, historical or otherwise, to claim Irobland. It may have invaded the area as part of its military strategy, but in so doing, the Eritrean army killed our people and destroyed everything they had. The army kidnapped hundreds of our people whose whereabouts remain unknown. Is it fair, then, to hand over those who survived the three-year ordeal to the very government that committed those crimes against them without consultation with the people in question? If those who are trying to settle the Ethio-Eritrean crisis are considering this as an option, we can assure them that it is not a viable option. This will not be a solution. Rather, it would lead to perpetual war as the Irob people will never accept any settlement that may alter their Ethiopian citizenship or forfeit their land. Moreover, we have no doubt that the Ethiopian people, renown for their patriotism, will support them on this just and common cause.
We remain hopeful that there will not be a resolution that has as its component a decision to hand over our people and their land to the government that has wreaked so much misery and destruction on them. Nevertheless, we continue to be concerned because of the above-mentioned circumstances. We never expected to be invaded by the Eritrean regime. But it happened. An additional concern derives from the fact that all negotiations regarding the Ethio-Eritrean conflict are conducted behind closed doors. The negotiations should be done in a transparent way and in consultation with the people who are at the core of any decision and have the most to lose. Hence, we demand that the Ethiopian government share fully with the concerned people, in particular, and with the Ethiopian people, in general, all negotiations regarding the border issue.
As we made abundantly clear over the past three years, the Irob people and their land have never been part of Eritrea at any time in history. This is the plain truth, pure and simple. The Italo-Ethiopian colonial agreements that carved many parts of Ethiopian territory into Eritrea did not affect Irobland. The only thing that may have lead to some confusion is the nonexistent "Muna River". However, thanks to the vigilance of the area leaders, Irobland unquestionably remained on the Ethiopian side of the border. Professor Aleme Eshete, who has made intensive research on the carving of Eritrea out of Ethiopia, stated that "The 1904 Italo-Ethiopian border commission (in which the Ethiopian delegation was headed by Dejach. Gebre Selassie) constituted to determine the position of the Irob had failed to satisfy the Italians who wanted to draw a border line bringing the Irob within their colony as part of Akleguzay. The Agame chiefs, including Ras Sebhat, protested that the Irob have always been part of Agame. The Irob thus remained inside Ethiopia…"(Ethiopian Review, April, 1995, page 26)
The Irob people have always been an integral part of the Ethiopian State. They paid taxes to Ethiopian governments, litigated their cases in Ethiopian courts, participated in all national affairs such as membership in political groups, building modern bureaucracy, and national defense including the huge sacrifices paid over the last three years when invaded by Eritrean armed forces. All this can easily be found in Ethiopian archives. How can any government or international mediator, cognizant of the facts and consequences, devolve an innocent minority, who cannot defend itself, to its enemy? We sincerely hope this will never happen. If it does, it will be an atrocious crime against humanity and will lead to an obliteration of a minority. Hence:
- we call upon the Ethiopian people, all Ethiopian political organizations, civic and advocacy groups, and religious organizations to follow the negotiations closely, and stand united against any measure that may compromise Irobland or any other piece of Ethiopian territory and national sovereignty.
- we appeal to The United Nations, The European Union, The Organization of African Unity and all other international institutions and governments involved in the resolution of the Ethio-Eritrean crisis to help settle the border issue in a manner that can bring lasting peace in the region by paying special attention to the aspirations of the concerned people.
Irob Community in North America
P.O. Box 5533
Arlington, VA 22205
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]