Letter to the Boundary Commission
July 26, 2001
The registrar
Eritrean-Ethiopian Boundary Commission
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Peace Palace
The Hague, Netherlands.
Dear Sir/Madam
I have the pleasure of submitting a study on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border for consideration by the Boundary Commission in the course of its deliberations. I spoke by telephone with Sir Eliahu Lauterpacht, the President of the Commission, about this study who advised me to forward it to you and kindly gave me your address.
Sir/Madam, I am an Ethiopian, 73 years of age. As a native to the region, born and brought up in Adowa, I am thoroughly familiar with the area presently in dispute. I served as cabinet minister in the Haile Selassie government and later as economist at the World Bank ( see cv attached ).
In this document, my colleagues and I provide the legal, historical and political underpinnings of a legitimate, viable solution based on the historical jurisdictional boundary of Eritrea with the rest of Ethiopia. This can endure and guarantee peace and stability in the region. The 'solution' proposed in Algiers, December 12. 2000, agreed to by the present regime, is not sustainable under subsequent governments.
There are three issues:
- The territories on the Tigrai front that are being ceded to Eritrea have never been under Italian rule. When Eritrea invaded these territories in 1998, Ethiopia fought and won the war, regaining its sovereignty over these territories. But the Algiers agreement compels Ethiopia to cede these territories to Eritrea, which is the root cause of the current split within the leadership of the Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front ( TPLF ), as the dissident group made it only too clear. Ethiopians are asking: if what has been the desired result is to surrender territorial sovereignty; then why did the country fight the war at such tremendous cost? No answer has been given to this burning national question, except deception and cover-up of essential facts from the public. A case in point is the lack of transparency in the on-going boundary demarcation which has created the fear that Ethiopia's sovereignty of its vital territories might be ceded to Eritrea behind the scenes without the expressed will of the people through a national referendum. The UN map to the Temporary Security Zone ( TSZ ) which is a boundary map that assigns to Eritrea both the Danakil ( Afar ) Coast and the Tigrai territories was quickly withdrawn from the internet after its brief appearance for fear of public outrage. The UNMEE spokesman in Addis Ababa bluntly stated in a Press Conference ( 6/22'01 ) that the TSZ map will not be published. It is no coincidence, therefore, that on the sovereignty issue the voice of the Tigrai dissidents is gaining ground. Tigrai is the cradle of Ethiopian history, state and culture, and has been the front-line strategic strong-hold in the defense of the country against foreign invaders. The carving out of its territories to Eritrea cannot lead to peace, but to bloodshed.
- The Danakil (Afar ) Coast has been recognized as the indispensable sea outlet of Ethiopia by the Four Powers since August 1948 prior to the disposition of Eritrea in whatever shape or form. The 1950 UN Resolution confirmed Ethiopia's prior right to the Afar Coast as its natural sea outlet. Moreover, there is no doubt in my mind or in the mind of any right thinking Ethiopian that an Ethiopia which remains landlocked without a stratetegic gateway of its own to the sea will be subjected to future arms embargo and blackmail by the powers that, both directly and indirectly control the Coast, as occurred in the war with Mussolini in 1935 and with Eritrea in 1998. Already, there are strong rumors that the Ethiopian regime is considering the leasing of the Assab port financed by US loan ( ref Xinhua News Service July 13 2001 ). The statement of the foreign ministry reported by the same source tries to deflect the issue , but does not challenge/deny the substance of the News repot either of the lease or the loan.
- The Algiers 'solution' of a boundary based on colonial treaties, reverses the historical record starting with the Peace Treaty with Italy of February 10, 1947 in which Italy renounced its right and title to Eritrean territory. Moreover, in 1952 Eritrea came under Ethiopian sovereignty based on the UN Resolution of 1950 in which colonial or external boundaries ceased to exist. The Algiers agreement reverses via the backdoor these historic decisions which are accepted international law. The fact that Ethiopia has, at this juncture of its history, little leverage either in terms of having significant petroleum resources , or patriotic statesmen as leaders who can defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity does not, however, mean that an unjust 'solution' forced upon it can lead to permanent peace. Far from it, the demarcation of a boundary based on colonial treaties (and false maps ) can only be a precursor for future conflict and wars. Why, therefore, in less than six decades, repeat the same mistake for the third time in the face of logic and history and without the people's referendum.
Cc; Mr Koffi Anan; Secretary General of the United Nations.
Belai Abbai
Yours Truly
Washington DC.
Mr Belai Abbai served as minister of state in charge of the Ethiopian planing agency and minister of land tenure and administration in Haile Selassie's government. He also served as senior and principal economist at the World Bank.
Mr Abbai earned a bachelor of science degree in economics, with honors, from Southampton University in the United Kingdom and masters degree in public administration from Harvard University in the United States.
Ps-2 The document referred to in the letter is called ;" Ethiopian Regime Cedes National Territories to Eritrea" and is available at the WAHINGTON LAW BOOK STORE at 1900 G STREET
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]