PRESS RELEASE REGARDING THE ETHIO-ERITREA BOUNDARY COMMISION REPORT
By: TASK FORCE FOR THE DEFENCE OF ETHIOPIA
Thursday, April 18 2002
The Boundary Commission issued its report on April 13th, 2002 that contains 135 pages. We knew from Article 4(2) of the so-called Algiers Agreement of December 12th, 2000 that Ethiopia's sovereign territories were going to be ceded to Eritrea on the basis of 'defunct colonial treaties'. This is a dressed-up report to give the so-called Algiers Agreement the appearance of legality. The report ignores Ethiopia's actual jurisdiction over the territories, the history of the region and the national laws under which those areas were administered. It is even more sinister in its intentions regarding Ethiopia's Red Sea boundaries. It shows what naked racist colonialists can do to African people even to this day under the cover of their 'international law'. The report contains numerous flagrant violations of Ethiopia's sovereignty, among which we would like to highlight the following:
i) The Afar Coastal region including Assab (1908 Treaty) -Eastern Sector (map 12, p. 101)The Commission did what it was told to do in secret sessions. Ethiopians hold Meles Zenawi responsible for this outrageous and scandalous act of treason against their country. His abuse of political power began when he granted Independence to Eritrea in 1991 without a mandate from the Ethiopian people. He then handed over secretly by demarcating the boundaries, these same Tigrai territories to Eritrea in 1993 as a prize of its independence. The present exercise is a mere repetition of that treacherous deed. The Algiers Decision is his final treasonous act against the Ethiopian State and people. Therefore, Ethiopians are right in accusing him of high treason against the State. They will continue to struggle for justice, until they recover their sovereign territories in order to restore their country's independence by freeing it from the clutches of its foreign enemies and their domestic agents and mercenaries.Eritrea takes all. Eritrea's intentions in this sector were two fold: to landlock Ethiopia from the Read Sea (see map 12) and to acquire access to the Dalol Potash Deposits and thermal energy center (see point 31 northern edge of the Salt Lake of map 12). Eritrea has succeeded in both of its objectives. Strangely, the regimes in Ethiopia and Eritrea agree on a brand new definition of the Coast. "The Coast line" is defined as "adhering continuously to the continent itself and not to any coastlines of islands as such". This is outrageous both historically and strategically. Moreover, if the two parties renounce their rights to the islands, who owns the islands? Who is the third party?
The Ethiopian regime's propaganda that the Assab issue was not submitted to the Boundary Commission falls flatly on its face.
ii) The Badema Plains (1902 Treaty) - Western Sector (map 10, p. 97)
Eritrea takes all. Eritrea's intentions were to take the entire Badema plains, i.e. the area west of the straight line Tomsa ( point 6 of map 6) to the junction of the Mai Ambassa the Merb rivers. Here too Eritrea has attained its objectives. Of a total 58 villages or Chikas of Tatch Adiabo, about 40 go to Eritrea (cf. Ethiopian Regime Cedes National Territories, p. 14). The Boundary Commission is silent regarding the location of the town of Badema, i.e. whether it belongs to Ethiopia or Eritrea. In spite of unilaterally prepared Italian border maps, this area has been under Ethiopian jurisdiction for the past 100 years and the Ethiopian regime had ample evidence to support but deliberately chose not to present the evidence to the Commission. As a consequence, this portion of the Commission's report does not contain a section on what the report calls effectivites or evidence of effective control and jurisdiction. It should be noted that the report does contain such a section for the other disputed areas, in the central sector for instance.
iii) Tsorena , Gulomekheda and Irob ( 1900 Treaty) - Central Sector (map 11, p. 99)
Eritrea takes all Tsorena, parts of Gulomekheda and Irob. The districts now transferred to Eritrea are traditional Tigrai territories south of the Akeleguzai - Tigrai's juridical boundary line. The Commission adheres to a strict interpretation of the Belessa -Muna treaty line as binding which is also the agreed stand of both Ethiopia and Eritrea. Ethiopia's actual submission (see map 3, p. 17) and the Commissions finding (see map 7, p. 46) are identical with respect to the segment Belessa ( point 12) to Zalambassa (point 20). However, the Ethiopian regime changed its mind and submitted in writing that "Monoxoioto , Guna Guna ,Tsorena and Fort Cadona "were mostly undisputed Eritrean places", at which point the Commission felt compelled to redraw the map giving to Eritrea the entire region of Tsorona and the western districts of Gulomekheda, i.e.west of the Adigrat-Asmara road ( see map 11 the segment from point 12 to 20). Furthermore, the ancient northern district of Gulomekheda, east of Zalambassa, is awarded to Eritrea. Similarly, western and northern Irob is now given to Eritrea.
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]