I, the undersigned Ethiopian/ Friend of Ethiopia, strongly support the
petition put forward by the Five Ethiopian Opposition Groups concerning the
"The Binding" border demarcation hearing at the Hague. The current Ethiopian government
has agreed , in a very irresponsible way, to accept the rulings of the International court based on the Algiers agreement [which is on the principle of colonial treaties]. This clearly puts Ethiopia in a disadvantaged position to keep its own LEGITIMATE territorial integrity. Such an act will have dangerous precedence in the Horn of Africa for generations to come. Therefore, as an Ethiopian/ Friend of Ethiopia, I urge the International community in a strongest possible term to consider my grave concern seriously. The reason as to why I have real concern is well articulated in the declarations released by the five opposition groups written here below. I here by declare my genuine support and sign the petition.
20 December 2001
H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of the United Nations
1 United Nations Plaza
Room S/3800
New York. N.Y.. 10017
Your Excellency:
The Ethiopian people have always maintained
that they do not aspire to possess that which does not legally belong
to them or accede to relinquish that which is rightfully theirs. But
at this point of their history, they find themselves being ruled by
a government that is not only unrepresentative but also quick to cede
its sovereign territory, unwilling to protect the sovereign rights
and legitimate interests of its people and lacking the moral right
to be their reliable spokesman.
The present Ethiopian government assumed
initially through the barrel of the gun. To legitimize this power,
it conducted sham elections that were obviously neither free nor fair
as witnessed by neutral international observers.
The Ethiopian people had, in the past,
suffered greatly as result of being repeatedly betrayed by the world
community. They have, yet again, become victims of another betrayal,
this time with the consent of those who claim to be their leaders.
Therefore, they are left with no alternative but to take their own
initiative in order to protect their sovereign rights through peaceful
and legal means.
We the undersigned political parties,
with representation in the federal parliament, and actively working
to bring about a democratic society in Ethiopia, strongly express
our position, in the name of the Ethiopian people, that the Boundary
Decision set out in Article 4(2) of the Algiers Peace Agreement, signed
by the present Ethiopian Government and the Government of Eritrea
on December 12, 2000, should not be binding on Ethiopia.
We sincerely believe that the Algiers
Peace Agreement will not bring genuine and lasting peace that we all
wish for the region for the following reasons:
First, the Algiers Peace
Agreement is based on colonial treaties that were forged within the
context of a colonial atmosphere. The colonial atmosphere is created
by European powers that traveled thousands of miles from their capitals
with the sinister intention of subjugating unsuspecting peoples through
brute force, in violation of civilized norms. The colonial atmosphere
was in no way a situation wherein two equal parties knowingly and
willingly entered into a commitment for mutual benefits. Rather, it
was a condition wherein modern powers with superior technology coerced
weaker nations militarily into accepting their terms by so-called
treaties with a threatening backup of brute force. The treaties that
Emperor Menelik II signed with colonial Italy were, for example, not
only treaties signed between unequals, but they were also treaties
signed under conditions of duress. Had he not signed those treaties,
Ethiopia would have lost its sovereignty totally to the European powers
that had surrounded it at the time and were poised to partition it
among themselves. Colonial treaties are, therefore, polite and condescending
ways of imposing unprovoked domination of the strong over the weak
and innocent. It is time that the present world should officially
view colonial treaties as such.
Second, The so-called relevant
international treaties (presumably those of 1900, 1902, and 1908)
on which Article 4(2) of the Algiers Peace Agreement claims to be
based are non-binding. Those treaties were abrogated - made null
and void - by colonial Italy's naked aggression and invasion of
Ethiopia in 1936 in violation of The Covenant of the League of Nations.
Third, Italy had signed the
Peace Treaty of 1947 and according to Article 23 of this Treaty,
it had renounced all right and title to Eritrea, thus annulling
the colonial treaties it had already abrogated by aggression.
The Algiers Peace Agreement is thus based
not only on treaties between unequal but also on treaties that have
been trodden upon by colonial Italy and renounced by the same nation
in the Peace Treaty of 1947. Therefore, genuine and lasting peace cannot
prevail on the basis of such glaring injustice.
The Algiers Peace Agreement obligates
Ethiopia to surrender territory to Eritrea, one of the major consequences
of which is rendering Ethiopia, a country with a population of about
65 million people, landlocked and making the present border status
a fait accompli.
If the border issue between Ethiopia and
Eritrea is to be discussed, the border that is binding on Ethiopia
and acceptable to the Ethiopian people is that which prevailed between
Eritrea and Ethiopia just before Eritrea became independent in 1993.
Any decision by United Nations arbitral
commission that denies Ethiopia of sovereignty over the administrative
region of Assab will be not only based on non existing treaties but
also in violation of the Peace Treaty of February 10, 1947. It will
also be a sad failure not to take into consideration previous international
recognition of the Assab territory as being an integral part of Ethiopia,
and also to ignore the legitimate wishes of the people who live in
the territory.
We the undersigned political parties are,
therefore, writing to demand that the full outcome of the arbitral
commission be placed before the Ethiopian people for scrutiny and
final decision in the form of a referendum and in a context open to
strict international supervision. Any agreement reached by the Ethiopian
government or by any other party pertaining to matters of territory
and boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea, without the final approval
of the Ethiopian people, is null and void and cannot in any way be
binding on them.
We are also writing to demand that the
legitimate rights of the people in the border areas be considered
and their right for self-determination be respected.
We are committed to genuine and lasting
peace not only in Ethiopia but also in the Horn of Africa. If genuine
and lasting peace is to prevail in Ethiopia, as well as in the Horn
region, the basis of negotiation for settlement of the dispute that
exists between Ethiopia and Eritrea must be the boundary that prevailed
between Eritrea and the rest of Ethiopia in 1993, just before the
independence of Eritrea, and not the treaties of 1900, 1902 and 1908,
treaties that have long been dead and buried.
Please accept the assurances of our best
regard.
Sincerely, All-Amhara People's Organization:
(AAPO)
Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia:
(CAFPDE)
Ethiopian Democratic Union Party: (EDUP)
Ethiopians' Democratic Party: (EDU)
Oromo National Congress: (ONC)