Eritrea gets what it asked from its man in Addis: Ethiopian territories
EthioMedia
March 12, 2006
BACKGROUND
Meles Zenawi over the weekend signed an agreement to hand over undisputed Ethiopian territories to Eritrea. The tyrant who was born into an Eritrean family in the northern Ethiopian town of Adua, and who joined, and later turned rebel-time Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) into another Eritrean rebel group which falsely bore the name "Tigray" as part of its long name, has been waiting for the right moment to cede territories the Ethiopian people liberated at a huge cost of losing 70,000 lives during the 1998-2000 War. (In 2003, he disseminated a directive in Amharic which orders senior party and government officials to facilitate the handing over of Badme, parts of Irob and other undisputed Ethiopian territories to Asmara). Anger throughout the nation, and feared uprising within the army deployed in the front lines as well as among border area inhabitants forced Meles to postpone the idea of meeting Eritrean demands.
The tyrant deceived the Ethiopian wing of TPLF a million times (Until 2001, TPLF was composed of Eritrean and Ethiopian wings), and when he declared the war was over in 2000, that the TPLF dissidents tried in vain that they can peacefully remove the Eritrean mercenary from power through round-table negotiations. He purged them at one go, while throwing former Defense Minister Siye Abraha into prison on fabricated charges of corruption. He also eliminated a key official, Security Minister Kinfe Gebre-Medhin, after Meles observed Kinfe leaning towards the dissidents whose war objective was to wipe out Isaias Afwerki's Shaebia group if Ethiopia was ever to have a lasting peace.
After he crushed the Ethiopian wing of TPLF, Meles once again focused on opposition groups in Ethiopia, and bought 4 years fooling around the notion of "democracy and the transfer of power through the ballot box." When the Ethiopian people voted him out in May 2005, he unleashed his terrorist activities in which several hundreds are believed to have been killed. He also tried to start a Rwanda-type ethnic genocide, but public awareness of the evil designs of the Eritrean mercenary helped defuse the bomb. Hanging onto power through sheer terror, he thought this was the right time to hand over the territories to Eritrea, his motherland.
Once Ethiopia gets back her own representative government, it is time and again emphasized that all agreements Meles entered into with Eritrea on behalf of Ethiopia would be rendered null and void. Though a huge political gain for Eritrea, the BBC has clearly played down the importance of the event for fear of sparking anger among Ethiopians that part of their country is being handed over under the pretext of "peace agreement" between two Eritrean groups. Here's Martin Plaut's report:
LONDON - Talks to end a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea have ended with what diplomats are describing as a measure of progress.
The conflict sparked a war that ended six years ago after some 76,000 deaths.
An international tribunal ruled on the border in 2002 but Ethiopia refused to let it be demarcated without further discussion and Eritrea objected.
Now a meeting has taken place in London between the two states along with US and United Nations representatives.
The talks, chaired by the international tribunal that decided where the border should run, brought together legal representatives from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
They were held with the blessing of the UN Security Council, which had urged the countries to resume a dialogue.
This impetus from the international community appears to have helped break the deadlock.
'Small step forward'
Ethiopia indicated that it now accepts the tribunal's ruling without reservations.
Eritrea for its part accepted the appointment of a technical expert to assist in the demarcation of the border.
Both countries will allow the demarcation process to resume where it left off some years ago.
Field offices will be opened, liaison officers appointed and security arrangements put in place.
And further talks are scheduled to be held in London in April.
But there is still much to do.
Both sides now want to consult with their respective capitals.
The UN asked Eritrea to lift restrictions on the operations of its 7,000 peacekeepers strung out along the border but Eritrea has not yet reacted. A small step forward, was how one diplomat described the process.
But even this is a major achievement in a dispute that the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has repeatedly warned has the potential to provoke a renewal of hostilities at any time.
Similar Stories
Boundary Commission says Meles passed key documents to help Eritrea
BACKGROUND
Meles Zenawi over the weekend signed an agreement to hand over undisputed Ethiopian territories to Eritrea. The tyrant who was born into an Eritrean family in the northern Ethiopian town of Adua, and who joined, and later turned rebel-time Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) into another Eritrean rebel group which falsely bore the name "Tigray" as part of its long name, has been waiting for the right moment to cede territories the Ethiopian people liberated at a huge cost of losing 70,000 lives during the 1998-2000 War. (In 2003, he disseminated a directive in Amharic which orders senior party and government officials to facilitate the handing over of Badme, parts of Irob and other undisputed Ethiopian territories to Asmara). Anger throughout the nation, and feared uprising within the army deployed in the front lines as well as among border area inhabitants forced Meles to postpone the idea of meeting Eritrean demands.
The tyrant deceived the Ethiopian wing of TPLF a million times (Until 2001, TPLF was composed of Eritrean and Ethiopian wings), and when he declared the war was over in 2000, that the TPLF dissidents tried in vain that they can peacefully remove the Eritrean mercenary from power through round-table negotiations. He purged them at one go, while throwing former Defense Minister Siye Abraha into prison on fabricated charges of corruption. He also eliminated a key official, Security Minister Kinfe Gebre-Medhin, after Meles observed Kinfe leaning towards the dissidents whose war objective was to wipe out Isaias Afwerki's Shaebia group if Ethiopia was ever to have a lasting peace.
After he crushed the Ethiopian wing of TPLF, Meles once again focused on opposition groups in Ethiopia, and bought 4 years fooling around the notion of "democracy and the transfer of power through the ballot box." When the Ethiopian people voted him out in May 2005, he unleashed his terrorist activities in which several hundreds are believed to have been killed. He also tried to start a Rwanda-type ethnic genocide, but public awareness of the evil designs of the Eritrean mercenary helped defuse the bomb. Hanging onto power through sheer terror, he thought this was the right time to hand over the territories to Eritrea, his motherland.
Once Ethiopia gets back her own representative government, it is time and again emphasized that all agreements Meles entered into with Eritrea on behalf of Ethiopia would be rendered null and void. Though a huge political gain for Eritrea, the BBC has clearly played down the importance of the event for fear of sparking anger among Ethiopians that part of their country is being handed over under the pretext of "peace agreement" between two Eritrean groups. Here's Martin Plaut's report:
LONDON - Talks to end a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea have ended with what diplomats are describing as a measure of progress.
The conflict sparked a war that ended six years ago after some 76,000 deaths.
An international tribunal ruled on the border in 2002 but Ethiopia refused to let it be demarcated without further discussion and Eritrea objected.
Now a meeting has taken place in London between the two states along with US and United Nations representatives.
The talks, chaired by the international tribunal that decided where the border should run, brought together legal representatives from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Ethiopia indicated that it now accepts the tribunal's ruling without reservations.
Eritrea for its part accepted the appointment of a technical expert to assist in the demarcation of the border.
Both countries will allow the demarcation process to resume where it left off some years ago.
Field offices will be opened, liaison officers appointed and security arrangements put in place.
And further talks are scheduled to be held in London in April.
But there is still much to do.
Both sides now want to consult with their respective capitals.
The UN asked Eritrea to lift restrictions on the operations of its 7,000 peacekeepers strung out along the border but Eritrea has not yet reacted. A small step forward, was how one diplomat described the process.
But even this is a major achievement in a dispute that the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has repeatedly warned has the potential to provoke a renewal of hostilities at any time.
Similar Stories
Boundary Commission says Meles passed key documents to help Eritrea
They were held with the blessing of the UN Security Council, which had urged the countries to resume a dialogue.
This impetus from the international community appears to have helped break the deadlock.
'Small step forward'
