Open Letter to UN Sec.-Gen. Ban Ki-Moon

January 14, 2014

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
United Nations Secretary General
1st Avenue, 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
January 10, 2014

Your Excellency:

We, the
undersigned representatives of various Ethiopian political parties, civic
organizations and professional associations, have the honor to bring to your
attention our strong protest against the secret border deal that the
dictatorial governments of Ethiopia and the Sudan have recently been hatching.

The
respective territorial limits of both countries were defined by the
Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1902 at the turn of
the last century when Great Britain was the colonial power administering the
Sudan.  As is customary in
international practice in delimiting national boundaries, the treaty provided
for the setting up of a Joint Boundary Commission to be appointed by both sides
to carry out the actual demarcation of the boundary on the ground. Upon
completion of the demarcation process both parties were required to notify
their citizens of the boundary as demarcated. 

Despite the
clear mandate of these undertakings, however, the treaty has remained a dead
letter for over a century and, as a consequence, the boundary between the two
countries has never been demarcated by a joint commission. Instead, contrary to
both the spirit and letter of the provisions of the treaty, Great Britain
appointed its own officer, Major Charles W. Gwynn, to unilaterally and
arbitrarily demarcate the boundary without the knowledge and the participation
of Ethiopian boundary commissioners. In the event, the demarcation line which
resulted from this high-handed exercise greatly favored the Sudan while causing
Ethiopia to suffer a corresponding amount of territorial loss.

Notwithstanding
the fact that the demarcation of the boundary by one of the Contracting Parties
cannot legally bind the other, nevertheless Sudan has over the years importuned
successive Ethiopian administrations to accept the validity of the unilateral
demarcation undertaken by the British. 
The consistent and unequivocal response of these administrations,
however, has been to reject the validity of Sudan’s claims, calling
instead for a negotiated settlement of the boundary on the basis of the
original treaty with the full knowledge, participation and consent of peoples
likely to be affected by the demarcation line.

As Your
Excellency well knows, the international political system grants a considerable
degree of importance to rights in respect of territory. The function of a
boundary between states is the attribution of territory and, thus, the extent
of a state’s territorial sovereignty. When the extent and limits of a
state’s territorial sovereignty are determined solely and arbitrarily by
one state to the detriment of the other, however, the boundary so determined
becomes an enduring source of friction and tension between the adjoining
states. It is precisely to avoid such a result that international law
attributes to an international boundary a compelling degree of continuity and
finality. Nevertheless, this venerable principle will be respected and observed
in practice only if the given boundary was established in accordance with law.
More importantly, a boundary regime can be regarded as final only where either
of the states can clearly establish its legal
credentials.  In the case of the
Ethio-Sudan boundary, this means that the treaty regime set up by the parties –
and no other arrangement- was meant to govern the boundary and title to
territory.

According
to media reports originating in the Sudan, however, under the just-concluded
secret deal between the President of the Sudan and the Prime Minister of
Ethiopia, huge swathes of our ancestral lands will be ceded to the Sudan.  These reports have been received with
utter shock, resentment and anger by Ethiopians at home and abroad.  Neither the current generation of
Ethiopians nor those of future generations will allow the deal to stand for it
constitutes a serious violation of the treaty regime set up at the turn of the
century and holds for naught the sacrifices of past generations of Ethiopians
to preserve the territorial integrity of their country.  We wish to add that thousands of our
people will be forced to lose their homes, farms and investments if the border
deal is implemented without their participation and consent.

We are not
unmindful that members of the United Nations and their sitting governments like
those of the Sudan and Ethiopia are clothed with a certain degree of legitimacy
in the eyes of international law and politics, even as such legitimacy deprives
ordinary citizens adversely affected by the decisions of those who rule them
legal standing and recourse in such matters. And yet the actions of these
officials who purport to speak in their behalf are bereft of any legitimacy in
the eyes of the very populace whose interests they claim to represent. This is
particularly true when it concerns highly sensitive and emotionally charged
questions of territorial sovereignty. 
As such, the border deal of today hatched by unelected elites will be
the ticking bomb of tomorrow.  
Since it has neither support in law nor received the consent of the
Ethiopian people, it will fester as a major source of friction and tension
between the brotherly peoples of Ethiopia and the Sudan. Needless to add, the
Horn of Africa region does not need an additional source of insecurity and instability
beyond those that already plague the region. Accordingly, we wish to entreat
Your Excellency to use your good offices to any extent appropriate and possible
so as to forestall the dangerous situation the border deal is otherwise most
likely to engender now or in the future if it goes into effect.

In any
case, we would like to go on record as asserting our right to territorial
sovereignty as defined by treaty – and not any other agreement that is
reached behind the back of the Ethiopian people. We reserve the right to not
honor any boundary that results from the agreement of an unelected government
that is devoid of any support or legitimacy among its own people. In closing,
we would like Your Excellency to know that the current extremely narrowly- based
government of Ethiopia and the similarly discredited government of the Sudan
are grasping at straws by using the border deal as a way of ensuring their
political survival by a mutual exchange of promises foreswearing the use of
their territories by organized movements seeking to overthrow their respective
governments. This survival instinct underlies the parties’ desire to make
a border deal and to keep it from public scrutiny without consideration of its
impact on the people of Ethiopia.

Please
accept the assurances of our highest consideration.

Sincerely,

Ethiopian
Border Affairs Committee (EBAC)

Ethiopian
People’s Congress for United Struggle (Shengo)

Ethiopian
People’s Revolutionary Party-Democratic (EPRP-D)

Ethiopian
Medhin Democratic Party (Medhin)

All  Ethiopian Socialist Movement (ME’ISONE)

Ethiopian
People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF)

Amara
Democratic Movement Force (ADMF)

Ethiopian
Democratic Hibrehizb Unity Movement (EDHUM)

Tatek
Movement for Freedom, Democracy and Unity for Ethiopia

Tigrean
Alliance for National Democracy (TAND)

Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF)- led by General Kamal Galchuu

Ethiopian
National Transitional Council (ENTC)

Moresh Wegenie
Amara Organization (MWAO)

The
Legitimate Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Exile

Gasha for
Ethiopians

Ethiopiawint:
Council for the Defense of Citizens Right

Beruh
Ethiopia Democratic Movement

Ethiopian
Civic Consortium in UK

Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners – Canada (SOCEPP-Can)

Ethiopian
Civil Society Support Group in London, Ontario

Anuak
Justice Council

Dallas
Support Committee

Solidarity
Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE)

Democracy For Ethiopia Forum in San Jose

Ethio-Canada
Democratic Forum in Ottawa

Ethiopian
Public Forum in Columbus, Ohio

Mahdere
Andinet Ethiopian Association

Ethiopian
Public Forum in Seattle, Washington

CC.

Embassy of
the Republic of the Sudan

2210
Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington,
DC 20008

Dr. Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma

Chairperson
of the African Union Commission

P. O. Box
3243

Roosvelt
Street

(Old Airport
Area)

W21K19

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia