Setting the Record Truly
Straight
The Ethiopian Government Spokesperson's statement of Monday, March 22, 1999, has made some serious allegations under the title of "Setting the Record Straight". These erroneous statements are presented to confuse the international community and to further complicate the border conflict. Since the Spokesperson has labeled this misinformation as "Setting the Record Straight", let's see how straight the record really is. The Ethiopian Spokesperson's statements will be denoted by "Ethio:" while the facts will be preceded by "TRUTH." Ethio: Ethiopia hopes for a quick end to the war so it can refocus on its economic and national development. Ethiopia has no interest in war and is involved in the conflict only because it was imposed on it by Eritrea. TRUTH: National development, progress, and prosperity start with the recognition of the individual contributions that the nation is built upon. First and foremost, Ethiopia has to start recognizing its DEAD and then the issue of "economic and national development" will be followed. Actually, to move one step backward, Ethiopia has to first start recognizing its "heroes" of the 20 years of struggle for the liberation of Ethiopia from the Derg. For how long will the Ethiopian government ignore its soldiers with the mere declaration of "the DEAD is DEAD", to use Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's words of 1991 when giving a speech in condolence to the people of Tigray? Are the current Ethiopian soldiers as well going to vanish nameless as their predecessors? Ethio: "Ethiopia has a very skilled and experienced air force that has been in existence for over fifty years. It has no need for foreign mercenaries, unlike a young state such as Eritrea." TRUTH: Members of the so called "very skilled and experienced" Ethiopian air force are either in exile or imprisoned by the current Ethiopian government for their atrocities and "crimes against humanity", as the Ethiopian government had rightfully labeled it. Now, if the Ethiopian government is hiring back those pilots whose resume is merely confined to their experiences in bombing Eritrean and Tigrean villages, then kudos to the wisdom being displayed. Additionally, if the aforementioned pilots whose hands are very much socked with the bloods of innocent Eritrean and Tigrean civilians are the best the Ethiopian government could do, then 200 might be a very conservative estimation of the number of mercenaries currently employed by the Ethiopian government. Ethio: Ethiopia has no interest in Eritrean land. TRUTH: Then why the need to start a front on the South and South Eastern part of Eritrea while Badme is located straight down South? Why the need to bomb one of the two Eritrean ports, Assab? And most of all, why the need to continue the war after declaration of a "Total Victory"? Ethio: "Ethiopia has only selectively deported those Eritreans posing a threat to its national security; it has not indiscriminately deported Eritreans." TRUTH: Ethiopia has deported 54,000 ( and counting) Eritreans and its own citizens. Among them are nuns, priests, eighty year olds and ten year old children. The sheer number of people being deported and the type of people being deported expose Ethiopia’s lies. Furthermore, the international community has condemned these deportations as gross violations of human rights. Ethio: "Ethiopia has never targeted civilian populations and, as a matter of principle, never will." TRUTH: A town known as "Shambqo" is turned into a stone-age scenery after 150 of its buildings were bombed with napalm and cluster bombs by Ethiopian Migs and helicopter gun ships. Ethiopia bombs a tent village housing civilians it deported, killing five members of the same family. Ethiopia has also bombed other civilian targets such as Adiquala and the Assab and Asmara airports. As ludicrous as it may seem, the Ethiopian government tried to justify its actions by calling on "Eritrea to Evacuate Civilians from Battle Zones" as if all the Southern and South Eastern Eritrean villages are considered "Battle Zones". Ethio: "While territories such as Badme have oft been referred to as "no man's land," Ethiopia has been resolute in defense of its sovereign territory not only out of obligation to protect citizens who do indeed live in these areas but, more important, as a matter of principle." TRUTH: Ethiopia has the responsibility, obligation, and at least the decency of acknowledging and respecting its DEAD! Ethio: "Eritrea invaded Ethiopian territories in May and June of 1998." TRUTH: In the middle of 1997, the Ethiopian government committed an act of aggression on Eritrea by unilaterally redrawing the internationally recognized Eritro-Ethiopian international boundaries. This act of aggression was followed by the Ethiopian government's encroachment into the Bada, Zalambesa, and Badme areas creating new "facts on the ground". Finally, the border crisis was triggered on May 6, 1998, by an unprovoked Ethiopian armed attack on Eritrean troops in Badme, Southern town of Eritrea, where four Eritrean high ranking officials were killed. Ethio: "Ethiopia sought to settle the conflict peacefully for nine months." TRUTH: On May 13, 1998 the Parliament of the Ethiopian Government declared a war of aggression on the people of Eritrea. Following this act of aggression, on June 4, 1998, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared another war of aggression on Eritrea by calling upon the people of Ethiopia to act "according to directives to be issued by organs of the Government and the Defense Forces of Ethiopia." These acts of aggression were followed by the successive offensives mounted throughout the 1000 kilometers long Eritro-Ethiopian borderlines and the aerial bombardment of Asmera, the capital of Eritrea. After the unofficial cease-fire that was fully accepted and respected by Eritrea, Ethiopia used the opportunity to invest $400 million on arming its military and employing foreign mercenaries to operate its newly acquired high tech planes and tanks. Finally, Ethiopia launched its second round large scale offensive accompanied by the recently purchased Migs and helicopter gun ships operated by the foreign mercenaries. Ethio: Eritrea never did withdraw from Badme; it was kicked out by force. TRUTH: On Friday February 26, Eritrea announced it's withdrawal from Badme and its environs. On Saturday February 27, the government of Ethiopia officially declared its occupation of the Southern village of Eritrea, Badme, which led to Ethiopia's declaration of its "Total Victory". In fact, someone with average common sense might wonder the need to continue the war after the declaration of "Total Victory" by one of the belligerents. Ethio: "Eritrea claimed to accept the OAU peace plan only after its troops were forcibly removed from Badme." TRUTH: On December 2, 1998, Eritrea requested the OAU High-Level Delegation for clarifications on some of the ambiguous terms and clauses used on the OAU Framework Agreement. Some of the clarifications requested included the limits of "Badme Town and its environs" and the vague "redeployment" of the unspecified armed forces. On January 26, 1999, Eritrea received the written clarifications it requested from the OAU. After it had a chance to study and understand the implications of both the proposal and the clarifications that followed, on February 27, 1999, Eritrea officially declared its full acceptance of the OAU Framework Agreement. Ethio: "The OAU Framework Agreement for peace requires Eritrea to withdraw its troops from all occupied Ethiopian territories." TRUTH: Nowhere on the OAU Framework Agreement is the withdrawal of Eritrean troops from "all occupied Ethiopian territories" ever mentioned. To set the record straight, The OAU Framework Agreement under Articles 3, 4, and 5, successively, states as follows: 3. In order to create conditions conducive to a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict through the delimitation and demarcation of the border, the armed forces presently in Badme Town and its environs, should be redeployed to the positions they held before 6 May 1998 as a mark of goodwill and consideration for our continental Organization, it being understood that this redeployment will not prejudge the final status of the area concerned, which will be determined at the end of the delimitation and demarcation of the border and, if need be, through an appropriate mechanism of arbitration; 4. This redeployment be supervised by a Group of Military observers which will be deployed by the OAU with the support of the United Nations. The Group of Military Observers will also assist the reinstated Civilian Administration in the maintenance of law and order during the interim period; 5. a) The redeployment be subsequently extended to all other contested areas along the common border within the framework of demilitarization of the entire common border and as a measure for defusing the tension and facilitating the delimitation and demarcation process. In effect, the demilitarization which will begin with the Mereb Setit segment, will then extend to the Bada area and the border as a whole; b) The demilitarization process be supervised by the Group of Military Observers; Again, to set the record more straight, per Article 3 of the OAU Framework of Agreement, Eritrean troops have withdrawn from "Badme Town and its environs" as a "mark of goodwill". As a peaceful gesture, the Eritrean government has also gone one step forward and proposed the implementation of Articles 4 and 5 through the redeployment of its troops from all "contested areas along the common border within the framework of demilitarization of the entire common border." Ethio: During the Eritrean regime's short five years in office, it has made a habit of aggression, invading four of its five neighbors. First, it used force against the Sudan. Second, Eritrea occupied Yemen's Hanish Island. Next, Eritrean troops temporarily occupied a border police post in Djibouti. And last, Eritrea invaded Ethiopia as part of a well-established pattern of behavior that completely flouts core principles of international law and underscores a belief in "might is right." TRUTH:. Eritrean government has been making history. The Eritrean government has shouldered the responsibility of handing its future generation a legacy of a clearly defined, independent, and economically and politically self-reliant nation called Eritrea. For beginners, the Eritrean government has successfully ascertained its share of the Red Sea through a peaceful and legal means. This is an example that some nations with supposedly a four digital history haven't been able to accomplish. The neighbouring countries of Somalia and Kenya have not escaped from Ethiopia’s ruse of using the pretext of being in hot pursuit against rebels to invade their territories killing civilians and looting villages. Kenyan government officials living in the border area with Ethiopia have complained to their government saying they feared for their lives. |