IS UNMEE NEUTRAL?
Irob Community in North America
October 13, 2002
According to several news
sources of October 11, 2002, the UNMEE made an official protest to the
Ethiopian government that a group of Ethiopian villagers and militiamen entered
the so-called Temporary Security Zone (TSZ).
According to the press releases, the UNMEE accused the Ethiopian
villagers and militiamen of entering into Eritrean territory.
We contacted people in
the area to find out what exactly happened. Thus, we gathered the following
report by interviewing local people.
According to their accounts, some Eritrean villagers, accompanied by
Eritrean militiamen and by the UNMEE soldiers, came with their cattle to the Ethiopian
side of the border and intermingled their animals with the Irob cattle that
were already on the grazing meadow. When an Ethiopian herdsman, who was at the
pasture with his cattle, asked them why they came and what their intentions
were, a UN soldier approached the man as if he were going to explain to him
something and abruptly assailed the man and started to take hold of him. The
traumatized Ethiopian managed to free himself from the control of the UN
soldier and screamed for help. At that point, another Ethiopian who was in the
area and happened to be armed, shot in the air to warn the intruders. When they
heard the gunfire, some Ethiopian militiamen who were in the vicinity rushed to
the area shooting in the air. Shortly thereafter, the UN soldiers and the
Eritreans retreated to the Eritrean side of the border. According to the interviewees, the Ethiopian
militia did not follow after them.
According to our
sources, therefore, the incident did not happen in the TSZ, but actually
on the Ethiopian side of the border as a result of the confrontational
incursion of the UN soldiers and the Eritrean militia. It is evident, thus,
that the Ethiopian villagers in the area were simply acting in self-defense
when the intruders crossed over to Ethiopian territory in an unusual and
menacing demeanor. Hence, the UNMEE distorted the matter and misinformed the
world community regarding the factual occurrence, apparently to conceal
their biased practices.
Furthermore, we came to
find out that the incident did not even occur in the locality called Aromo,
which lies by the northern border of Irob, as referred to by the UNMEE. The incident actually took place several
kilometers away from Aromo in the western section of Irob in the locality named
Gamado.
The partiality of the
UNMEE is not new and has been going on since it started its mission in the
area. Now, they are telling us that the incident that took place on the
Ethiopian side of the border, because of its own provocation, happened in the
Temporary Security Zone (TSZ). This is totally unexpected from a force that is
supposed to be neutral. The motive cannot be other than a pro- Eritrean
preliminary gambit for the upcoming demarcation.
Armed men from the
Eritrean side have been entering deep into the Irob territories and abducting
people and rustling cattle for the last several months. Just to mention a few,
two young men, Mr. Kidane Halibo Hagos and Mr. Gerey Abraha Gebray, were
abducted from the Irob village of Wankabo last August. Eyewitnesses informed us
that the abductors handed the abductees to Eritrean authorities in Senafe. The
source confirmed that the Eritrean authority took them to the Eritrean town of
Adikeyih. No further information about them has been received since then. In
another incident, last September armed men entered the Irob village of Waratle
at night and kidnapped two other men, Mr. Dawud Abrahim and Mr. Fessuh Debessay
Zeweldi, at gunpoint. Nobody knows anything about their whereabouts since then.
These are in addition to hundreds of Irob farmers abducted during the
occupation who are languishing in Eritrean prisons and labor camps.
Nevertheless, the Chief
of Staff of the UNMEE said, in his media briefings of October 11th,
“I do not think that there is any pending investigation in which a person
still remains abducted”. During the same media briefing, the Director in
the office of the SRSG said: “when someone reports that someone is abducted it
is taken seriously by the Force until it turns out not to be so --- it
is not easy for the ordinary person to know when they are on the other side
which is not their country”. First of all, the people in the area know their
land very well; therefore, what the Director is trying to convince us of is
completely baseless. Second, the UNMEE officials admitted, during the press
briefing, that the “villagers along the border had complained about abductions
at gunpoint and widespread cattle rustling.” Nonetheless, they are telling the
world that there is no person that remains abducted. The whole pretense of the
UNMEE, therefore, demonstrates total disregard for villagers on the Ethiopian
side of the border.
The Irob people have been
repeatedly appealing to the UN peacekeeping forces in the area to do something
to stop the frequent incursion into their territory by the Eritreans and the
abduction of people and rustling of their domestic animals. But, the UNMEE did
not do anything to stop it, nor did they protest it to the Eritrean
authorities. On the contrary, it officially protested about the resistance the
Ethiopian militiamen demonstrated when Eritrean militia accompanied by the
UNMEE forces crossed into their territory and unscrupulously stated that that
territory belonged to Eritrea.
The UNMEE has been
partial since it was dispatched into the area and this time it made public its
bias. Specific comments made by the Chief of Staff, Colonel Rajesh Arya of
UNMEE in response to this incident were completely inappropriate for a
body that is supposed to be a neutral party. This clearly demonstrates
the UNMEE’s partiality in this issue.
He stated, “The villagers had made threatening gestures and abused
the Indian battalion’s peacekeepers, who had approached them to order them
to return to Ethiopian territory.”
Is it Colonel Arya’s job to determine what is Ethiopian territory and
what is not? Is he acting in his
impartial role by making such statements?
Obviously not! This is
irresponsible favoritism. We would like to remind them that deciding which
piece of land belongs to whom is not the UNMEE soldiers’ mandate.
We just hope that the
series of unjust events that are taking place in Irobland and other border
areas are not simply a pretext for the UN to eventually carry out some
predetermined plans to make Eritrea appear a victim and thereby to entitle her
to what is not hers. Unfortunately,
time and time again evidence from the area is pointing in that direction. It is sad that the defenseless villagers
were pushed to the point of raising axes and sticks to call on the authorities
who have lent deaf ears to their cries.
The Irobs are frustrated
because of continuous abuses and injustice taking place against them. Hence,
there is no other choice for them but to defend themselves, their territory and
their possessions with anything available to them, and they will definitely
continue to do so whatever the cost may be. We would like to point out that
there cannot be reconciliation of the two peoples nor can there be peace in the
region by suppressing one side and favoring the other.
We condemn any forced eritreanization
of the Irob people, misappropriation of their land and possessions or
displacement of them from their territory.
As we repeatedly said,
there will never be a permanent peace in the area without a fair settlement of
the conflict and we warn that that will affect both sides.
We appeal to all
Ethiopian organizations and Ethiopians at large to support the plight of the
Irob and other Ethiopians affected by the Eritrean invasion and subsequent
arbitrary decision by The Hague. We also appeal to the world community to
follow closely the demarcation process in the area, engage in it, and
pressurize the powers implicated in it so that justice prevails against
partiality. We call on the Ethiopian
government to follow the situation closely and to take appropriate actions in
defense of its people and territory.
This is a chance for the Ethiopian government to speak up about the
abuses befalling the Irob people in particular, and all Ethiopians living on
the border areas in general by the Eritrean armed forces and the so-called
peacekeepers.