Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998
From: dagmawi@oocities.com
To: Paulos Natnael shedon@hotmail.com
CC: mc.gos@bigpond.com.au
Hello Paulos and Ms. O'Connor:
Here are my responses to the e-mail I received from Paulos. Only the more significant issues are included here...
Dear Ms. O'Connor:
Do not be intimidated by some TPLF agent's diatribe. He has been trying
to defame those who support Eritrean position in the conflict. He has
gone overboard vilifying Dr. John Rude (Memhr Yohannes), a peace corp
veteran, scholar and a friend of Eritrea.
Mr. Rude has no basis for complaining that I vilified him. He can certainly support Eritrea all he wants. He cannot however, knowingly disseminate demonstrably false information. I have no doubt that Mr. Rude knew that the information he provided to the San Francisco Chronicle was false. Yet he did it anyway. It is good though, to see him admit that he is not objective. It is also good to see Dehai stop the farce of labeling him as a "neutral observer" at their homepage.... Next they can fix the embarrassing lie about the Treaty of 1902 specifying a straight line.
I don't have the time nor the desire to respond to his so-called response to your well written article. But I'll respond to some of his shameless denials. What can we expect from hatemongers who are very happy with the current Ethiopian policy of expelling Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean decent from Ethiopia and subsequently looting their hard earn properties some of them worth several million dollars?
There is no hate, only great sadness for the true victims. I will write an article on this shortly.
Any colonial map is of no legal import to Ethiopia. As the Ethiopian mapping agency has long described, all colonial maps depicting Ethiopian territory are the product of "unauthorized aliens." They are not legally binding on Ethiopia anymore than colonial maps produced by the Dutch for Indonesia are legally binding on Australia.
Now of course you can prove me wrong by producing a legally binding map signed by the government of Ethiopia, which establishes an international Eritrea-Ethiopia boundary. It's that simple.
And fascist or not, the Ethiopians have signed treaties with Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. That is a fact. Dagmawi's wishfull thinking to render "legally worthless" treaties signed with those powers is typical Ethiopian double talk.
Here you have misrepresented what I wrote. I said the unilateral maps are legally worthless, not the treaties. Try to keep the distinction clear. If you need help here is a quote from a newsletter produced by your Eritrean countrymen:
|
"The EPLF regime is reported to have now and then raised the thorny issue of borders. It is said to have on a number of occasions requested their revision. This has annoyed the Ethiopians a great deal and provided them cause to rethink their overall relation with the Eritreans. Sources close to the Ethiopian government maintain that, while the EPLF tended to base its claim on various maps left from Italian and British colonial rulers, the Ethiopians insist that the only boundaries they accept are those Emperor Menelik II had recognised."
[http://www.erols.com/meskerem/erinl_79.htm#TENSION] |
So you see, the treaties (signed by both Italy and Ethiopia) disagree with "the colonial map" (produced unilaterally by Mussolini). Which document do you think is legally acceptable? The one endorsed by both sides or the one produced by only one side?
Do you really buy the silly implication in Ms. Kerrie O'Connor's article that the Italian map is legally supreme (because they are Europeans) while the Ethiopian insistence on adhering to the original treaty is illegal (because Ethiopians are Africans)?
You see Ms. O'Connor made a big mistake by not realizing that Ethiopia was an independent, soveriegn nation, and a member of the League of Nations beginning in the 1920's. Ethiopia, as a nation was recognized as having equal rights to any other sovereign nation. The fact that Ethiopians are Africans does not reduce their status in the eyes of international law.
The other mistake made by Ms. O' Connor was that she never checked her sources. Her entire article was based on a misconception about the OAU resolution concerning African borders. Here, for your benefit and for the benefit of Ms. O' Connor, is the relevant section from the OAU Charter and the Cairo resolution of 1964.
OAU Charter, Article III, paragraph 3:
" respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state and for its inalienable right to independent existence."
Cairo resolution AHG/RES 16(1):
"Solemnly declares that all Member States pledge themselves to respect the borders existing on their achievement of national independence."
Are you surprised that the OAU charter actually SUPPORTS Ethiopia's position? Eritrea declared independence in 1993. At that time it did not claim that part of its territory was under occupation by Ethiopia. It did not claim that part of its territory was being occupied by Djibouti (Doumera province). It is too late now to try to revise the borders Eritrea accepted at independence. Trying to revise the borders with Ethiopia and Djibouti now is a violation of the OAU charter.
Dagmawi asks "Do you not agree now that the Ethiopian position; that the border treaties are vague and were never fully implemented, is correct?" Well, then, how can Ethiopia claim Eritrea is occupying its land if the border treaties are vague and were never fully implemented? Ethiopian authorities and their agents need to come up with a logical and sane answer. If the border is not well known, then how could they insist Eritrea withdraw? From where?
This border issue is not new to the Eritrean government (contrary to Mr. John Rude's brazenly unethical statements to the San Francisco Chronicle). Eritrea is perfectly aware of the agreement it had to stay within the borders occupied at the time of the downfall of the Derg. Eritrea is perfectly aware of the areas it has occupied by force. Read their own press release where Eritrea stated that it had "brought under its control large swathes of territory that Ethiopia had been administering."
Please try again to draw the border following the instructions in the Treaty. Remember what Issayas Afeworqi said: "the borders pass through geographical coordinates" , "the treaties are unambiguous and leave no room for doubt."
If you cannot make the border match Eritrea's claims then you agree with Ethiopia. You can easily verify for yourself that the statements of Issayas Afeworqi are false.
- Dagmawi