There is perverted logic coming out from Asmara these days. Eritrea's leaders are unabashedly telling their people that the international community backs their position and that Ethiopia has been warned, at the threat of withdrawing aid, from taking measures to regain territory earlier occupied by Eritrea.

This distorted argument has been presented time and time again. Most recently in a statement from Asmara which observed that " ... several governments have warned Ethiopia , in the strongest possible terms , that the substantial development assistance that it gets will be terminated if it resorts to war." The idea is to give the impression that the international community is comfortable with the status quo (i.e.) the occupation by Eritrea of Ethiopian territory.

Eritrea's intransigence is pushing the conflict to the brink of a full-scale war. Not satisfied with its occupation of Ethiopian territory carried out between May 6 and 12, and launching the cowardly air strike against civilian targets on June 5 and 11, Eritrea's leaders are bragging that they will not withdraw their troops even if the sun were to stop rising in the East.

Apparently Eritrea's leaders have a delusions of their military might. Their attempt to 'rock the Ethiopian boat' and impose their ludicrous economic/financial will upon Ethiopia has failed. Ethiopia is well beyond their grasp, and no amount of human and material destruction is going to place Ethiopia in their orbit.

But what is galling is their audacity to portray their adventure as something endorsed by the international community. They are resorting to their habitual inexcusable fabrications with the sole and debased aim to hoodwink their people to support their aggression comfortably believing that the international community favors their positions.

Otherwise, the writing on the wall is crystal clear. Eritrea has been told, time and again, by all concerned governments and international bodies, to withdraw its troops from Ethiopian territory. The resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, the Conference of the Non-aligned Movement and the recent ACP-EU Joint Assembly speak the same language. They strongly back the stand of the OAU whose position rests on the recommendations of the facilitators that Eritrea get off Ethiopian land first.

But in their frenzy to impose their military aggression, Eritrea's leaders all quite capable of misreading the world. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on October 2, Eritrea's Foreign Minister said, " the Ethiopian Government has rejected all overtures by third parties for peaceful solution of the dispute and all calls made by the international community to seek a peaceful solution to the dispute" completely ignoring the fact that it is his country that is believed by the world to be out of compliance with international decisions on the matter. The Eritrean Foreign Minister went further by peddling the old lie that the Ethiopia Deputy Minister affirmed that Assab would fall into Ethiopian hands in " the next few days." This is a complete, unadulterated fabrication authored by a government suffering from a serious lack of political ammunition against Ethiopia.

The international community is not only opposed to the conflict as started by Eritrea but several governments have warned Eritrea, (one would have hoped in more stronger terms) that if it is persisted in its stubborn stand it risks losing whatever it has achieved ( not that its government has achieved much) in recent years . The loss of Ethiopia as an economic cushion for Eritrea is recognized by all international observers, and particularly the global financial institutions, as a devastating blow to the Eritrean economy. It is widely believed that as a result of its short sighted policies, Eritrea has, in effect , lost its biggest donor-Ethiopia. The loss of receipts of 1 Billion Birr a year in port related expenses is only the tip of the iceberg.

In light of the situation, the dire implications of the untenable status quo have been conveyed to Eritrea's envoys when they toured Europe, the Arab world and Africa over the past few months. If they have misread the message or wish to disregard it, it will only be at their peril. The Eritrean people too will not be hoodwinked by their transparent deceit.