June 23, 2000

Since 1991 our people are suffering from the invading armies of Eritrian Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF). The EPLF exposed our people to enormous hardships and untold miseries. Our land and people are divided and subdivided forcefully against their will. The international community consented to occupation of our land and failed to recognize our rights and allowed EPLF to massacre the Afar people, are planning to station their troops in our land. Once more they are trying to save the enemy and reverse the gains made by our people. Simply this is unacceptable and we will not allow any to occupy our land under any circumstances.

We repeatedly made it very clear that no one can impose its will on our people. Accordingly, we refused to participate and rejected the 1993 shameful and illegal referendum, which lead to the division and invasion of our land by EPLF. We issued numerous statements in 1993 condemning, rejecting and warning all those involved in that false referendum, which lead to divisions and occupation of our people.

We are not and were not parties, which gave birth to the rogue regime in Eritrea. We did not consent or participate to be included and be part of that rogue state. We rejected and fought and are still fighting the occupation and inclusion into the so-called state of Eritrea. For over nine years we have been fighting to expel EPLF forces from our land and achieved considerable victories. Recently our forces liberated most of the Afar land and are now in the final phase of struggle to completely remove the defunct army of EPLF once and for all.

Thus, when our gallant forces are scoring huge victories and successfully liberated most of the territories, once again the foreign forces are trying to scuttle our struggle and snatch our victories to save the dying regime of EPLF. This is unacceptable and we will fight any attempt, which undermines the struggle for self-determination and the interest of our people. Again we are not party to any peace talk, cease-fire and the so-called peace keeping force.

Therefore, we take this opportunity to register further our objections to the stationing of foreign troops on our land. We strongly reject and we will fight any kind of intrusions from foreign forces. We will not be responsible for the safety and security of any foreign force. Rather we consider them invaders and occupying forces and we will fight them resolutely. Furthermore we advice and warn friends and enemies alike to stay away from our land and not to intervene in our struggle for justice, freedom and lasting peace.