The Equinox

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: News

Ambassador Araya Desta

As part of Fairleigh Dickinson University's UN Pathways Lecture Series, Araya Desta, the Permanent Represen-tative of Eritrea to the United Nations, spoke last night on conflict resolution in the region of Eritrea at the Metropolitan Campus.

"Eritrea firmly believes that, in a matter of conflict resolution, the parties must negotiate faithfully and, once the agreement is signed, the parties must act in good faith to insure its full implementation," said Ambassador Desta.

After having fought for 30 years to gain independence, a new conflict arose in Eritrea as a result of Ethiopia, a neighboring country, occupying its western territory. "After gaining our independence," the representative explained, "we still had another problem, a border problem with Ethiopia. Some of the Ethiopian soldiers started to move into the Western parts of Eritrea. They displaced the farmers who had lived there for centuries. In August 1997, Ethiopian troops occupied the Eritrean village of Adi Murug Baga under the pretext of pursuing terrorists."

Desta said there was a lot of mediation between Eritrea and Ethiopia with the purpose of demarcating the border between the two countries. On Dec. 12, 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the Algiers agreement in Hague under the auspices of the Organization of African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Algeria.

"The Eritrea - Ethiopia Border Commission gave a decision in 2002 in regard to the border. Both countries accepted this decision, but after eight months, the Ethiopians changed their mind and rejected it, characterizing it as unjust and illegal," said Desta. "At this time, we were expecting the UN, the U.S., the EU and the African Union to seriously press Ethiopia to come back to their senses because the decision that was given in Hague was to be final and binding," he added.

Despite the fact that Ethiopia signed the Algiers agreement, it continued to occupy sovereign territory by force in violation of the treaty. "We have accepted the agreement. That does not mean we do not have concerns about it, but we have already signed it and we need to follow it. As a sign of a firm commitment to the letter of the law, Eritrea decided to comply with all the agreements it signed," he said.

However, Desta said, because Ethiopia had the mentality of an empire, the leaders wanted to be bigger. That is the reason why there is a lot of fighting in the country, he contended. Furthermore, in 1952, the African country agreed with the United States that Eritrea be federated into Ethiopia so that their domination would be bigger and become a superpower of the region.

"We did not want to federate with Ethiopia. We have never been part of the country. In 70 years, we have been under the control of several countries and that is why we want to have to the same rights like Libya and Somalia and other African countries which were under the French and the Brits, but gained their independence," Desta said.

"Much can be gained from peaceful existence and this should be our priority. If not, the people of the region and the international community have much to lose. The appeasement of some great powers that refuse and violate the rule of law does not bring people out of misery and poverty. People deserve peace and prosperity. Thus, Ethiopia should be forced to respect the Algiers agreement because Eritrea will not accept foreign rule on its territory," Desta concluded.

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