Eritrea forcefully disarmed UNMEE

This is the first instance where by the United Nations peace keeping force taken captive and disarmed partially or totally by a hosting country or any other country for that matter. The Eritrean regime forced members of UNMEE to crisscross the entire Eritrean terrain to encamp in Asmara while disarming and confiscating weapons and war materials. Members of UNMEE emasculated and powerless marched in obedience to the capital of the terrorist regime.

By tacking such kind of undiplomatic and uncivilized actions, the Eritrean regime has shown the whole world beyond doubt that it is deficient, insane and capable of terrorist act and inherently violent.   As the result of that and because of its incompetence, the UN buckled and crumpled easily to threat of the dictator. Fearing for the safety and security of UNMEE staff, the UN complied and surrendered to the Eritrean regime. If one can categorically state that Eritrea is forcefully disarmed UNMEE, it is also correct to state that the UN has taken no actions whatsoever to restrain the Eritrean government and allowed the situations to go out of control.

 Considering what Eritrea did to destroy peace making and UNMEE over the years, the UN deserved the punishments and humiliations it is getting from the regime. The lack of measured actions from UN and its head UNSC dampened the chance of peace and inflamed the possibility of war in our regions. Its readiness and willingness to give up without a fight weapons and war materials to Eritrean regime can go as one of ugliest fallacy in history.  Do the UN and UNSC will allow Eritrea to use those weapons and war materials left behind by UNMEE to be used against the people of Ethiopia? What kind of guarantee can the UN provide the people of Ethiopia that all war materials belong to UNMEE will be safely removed and never been used by the Eritrean regime?

It is easy to make a case both against the Eritrean regime and the UN for the current crises. From the beginning Eritrea never respected and want to be a partner of peace and settlement in that part of the world. It has broken all bilateral, multilateral and international treaties and waged war against all of its neighbors. While Eritrea is menacing the entire region with brute violence and terrorist act the UN and its head UNSC dare to sanction and take punitive and preventive measures against the dictatorial regime. It is sad that the UN and the international community easily ignored and gave blind eye to the serious issues and interests of Africa. When it comes to the issues of Eritrea, the international community in general decidedly has taken to side with dictatorial regime. The parties and the signatories to the Algiers Agreement failed to rescue the treaty and simply watched as Eritrean regime shreds all part of the agreement in to pieces.  At this juncture, leave alone the Algiers Agreement, the UN body can not even rescue it self from the jaw of the dictator. The total silence of the international community is freighting and bitterly disappointing. Naked aggression is tolerated and accepted with far reaching consequences.

 The insistence of the Eritrean regime crud demarcation without negotiations and consultations has no base and could not bring peace whatsoever. Demarcation or else and crying wolf day in day out and accusing every one to do its bidding is shire ignorance and arrogance. It blames and accuses the UN and United States for not forcing Ethiopia to demarcate while it refuses even to talk about demarcations at any form. The regime simply wants other forces to implement its agenda instead of facing the realties and behave as responsible government. The Eritrean government bluntly rebuked all calls for peaceful settlement of conflicts and stuck with its flimsy cry of demarcation or else bravado. It failed to grasp that without negotiations there would be no demarcation.

 It cares little who and what is affected by rigid and inhuman demarcations and refused to see the implications on present and future relations. To implement its wicked objectives of dividing our people, the Eritrean regime has gone to extreme and dead set to erect satellite mapped boundary regardless of the consequences. To this end the Eritrean regime determined to sow permanent discord and animosity between the two brotherly and sisterly people and lacked gesture and good will for peace, democracy and development for our entire regions. It is rigidity, arrogance, inflexibility and bravado could not allow the regime to foresee the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea are bound by infinite array of relations and the present crises are come to pass. This is also the main concern that the international community failed to understand. They all want to demarcate at any cost regardless of its impact on the people of both counties and future relations. Whether the crude and inhuman demarcations resulted in more bloodshed and permanent conflict, the international community cared less as long as the lines are drawn as envisaged by aliens who failed to appreciate the lives and destiny of our people.

Why the international entities and media falsely claiming Ethiopia refused to demarcate while the government in more than one occasion went public that it accepted the demarcations without conditions? Contrary to what the Eritrean government and biased international media propagating, the government of Ethiopia never refused to demarcate the boarder. In fact in many occasions, despite reservations and against the considerable oppositions from many Ethiopians, the government for the sake of peace, development and to spare our brotherly and sisterly people from another bloody conflict it agreed to accept the ruling. But as usual the regime failed to reciprocate and continue crying wolf day and night with familiar and sickening propaganda of demarcation or else bravado. Now the Eritrean regime has only to blame itself and no one for the total abrogation of the treaty which could have set the boarder demarcation. By completely violating the treaty it also invalidated the ruling of the boarder commission. The boarder commission is part and parcel of the Algiers treaty which the Eritrean government is failed to appreciate. For all practical purposes the Algiers agreement is dead and for that the main culprit is Eritrea and no body else.

As we speak, UNMEE is surrendered and disarmed. That means UNMEE is out. TSZ is also nonexistent. The boarder commission is disbanded forever. Those are the building blocks of the Algiers Agreement and all are now history. An empty cry such as "False Accusations Cannot Undermine the Final and Binding Boundary Demarcation Decision" is just that and nothing else. The Eritrean regime by violating the terms of the treaties nullified all part of the agreement including demarcations.  The rule is simple, all or nothing. The rule of international treaties stipulates that all part of the agreement must be respected by all parties and the violations of any part invalidate every other part unless otherwise agreed upon all parties. Eritrea can not demand demarcation only while violating every part of the agreement.  The dictator can not pick and choose which part need to be implemented and which one is discarded. It is the wholesome commitment, commitment for peace and reconciliations.

One seriously asks why the Eritrean regime is afraid to talk to the Ethiopian government. What is the regime thinking could happen if it resumes peaceful dialogue with the government of Ethiopia? Wouldn't be better to talk over the issues in civilized manner to normalize relations instead of lining up the old and the young in the trenches for bloody conflict?  Why the international community failed to urge Eritrea dialogue is better than war? The Eritrean regime is well versed in violence and shuns peace at any cost.

The source of the conflict between the two countries was not unmarked boarder but is and was bad government in Eritrea. The solution is also undoubtedly the emergence of democratic government in Eritrea.  The present government is anti peace, democracy, development and against good neighborly relations. Essential it is a full-fledged terrorist entity that employed all its resources against its own people, the people of the horn and international community.  The international community must come out openly and demand the dictator to step down before it is too late.  The dictator's time is up and must go for sake of millions of people. The people of Ethiopia and Eritrea must unload this heavy burden and assert their livelihoods and their destiny into the new millennium.  

Thanks

Abdel 03/06/08