April 19 2008

 

 

The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States of America

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC

           

Dear Mr. President:

 

Re: Occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories by Ethiopia

 

 

We are proud citizens and lawful residents of the United States of America, who reside in the Lone Star State of Texas. We are also especially proud in calling ourselves Eritrean-Americans and lawful residents of this great nation and state ever since our country of birth, Eritrea, became a member of the United Nations in 1993 upon achieving her independence from expansionist Ethiopia. Naturally, nothing could be more joyous to us than to see the best relations between our country of birth and our adopted country, the United States of America. We, your fellow Texans, are writing today to convey to you our heartfelt collective concerns with the hope that you will make a difference. Our concerns are:

 

1.      Ethiopia continues to militarily occupy sovereign Eritrean territories, including the village of Badme.

 

2.      The UN Security Council has refused to address the occupation of Eritrean sovereign territories, choosing instead to dwell on tangential issues that have no legal bearing while ignoring Ethiopia’s violation of international law and the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s (EEBC) final and binding delimitation and demarcation decisions.

 

3.      The US maintains a policy of appeasement for Ethiopia instead of Pressuring Ethiopia to listen to the voice of reason and abide by the rule of law.

 

It has been eight years since the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the                Algiers Peace Agreements on 12 December 2000 under the auspices of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (now African Union). As you know, the United States is one of the witnesses and guarantors of the Agreements along with the European Union, African Union and the United Nations. The Algiers Agreements mandated the EEBC to delimit and demarcate the Eritrea Ethiopia border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902, and 1908), and applicable international law. Both Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed that the decision would be final and binding.

 

The EEBC delivered its final and binding delimitation decision on 13 April 2002 and awarded the Badme village, the casus belli for the war, to Eritrea. That decision brought a legal resolution to the Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict. Ethiopia rejected the decision and refused to allow for the expeditious ground demarcation of the border by the placing of physical markers on the ground. After waiting for almost 6 years, the EEBC decided to fulfill its mandate by demarcating the border by placing coordinate markers on maps, “virtual demarcation”, instead of placing pillars on the ground. 

 

We, Eritrean-Americans, believe that Ethiopia has been emboldened to reject the EEBC’s decisions because of the diplomatic, financial, military and political support it receives from the US-led international community. Ethiopia's rejection violates the Algiers Agreements, flouts international law, defies relevant Security Council resolutions and jeopardizes regional peace and security. Ethiopia’s rejection of the EEBC's final and binding decisions will undermine the peace process as a whole, provoke another senseless war, and prolong the suffering of the people in the region. It would also create a dangerous precedent and undermine the sanctity of colonial borders, a recipe for disaster and endless inter-state conflicts in Africa.

 

The US-led international community has done very little to force Ethiopia to adhere to its legal and moral obligations under the Algiers Agreement. The Eritrea-Ethiopia border has now been legally delimited and demarcated and therefore, the issue is now the military occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme. The international community in general and the UN Security Council in particular, should not employ different standards to act on violations of international law.

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

Another issue of concern to Eritrean-Americans is the unwarranted, hostile conduct and the public statements concerning regime change in Eritrea of US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Jendayi E. Frazer and her threats to put Eritrea, a country that has been fighting terrorism and a victim of terrorism, on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

 

Dr. Frazer’s illegal intervention to reverse the EEBC decision was exposed by John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the UN, in the recently published memoir “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad”. On page 347 of his book, Mr. Bolton wrote:

 

 “… For reasons I never understood Frazer reversed course, and asked in early February to reopen the 2002 decision, which she had concluded was wrong, and award a major piece of disputed territory to Ethiopia. I was at a loss how to explain that to the Security Council, so I didn’t…”

 

Mr. President, we urge you to call on Dr. Frazer to refrain from such hostile and irresponsible actions and statements that could inflame an already tenuous and volatile region.

It is our honest opinion, the only right thing for Dr. Frazer to do would be to distance her self from Ethiopia’s deceptive flip- flopping tactics and call for the unconditional end to Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

We, Eritrean Americans, firmly believe that the U.S. government is committed to promoting regional peace and security. We believe that this is the time to take meaningful action to compel Ethiopia to accept the Boundary Commission’s delimitation and demarcation decisions without any equivocation or qualifications, and require Ethiopia to vacate from sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme Village. In fairness and by international law, no law-abiding human being can accept the logic of force and accommodate Ethiopia's forcible occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory.

We, as Eritrean Americans, cannot accept the dislocation of our parents, sisters and brothers and condemn them to live in makeshift camps forever. Eritrean-Americans and the Eritrean people are long past the time for toothless diplomatic words.

Once the Algiers Agreements are implemented and the peace secured under the force of international law, we believe that shared historical relations, strategic interests and a common destiny will help the Eritrean and Ethiopian peoples overcome the tragedy of the war and move on to build a better future. A region at peace with itself will then be able to reorient its focus and utilize its resources and energies to consolidate the peace, build the infrastructure and promote cooperation. These are indispensable for the development of the region and the improvement of the human condition of the peoples.

 

We, Eritrean Americans resident of Texas, implore you to find time in your very busy schedule in this the final year of your distinguished presidency to put an end to the suffering of the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Only you can make a difference. We call on you to use all measures, economic and political, available to you to bring pressure to bear on Ethiopia to:

 

1.      Unconditionally respect Ethiopia’s legal and moral obligations under the Algiers agreement.

 

2.      Respect and comply with the EEBC’s final and binding delimitation and demarcation decisions of 13 April 2002, and 27 November 2007 respectively.

 

3.      Immediately and unconditionally, withdraw from sovereign Eritrean territories it continues to occupy militarily.

          

Sincerely

 

Beraky A. Woldegebriel

On behalf of the Eritrean Communities in Texas

 

Beraky A. Woldegebriel

1410 Dapplegrey Lane

Austin Texas 78727

(512) 554-4525