Post
by Sadacha Macca » 19 Sep 2021, 14:06
Badme is a town in Southern Eritrea which was used as a pretext to launch Ethiopia’s 1998-2000 war of aggression and occupation of Eritrea. Ethiophyles and the western media have consistently undermined Badme’s value. Some said it was “geographically small and economically valueless”, “remote pockets of barren land” etc. etc. Regardless of its size and topography, it was and remains a precious sovereign Eritrean territory. There was never any doubt in the hearts and minds of Eritreans, and judging from the Wikileak cables, the minority regime in Ethiopia also knew that Badme was sovereign Eritrean territory.
Meles Zenawi and his propaganda machinery rejected any dialogue in 1998-2000 and chose instead to fight a bloody war. The minority regime, by its own admission, set out to “humiliate” Eritrea and to teach Eritrea’s leadership “a lesson”. A cable from 10 August 1998 shows the callousness of the regime in Ethiopia and its total disregard for the lives of Ethiopia’s youth. In the cable, the American official makes comments about the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia and says they were “sources of helpful expertise and analysis in regional issues”, but “distracted by their own conflict”, the US official said, “their leadership is sorely missed”. Meles Zenawi told the official that President Isaias Afwerki “didn’t understand the rules of the game” and that there was nothing anyone could do to prevent the war. According to the cable:
“…Thus it is better, Meles suggested, if the U.S. lets things take their course and evolve naturally. Just be aware, he added, that nothing will prevent Ethiopia’s attempt to dislodge Isaias from badme if he does not withdraw voluntarily…why not prepare for the eventual aftermath? … a better use of our analytic capacity, Meles proposed, is to assess the end game and what the U.S. might do to pick up the pieces later, after the worst happens and the two countries fight it out. A friend with resources and a plan for the aftermath would be most welcome. Why not prepare for the three eventualities: Ethiopia cracks, Eritrea cracks, there is a draw….”
Meles Zenawi chose war and hundreds and thousands were killed, many thousands more maimed and injured. Thousands were displaced from their homes and villages and the regime’s marauding forces destroyed vital infrastructures including clinics, hospitals, private homes, banks, hotels, Martyrs cemeteries, churches, mosques etc.
Eritrea has always maintained that Badme was a pretext for war and the evidence to support its assertions has since come to light with the release of the Wikileak documents. The 1998-2000 Ethiopian aggressive war of invasion and occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories cost the lives of over 120,000 Ethiopian youth who were used as cannon fodder and minesweepers in the minority regime’s misguided adventures. The war was imposed on the people of Eritrea by the minority regime and its handlers and Badme was a pawn in their evil agendas.
Let us take a look at some of the comments made by the regime regarding Badme and the Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict.
“…When we were told Asmara is not Ethiopian, when we were told Asseb is not Ethiopian we said – sure, if the Eritrean people think that Asseb is Eritrea and not Ethiopia, that’s alright. And we went to Asmara and celebrated with the Eritreans the independence of Eritrea. Badme is not bigger than Asmara. Badme is not more important than Asseb by any stretch of the imagination. It is some godforsaken village. So it’s not about territory. According to the latest rendition of the Boundary Commission, Badme would be 800 metres inside Eritrea. What’s 800 metres in a country as big as Ethiopia? What’s 800 metres compared to what we willingly and happily gave up as Eritrea? It’s nothing. But it is 800 metres which we are told is something it has never been, and something that it will never be. That’s the point. That’s the crux of the matter…” (Meles Zenawi in an interview with IRIN 2003).
“…Something positive for Ethiopia must emerge from the process What was needed was a comprehensive package that could only be develope through dialogue. If a package of concrete measures, mostly economic, could be assembled to restore the bilateral relationship to normal — pre-conflict — then territorial issues like Badme would seem far less important. Whether a particular village like Badme was on one side of border or the other would matter less to people, and less to both governments…”- (Mulugeta Alemseged, Meles Zenawi’s National Security Advisor to Vicki Huddleston, 4 November 2005)
“…Meles admitted “no one really cares about Badme, rather it was a symbol of how you prove you are in the right…” (To Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn B. Pascoe, August 2007)
“…Meles has always indicated in very private meetings that he is willing to compromise on Badme if it would bring sustainable peace, but it would cost him his prime ministership. Until there are signs of compromise from Eritrea towards an Ethiopian solution (normalization of relations in conjunction with demarcation), Meles is stuck in the current impasse…”-(September 2007 cable from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
“…The outbreak of hostilities in 1998 between Eritrea and Ethiopia was never about the border dispute in Badme and Zelambessa… It was about economic and political differences…Meles noted that after conflict broke out and the cessation of hostilities agreement was negotiated, a 26 mile buffer zone located in the Eritrean side was advocated by hard-liners on the Ethiopian side only as a means to humiliate Isaias…”- (Meles Zenawi during meeting with Susan Rice 21 May 2009)
Etc. etc.
All things come to an end and in June 2000, Meles Zenawi’s minority regime signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, bringing an end to the bloody two year war. In December 2000, the US brokered and authored Algiers Agreements between the State of Eritrea and Ethiopia were signed. The Agreements called for the establishment of three Commissions; a neutral Boundary Commission, a Claims Commission and a Commission to investigate the origins of the conflict.
According to Article 2.4 of the Algiers Agreements:
“…The parties agree that a neutral Boundary Commission composed of five members shall be established with a mandate to delimit and demarcate the colonial treaty border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902, 1908) and applicable international law. The Commission shall not have the power to make decisions ex aequo et bono…”
The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) delivered its final and binding delimitation and demarcation decisions on 13 April 2002 and November 2007 respectively. The EEBC decided that Badme, the casus belli for the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict was “unequivocally” sovereign Eritrean territory, but the minority regime refused to accept the decision and has sought many gimmicks and ploys to have the decision overturned.
The EEBC was forced to fulfill its sole mandate, to demarcate the Eritrea Ethiopia border, and it did that by using coordinates on maps, “virtual demarcation”, as the regime in Ethiopia refused to allow for the demarcation of the border by placing border markers on the ground. After waiting for over 5 years, and tolerating the minority regime’s abuse, insults, intimidations, harassments, and childish tantrums, the EEBC was forced to close its offices and leave the area. Ethiopia called on the UN and US not to accept the “virtual demarcation” of the Eritrea Ethiopia border, and both have given their tacit acquiescence to Meles Zenawi’srequest.
The regime and its handlers used various pretexts such as “villages being divided”, “churches being split into two” etc. etc. to get the delimitation decision reversed. A bigoted regime that maliciously deported over 80,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin from Ethiopia, that destroys the burial grounds of Eritrea’s beloved Martyrs, burns and loots Churches and Mosques, deliberately displaces hundreds and thousands from their villages in its money making schemes, sells thousands of Ethiopian children in its adoption programs etc. etc. does not have the moral authority to talk about humanitarian issues.
Furthermore, unlike what Meles Zenawi and his apologists insinuate, there has never been a single demarcation process in history that has not involved the splitting or dividing of villages and communities. Most African states are composed of a variety of ethnic groups, and often some of these groups straddle boundaries with neighboring states. Suffice to mention that there are Somalis in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and in Somalia, the Afar are found in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti etc. etc. Much the same is evidenced in Europe and Asia and even right here in the United States wherein communities near the US-Canada border and US-Mexico border remain divided.
But as the EEBC explained in its 23 March Observations, the regime in Ethiopia and its multi million dollar lawyers knew and both Eritrea and Ethiopia knew in advance and agreed that:
1. “…the result of the Commission’s delimitation of the boundary might not be identical with previous areas of territorial administration and might follow a course which resulted in populations ending up on the ‘wrong’ side of the boundary, and that where such a situation arose the ensuing problems were for resolution by the UN rather than by the Commission (Article 4.16 of the December 2000 Agreement)…”;
2. “…it was not open to the Commission to make its decisions on the basis of ex aequo et bono considerations (Article 4.2)…”;
3. “…the boundary as delimited by the Commission’s Delimitation Decision would be final (Article 4.15), i.e., not subject to amendment, including therefore amendment during the process devoted to and limited to demarcation of the boundary delimited…”
The duplicitous regime and its handlers keep harping about “dialogue” to resolve the “root cause” of the conflict between the two countries and yet, they have done everything to prevent the African Union and the United Nations from establishing the Commission mandated under the Algiers Agreement to investigate the origins of the conflict. It should be recalled that Article 3 of the Algiers Agreement clearly stated:
“…In order to determine the origins of the conflict, an investigation will be carried out on the incidents of 6 May 1998 and on any other incident prior to that date which could have contributed to a misunderstanding between the parties regarding their common border, including the incidents of July and August 1997…The investigation will be carried out by an independent, impartial body appointed by the Secretary General of the OAU, in consultation with the Secretary General of the United Nations and the two parties…The independent body will endeavor to submit its report to the Secretary General of the OAU in a timely fashion…The parties shall cooperate fully with the independent body…”
12 years later, the Commission has yet to be established.
According to a 1 December 2005 Wikileak cable from Ethiopia which details a 25 November 2005 meeting between US’ Donald Yamamoto and African Union officials. The African Union seems to have made a unilateraldecision to delay the formation of the Commission. The cable said:
“…Peace and Security Commissioner Djinnit said that the AU favors prioritization of Algiers Accord requirements and indicated that the AU does not believe the time is right for a study on the causes of war between the two countries, as provided for under Article 3…
