Eritreans protest in Strasbourg over Ethiopian border row
Oct 24, 2005 (STRASBOURG) — Thousands of Eritreans gathered in front of the European Parliament Monday to protest Ethiopia’s refusal to accept an international ruling on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border.
The demonstrators called on the European Union to force Ethiopia to implement the ruling issued in 2002, two years after the Horn of Africa nations ended a devastating 2 1/2-year border war.
“The E.U. was a major guarantor. It has a moral obligation to force the Ethiopians to accept the deal,” said Solomon Semere, who traveled 24 hours from his home in Sweden to take part in the rally.
Monday’s demonstrators said the protest was the idea of and organized by Eritreans living in Europe. The Eritrean government, meanwhile, has taken steps in recent weeks seen as a bid to force the international community to act against Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s main objection to the border ruling is that the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission – part of The Hague, Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration -gave Badme to Eritrea. Rival claims to Badme sparked the war, and there are fears the village now held by Ethiopia could be the reason for renewed fighting.
After a march through Strasbourg Monday, some 2,400 Eritreans rallied in front of the Parliament building on the outskirts of the city.
The demonstrators waved Eritrean and European flags, chanted “Demarcation now!” and held banners saying “War No, Peace Yes,” and “E.U. Take Action Now.”
Earlier Monday in the Ethiopian capital, a U.N. spokeswoman said Eritrea had imposed new restrictions on the movement of U.N. peacekeepers. The U.N. has said other restrictions imposed earlier this month had seriously hampered operations meant to warn the world if a new war were to break out.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter last week urging Eritrea to lift a ban on peacekeeping flights. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki rejected Annan’s appeal, telling him that he lacks the “humanitarian high ground on matters of law, the rule of law and humanitarian issues.”
Diplomats have said the restrictions may be an Eritrean ploy to try to force action against Ethiopia.
(AP/ST)