Eritrea dismisses Ethiopia’s military threat after weeks of silence
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
May1, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – Eritrea through its envoy to Africa Union (AU) has dismissed the latest military threats from [Ethiopia->] in a speech to the AU on 26 April.
“The accusation is purely fabricated to divert and deflect the attention of the international community from giving undivided attention to Ethiopia’s illegal occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory including the town of Badme in violation of the UN Charter and the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) Final and Binding 2002 Delimitation Decision and 2007 Demarcation Decision” he said.
Ethiopia last month said it has changed its policy toward Eritrea and is now preparing to oust the government through “diplomatic and military” means.
“Ethiopia has abandoned its defensive policy and now will be proactive about toppling Eritrea”, Ethiopian Prime minister Meles Zenawi told parliament in a recent session, accusing Eritrea of continuing terrorist acts with a plan to make Addis Ababa like Baghdad
After weeks of silence, the Eritrean Ambassador said the allegations are “baseless” calling on the AU and UN to stop Addis Ababa making “belligerent and threatening statements”.
“Eritrea does not have a plan or an agenda of destabilizing Ethiopia or the region. Eritrea has never thought, imagined or said that it will make Addis Ababa, Baghdad” Asmerom said.
“Once again Eritrea calls on the AU and UN to urge Ethiopia refrain from making military threats against Eritrea, and unconditionally withdraw from Eritrean territory including Badme on the basis of the Final and Binding Delimitation and Demarcation Decisions of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC)’’
The Eritrean envoy further said that the latest threats from Ethiopia are “pure aggression and declaration of war against a member state of the African Union and the UN which should be condemned by all peace loving Governments and Peoples of the world”.
In 2003 Eritrea pulled out from the AU, recalling its envoy in Addis Ababa, by fiercely protesting what it described as AU’s ‘failure’ to condemn Ethiopia’s alleged violations of a peace agreement that ended a 1998-2000 border war.
Since the devastating border war that killed over 70,000 people relations between the two countries have remained tense.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration defined the border in 2002 but Ethiopia has refused to recognise the award of the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.
Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia, making its larger neighbor landlocked, in 1993 following 30 years of struggle.
(ST)