First of all, I would like to thank you again for accepting our request and taking your time to meet the Eritrean community, representing  various organisations.  I would like to make a statement on behalf of the Action Group for Eritrea, who coordinated this meeting.  AGE was set up by British Eritreans and friends of Eritrea to promote peace and development in the Horn of Africa.  It is currently actively engaged in lobbying those who may be able to help resolve the current conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.  This is because we know that the conflict has the potential to cause unimaginable pain and suffering through instability and economic deprivation.

This is not the first time that we have met with officials from both departments to express our concerns and reservations with respect to the British government’s position on the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.  We have had many meetings and numerous correspondence on the subject.  Unfortunately, we have not seen much of a change that could allay our concern.  The humanitarian and economic consequences of the on going conflict continue to cause a lot of misery to our people. Thousands of internally displaced people continue to live in make-shift camps along the border with Ethiopia in appalling conditions unable to return to their villages. As a community living in the UK, this is bound to affect our lives adversely one way or another.  By coming here and presenting our concerns to you as a community, we hope you will appreciate the sense of injustice that we feel is being carried out on the Eritrean people as a direct result of the prolonged no peace no war situation between Eritrea and Ethiopia. 

I don’t need to remind you the sequence of events that led to where we are today.  It is now 5 years since the boundary commission gave its verdict.  Had the agreement been honoured the border would have been fully demarcated by November 2003 leading to peace and stability in the region.  Unfortunately Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision of the Boundary Commission.  It is crystal clear in our minds that Ethiopia would not have been able to defy an international ruling without the unconditional support it is getting from Britain and influential western nations. 

We feel that a repeated historical injustice is being committed on the people of Eritrea. As you may know, Eritrea was forced into an unjust and unfair federal arrangement with Ethiopia in the 1950s against the expressed wishes and aspirations of the Eritrean people.  In early 1960s, the superpowers gave Emperor Haile Sellassie the green light to annex Eritrea, violating UN’s resolution that led to the federal arrangement.  This forced the people of Eritrea to wage a bitter and costly war for independence. For over 30 years, as young men and women were murdered and cluster bombs dropped, entire villages wiped, women raped, the world stood by and watched silently.   The plight of Eritreans was not only ignored, but successive Ethiopian regimes enjoyed diplomatic, financial and political support while the people of Eritrea suffered great injustice.  I fear, sadly and with heavy heart, history is repeating itself today 50 years later. 

There is no single person in this community that has not been affected.  Generations of Eritreans have suffered and continue to suffer. As generations of Eritreans are experiencing this unfairness, what remains with us is accumulated grievances and a deep sense of injustice that Eritreans are still being treated in such appalling manner.

Today, the Ethiopian government continues to defy the Boundary Commission and numerous UN resolutions.  Although the Algiers Agreement is clear and unambiguous about the responsibilities of the guarantors and the actions they should take in the event one of the parties failed to comply, the guarantors unfortunately are perpetuating the status quo by condoning, encouraging and shall I say, appeasing Ethiopia.  This is evident by the unqualified assistance Ethiopia has been given in the form of budgetary development aid and now through the Protection of Basic Services Programme.  The British government supported UN resolution 1640 which threatened Eritrea with sanction for a relatively minor offence, but did not see the need to take similar action against Ethiopia for failing to accept the border ruling even though the Algiers Agreement gave them the mandate to do so.  This has emboldened the Ethiopian government to such an extent that it has no fear of any consequences for its intransigence.

We had hoped that as a country and member of the UN, Eritrea would be protected by international laws.  However, the international community have repeatedly betrayed the people of Eritrea.  The UN and the British government have failed to use their leverage and capacity to exert pressure to save the lives of Ethiopians and Eritreans.

We are not in anyway arguing that the British Government should cease helping those who need help. It must be stressed that there is no country in the world that deserves more help than Ethiopia and we appreciate the effort that is being made to help poor Ethiopians.  What we are calling for is that when development aid is given it should be given with conditions that would not allow the Ethiopian government to wage wars against its neighbours and disregard its international obligations.  Aid must not be given and used in a manner that could endanger the peace and security of the region.  We have concern that the British government is providing financial assistance to Ethiopia without addressing the fundamental issue of peace and security in the region.  Even with all the issue of governance that led to the suspension of direct budgetary support, the British government is still pouring money into the country.  There is now intention to significantly increase the money given to Ethiopia through the Country Assistance Plan that DFID has drafted.  Not much emphasis is made in this draft plan on the need to secure peace and stability in the region to be able to achieve a sustainable development. This huge scaling up of financial aid is being contemplated by DFID at a time when Ethiopia’s spending on arms is increasing year on year.   While the British government and donors are paying for the salary of 16,000 doctors and nurses and bankrolling virtually every single department, the Ethiopian government is finding the cash to wage wars and bully its neighbours. It is for this simple reason that we say the British government’s policy is contributing to the instability of the region and is prolonging the suffering of the Eritrean people.  It is painful to see an entire population of Eritrea being subjected to such treatment.  It is even more painful when our adopted home, Britain is playing, which I hope is inadvertently, the leading role in inflicting the pain and it is disturbing for us to know that the tax that we pay is finding its way to buy the bullets that would kill our brothers and sisters in Eritrea.

It is sad that DFID only considers the tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia as a mere distraction and not one that could wipe out any developmental efforts and destabilize the entire region.   DFID states that their assistance is conditional on the respect of human rights and other international obligations.  The draft CAP on page 24 states that a violation of these commitments might lead to aid being interrupted, reduced, suspended or delivered in a different way.  Given that Ethiopia has violated international law, ignored UN resolutions, and its human rights record is poor by DFID’s own admission, it is hard to imagine how DFID intends to substantially increase the aid given to Ethiopia.  As we know, Ethiopia has received many billions of pounds in aid over the last 30 years.  The situation that Ethiopia is in today confirms that this money was not entirely used to wage war on poverty, but helped pay for war against Eritrea and other neighbouring states. DFID itself admits that there is still a lack of effective checks and balances on the use of state assets and authority.  DFID raises concern on accountability in Ethiopia.  On our part, we do not have a shred of doubt that the money given will find its way one way or another to finance Ethiopia’s war of aggression.  Currently the Ethiopian government is exploiting the ‘war on terror’ while  waging a propaganda war and is producing unscrupulous and fabricated evidences to link Eritrea with terrorism in order to justify an aggression under the banner of ‘war-on-terror’.  The tension between these countries is not sustainable and we ask the British government to adopt an even handed approach to prevent bloodshed and advance an ethical policy with equitable justice at its core.       

We find it difficult to accept the notion that the British government cannot use its influence to convince Ethiopia to have a respect for international law.  The British government has earmarked Ethiopia to become the largest recipient of UK development assistance to Africa.  Over 65% of Ethiopia’s budget is subsidized by donors. The UK government is also the third largest investor in Ethiopia.  Given these facts, how could the British government not have the influence to urge Ethiopia to abide by the rule of law and agree to the unconditional implementation of the Algiers agreement?

In conclusion, I would like to tell you that after having gone through so much suffering, Eritreans want peace and stability.  We are not demanding favours, but justice and Eritrea’s right to live in peace.

I would be grateful if you could address the issues and concerns that I have raised and inform us about the current British Foreign Policy on the Horn of Africa with emphasis on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission decision and the implementation of the border demarcation.  We know that the British government accepts the final and binding nature of the Algiers agreement, but we would like to know what practical measures the British government has taken to ensure the Ethiopian government’s compliance to the Algiers Agreement and what the British government’s position is on the Boundary Commission’s proposal to create a virtual boundary.  We would also like to hear the justification to British government’s intention to increase the financial support by a significant amount at a time when Ethiopia is waging war against its neighbors and has shown contempt for international law.  We want assurance and hard evidence that British taxpayer’s money does not allow Ethiopia to divert resources to wage war against Eritrea? 

I am sure that once you have addressed some of the questions I have raised and you clarify the British government’s policy, my colleagues will want to make statements and ask further questions.  Thank you.

AGE

e:mail: age@eritrea.co.uk