Djiboutian Leaders, Pawn of Foreign Interests?
Do Not Test the Eritrean People´s Limit!
Berhane Alazar
June 11, 2008
It has been some two months now since we have been hearing about some "Border" problems coming out from the Djiboutian leadership. "Border problem"? No, not again? That sounds familiar for it comes on the heel of another nonexistent "Border" problem the despicable Weyane thugs were able to concoct. Of course the Weyanes did that to cover up their utter failure of their unattainable agenda of creating "Greater Tigrai" state by carving out sovereign land from Ethiopia proper. While obviously that is some issue for the Ethiopians to handle, it is also Eritrea´s legitimate concern for any activity that has the potential of destabilizing the region, can negatively affect the security of the Eritrean people. Moreover the concept of "Greater Tigrai" steals a huge part of Eritrean territory.
For the record Eritrea has always gone the extra mile by being patient and by entertaining the idea of "Peaceful and legal" resolutions to any and every issue that has been thrown at her by some of its neighbors since its inception as a sovereign country. That is a fact that nobody can deny. Those facts are out there to be verified by any independent and unbiased observer. Furthermore the Eritrean people have time and again demonstrated their high moral standard by being most magnanimous to any and every group of people whose respective regimes may have done them some immense harm just because the Eritreans stood their ground to attain their right to self determination and independence of their country. Let me just mention some of the latest "Border" issues the Eritreans have been wrongly accused of instigating when in fact they wisely have opted for "Legal" resolutions of those issues:
As we all know there is currently an impasse on the physical demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border as handed down by the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission verdict of April 13, 2002 because of Weyane´s refusal to abide by the rule of law for which it is a signatory. There is no need to add any more information to that issue except to mention that Eritrea is legally on firm ground when it comes to the "Border" issue that the Weyanes initiated and which they continue to hold it hostage to this day.
A dispute with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in 1996 resulted in a brief war. As part of an agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the the Hague. At the conclusion of the proceedings, both nations acquiesced to the decision. Yes Eritrea agreed to the lopsided decision by the court although most Eritreans believe the Hanish, Al Zuquar islands belonged to Eritrea as they did under the Turkish, Egyptian, Italian and Ethiopian colonial times. But, Eritrea being a country that abides by the rule of law, once the arbitration was rendered in favor of Yemen, it accepted it unequivocally. Eritrea values good neighborliness much more than the loss of certain territories if those territories were "Lost" legally.
Curiously, about the same time frame as the misunderstanding between Eritrea and Yemen was in the making and perhaps coincidentally, the foreign minister of Djibouti, while visiting Yemen, complained about "Eritrean border claim" against Djiboutian territory. That issue died out when the then president of Djibouti publicly apologized to Eritrea stating that his foreign minister was misinformed about the issue adding "There was no border problem with Eritrea". The Eritrean people didn´t make much ado about the issue for they honestly thought it was some kind of "Misunderstanding" on the part of the Djiboutian minister and life went as Eritrea was keen on minding her own affairs as she always does.
Similarly, when our nation was gearing up to celebrate our 17th anniversary of our hard won independence, On 5 May 2008, the same foreign minister of Djibouti, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called, among other things, for the intervention of the UN Security Council to help resolve "Growing border tensions" with Eritrea. Djibouti calls for Security Council intervention in dispute with Eritrea.
Again, in a typical Eritrean modesty, Eritrea decided not to respond in-kind to the clearly provocative and unwarranted slander that have been hurled against her, this time from both the Djiboutian president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, and his infamous foreign minister!
Despite Eritrea´s noble desire of good neighborliness and in spite of Eritrea trying to seek some explanation of what may be driving the Djiboutian duos into strange behavior, the Djiboutian authorities keep on harping and generating some accusatory issues against Eritrea where there were none![Two dead in Djibouti-Eritrea border clash-witness
For the record, we know that Eritrea has never "Invaded Djibouti" neither have any of its forces ever entered Djiboutian territories uninvited by the Djiboutian authorities (if one can talk of the existence of such authorities) or made any kind of incursion with any hostile intent. As a matter of fact, a reconnaissance over flight by some of the French contingency stationed in Djibouti had confirmed the hollowness of the Djiboutian claim adding that the Eritreans "Appear to be involved with some civilian activity" on the side of their border.
So, the question is why on earth the Djiboutian leaders are teasing Eritrea into responding in-kind no doubt to the detriment of the two peoples of our sisterly countries. They must surely understand that there couldn´t possibly be any benefit to them or to Djiboutian interests by acting belligerently to their neighbor which they know darn well is there to stay. The only other plausible scenario which I am beginning to wonder is that there may be some powers whom the Djiboutians feel that they are indebted to and apparently all they can say is "How high?" when ordered to "Jump!" by those same powers! Indeed, it is a very shameful and sad scenario – one scenario - the people of the Horn of Africa can do without. I guess one can always hope and pray that some day sanity may rule over insanity. But don´t count on it to happen anytime soon while "Dignity and accountability" apparently have given way to "greed and selfishness".
For the record Eritrea has always gone the extra mile by being patient and by entertaining the idea of "Peaceful and legal" resolutions to any and every issue that has been thrown at her by some of its neighbors since its inception as a sovereign country. That is a fact that nobody can deny. Those facts are out there to be verified by any independent and unbiased observer. Furthermore the Eritrean people have time and again demonstrated their high moral standard by being most magnanimous to any and every group of people whose respective regimes may have done them some immense harm just because the Eritreans stood their ground to attain their right to self determination and independence of their country. Let me just mention some of the latest "Border" issues the Eritreans have been wrongly accused of instigating when in fact they wisely have opted for "Legal" resolutions of those issues:
As we all know there is currently an impasse on the physical demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border as handed down by the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission verdict of April 13, 2002 because of Weyane´s refusal to abide by the rule of law for which it is a signatory. There is no need to add any more information to that issue except to mention that Eritrea is legally on firm ground when it comes to the "Border" issue that the Weyanes initiated and which they continue to hold it hostage to this day.
A dispute with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in 1996 resulted in a brief war. As part of an agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the the Hague. At the conclusion of the proceedings, both nations acquiesced to the decision. Yes Eritrea agreed to the lopsided decision by the court although most Eritreans believe the Hanish, Al Zuquar islands belonged to Eritrea as they did under the Turkish, Egyptian, Italian and Ethiopian colonial times. But, Eritrea being a country that abides by the rule of law, once the arbitration was rendered in favor of Yemen, it accepted it unequivocally. Eritrea values good neighborliness much more than the loss of certain territories if those territories were "Lost" legally.
Curiously, about the same time frame as the misunderstanding between Eritrea and Yemen was in the making and perhaps coincidentally, the foreign minister of Djibouti, while visiting Yemen, complained about "Eritrean border claim" against Djiboutian territory. That issue died out when the then president of Djibouti publicly apologized to Eritrea stating that his foreign minister was misinformed about the issue adding "There was no border problem with Eritrea". The Eritrean people didn´t make much ado about the issue for they honestly thought it was some kind of "Misunderstanding" on the part of the Djiboutian minister and life went as Eritrea was keen on minding her own affairs as she always does.
Similarly, when our nation was gearing up to celebrate our 17th anniversary of our hard won independence, On 5 May 2008, the same foreign minister of Djibouti, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called, among other things, for the intervention of the UN Security Council to help resolve "Growing border tensions" with Eritrea. Djibouti calls for Security Council intervention in dispute with Eritrea.
Again, in a typical Eritrean modesty, Eritrea decided not to respond in-kind to the clearly provocative and unwarranted slander that have been hurled against her, this time from both the Djiboutian president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, and his infamous foreign minister!
Despite Eritrea´s noble desire of good neighborliness and in spite of Eritrea trying to seek some explanation of what may be driving the Djiboutian duos into strange behavior, the Djiboutian authorities keep on harping and generating some accusatory issues against Eritrea where there were none![Two dead in Djibouti-Eritrea border clash-witness
For the record, we know that Eritrea has never "Invaded Djibouti" neither have any of its forces ever entered Djiboutian territories uninvited by the Djiboutian authorities (if one can talk of the existence of such authorities) or made any kind of incursion with any hostile intent. As a matter of fact, a reconnaissance over flight by some of the French contingency stationed in Djibouti had confirmed the hollowness of the Djiboutian claim adding that the Eritreans "Appear to be involved with some civilian activity" on the side of their border.
So, the question is why on earth the Djiboutian leaders are teasing Eritrea into responding in-kind no doubt to the detriment of the two peoples of our sisterly countries. They must surely understand that there couldn´t possibly be any benefit to them or to Djiboutian interests by acting belligerently to their neighbor which they know darn well is there to stay. The only other plausible scenario which I am beginning to wonder is that there may be some powers whom the Djiboutians feel that they are indebted to and apparently all they can say is "How high?" when ordered to "Jump!" by those same powers! Indeed, it is a very shameful and sad scenario – one scenario - the people of the Horn of Africa can do without. I guess one can always hope and pray that some day sanity may rule over insanity. But don´t count on it to happen anytime soon while "Dignity and accountability" apparently have given way to "greed and selfishness".