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East Africa: Eritrea-Ethiopia, 1
East Africa: Eritrea-Ethiopia, 1
Date distributed (ymd): 981028
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: East Africa
Issue Areas: +security/peace+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains part 1 of a special background report on the Eritrea-Ethiopia
conflict from the UN's Integrated Regional Information Network for Central
and Eastern Africa (IRIN). Part 2 follows in a separate posting.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa
(IRIN)
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: [email protected]
[This report is issued as a background document for the benefit of the
humanitarian community only. It draws on a wide range of publicly-available
sources and interviews conducted by IRIN in Ethiopia and Eritrea, but cannot
be said to represent the views of the United Nations. It should not be
directly quoted by media.]
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA:
IRIN Special Background Report
October 26 1998
1. INTRODUCTION
"Senseless". "Appalling". "Completely unexpected".
These are a few of the reactions from senior figures interviewed by IRIN
in Ethiopia and Eritrea as their border war reaches a six-month stalemate.
If they are surprised, their countries' friends, neighbours and investors
are stunned. Profiled as dedicated strategists of African self-reliance,
the two leaders, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi are now locked in a dangerous military showdown,
anaylsts and diplomats say.
Last ditch diplomatic efforts are underway to avert a renewed outbreak
of hostilities which flared up last May. A key OAU meeting in Burkina Faso
has been shifted back several times to 7 November at the earliest, diplomatic
sources say. A news blackout shrouded an early October mission to both
capitals by US envoy, former US national security official Anthony Lake.
This paper from the IRIN network attempts to place the current situation
in context, as a background report. As tensions remain high, and both sides
reportedly are mobilising for war, it tries to draw attention to the potential
impacts of a failure to reach a peaceful conclusion to the crisis.
2. BACKGROUND
The armies of Ethiopia and Eritrea clashed on their common border in
May and June this year. The two countries had close ties, due to their
historical links - Eritrea became officially independent from Ethiopia
in 1993 - and the personal relationship between their two leaders. Isaias
and Meles were fellow rebel leaders, heading two liberation fronts which
in latter years cooperated to overthrow the military regime of Mengistu
Haile Mariam. Despite periods of ideological and tactical disagreement,
Isaias' Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and Meles' Tigray People's
Liberation Front (TPLF), both formed in the mid-seventies, were the heart
of the forces that defeated sub-Saharan Africa's then largest army in 1991.
The TPLF is the core of the multi-ethnic Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) which now dominates the Ethiopian political scene.
After Eritrean independence, overwhelmingly approved by a referendum in
1993, peacetime relations seemed set to remain firm.
Relations, however, noticeably deteriorated last year, when Eritrea
launched its own currency and Ethiopia responded by insisting that cross-border
trade be conducted in hard currency. Officials now claim that there had
been other minor economic and political problems between the two sides,
while Eritrea has recently revealed details of a hushed-up 1997 border
clash at Bada in July 1997. Other causes of friction were new maps of Ethiopia's
northern Tigray region, and an allegedly enlarged Ethiopian national map
on the re-issued Ethiopian currency, the birr. Ethiopia's spokesperson,
Selome Tadesse, however, dismissed earlier differences between the two
as minor, saying "we had bigger issues to focus on."
Conflict broke out in May this year after disagreements over several
points on the common border worsened, despite the creation of a joint border
commission. Despite intensive peace efforts led by US and Rwandan facilitators,
events escalated to a peak in early June, at which point land forces clashed
heavily on three fronts (Badme, Zal Anbessa and Bure) and both sides exchanged
air strikes.
Hundreds of soldiers were killed, up to 300,000 civilians have been
displaced, schoolchildren were killed in an Eritrean air raid on Ethiopia's
northern Tigray provincal capital of Mekelle and economic activity on both
sides of the border has been disrupted. In the lull that has followed the
June clashes, both sides have abided by a US-brokered moritorium on air
strikes. Military clashes on the border have been kept to occasional artillery
exchanges. Diplomatic efforts to broker an agreement are in a stalemate.
The US-Rwanda plan originally asked the Eritrean forces to withdraw pending
a final settlement, but Eritrea refused, saying it would only withdraw
if the territory were demilitarised and controlled by a third force.
The mood in both countries is one of apprehension mixed with considerable
anger and bitterness. The conflict-related migration of tens of thousands
of civilians from each side has raised allegations of widespread human
rights abuse and "ethnic cleansing". Military mobilisation has
been accompanied by antagonistic propaganda from both sides. As the conflict
drags on towards a sixth month, the prospects for peace are dim. Diplomatic
rhetoric about an "African renaissance", led by younger leaders
such as Meles and Isaias, is fatally undermined by the conflicts in the
Horn and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
3. CURRENT SITUATION
3.1 Humanitarian situation
Several hundred thousand people may already be displaced along both
sides of the border, and official statistics say over 50,000 have migrated
between the countries. Hundreds of thousands are considered affected -
caring for or accomodating relatives displaced by war or conflict-related
migration. The government institutions on each side are seeking a total
of well over US $30 million to cope with the humanitarian impact. Humanitarian
needs on each side have been met by a combination of local community resources,
national, church, NGO and government institutions, and the efforts of international
NGOs, UN agencies and donors.
Trade between the two countries has come to a halt. Ethiopia has yet
to suffer shortages or significant price rises as a result of using ports
other than Assab for its supplies, but a transport industry source says
that Djibouti is likely to become "congested" with Ethiopian
imports in coming months. The governor of the Eritrean port of Assab, cut
off from the Ethiopian hinterland, says there is a "general shortage
of supplies in the market", despite supplies arriving by sea.
3.2 Eritrea
The Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC) has appealed for
US $20 million for war-affected Eritreans - about half of which is a six-month
food ration for affected people. While displaced and directly affected
people are numbered at 100,000, a further 160,000 are classified by ERREC
as having "fragile livelihoods worsened by the general state of war".
A 4 September ERREC health and water supply appeal for both migrants and
war-affected Eritreans is costed at an additional $5.6 million. The UN's
September appeal for Eritrea amounted to $8.9 million. The UN's assessment
of needs was the result of field visits by two teams of aid officials,
and seeks food rations for about 100,000 affected people.
An ERREC official told IRIN the priority at present was to secure cash
to supply migrant families with funds and food to repay borrowings from
the Eritrean Grain Board. The three biggest international donors to the
ERREC appeal so far are the US, the EU and Italy. ERREC is not only seeking
to cope with the needs of the temporarily affected, but also is allocating
land to migrants who are not returning to Ethiopia. Food distributions
within Eritrea have included Ethiopian beneficiaries. A food distribution
under the auspices of ERREC in Assab helped feed 10,000 Ethiopians and
4,500 Eritreans, local officials told IRIN.
3.3 Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC)
reports that a total of 188,690 people are displaced due to the war in
northern and eastern Ethiopia. Its 25 September appeal indicates needs
for the next six months - until February 1999, which include 28,242 mt
of food aid. Non-food needs are costed at 80 million Birr, about US $11.1
million. Following a week-long inter-agency assessment of needs, the UN
agencies in Ethiopia devised a complementary response to part of the overall
need in both food and non-food sectors. UN agencies are seeking US $4.1
million for emergency aid, complementary to the DPPC appeal. In Ethiopia,
UN commitments already total $3.1 million.
Contributions from the public at home and abroad have been important
for both countries, but observers say it is not always clear whether public
donations are earmarked for humanitarian purposes or the more general war
effort. The Ethiopian DPPC said that 71 million birr's worth of cash and
goods had so far been donated - about US $10 million - but told donors
that the breakdown between military and humanitarian fundraising could
not immediately be provided.
3.4 Other humanitarian issues
About 64,000 mt of food aid cargo was in the Eritrean port of Assab
at the start of the conflict in May, UN and diplomatic sources say. "It
is not clear" where that food aid is now, a diplomat told IRIN. All
of the food was destined for Ethiopia, some four million of whose citizens
this year were due to receive some form of food assistance. WFP alone has
11,000 mt to account for - valued at US $2.2 million. US officials confirm
43,000 mt of their shipment was also in the port. So far, the Eritrean
government has not clarified their policy towards the cargo. In the high
temperatures of Assab, WFP is concerned the food "can't last much
longer".
Ethiopia has insisted, through the International Maritime Organisation
and the regional trade grouping COMESA, that Eritrea release all "import-export"
goods that were in the ports.
3.5 Conflict-related migration
The conflict-related migration of Ethiopians and Eritreans arriving
back in their home countries has become the most emotive issue of the war.
When referring to a variety of population movements ranging from voluntary
departures to forcible expulsions, IRIN may use in this and other reports
the general term "conflict-related migration".
Both countries host large minorities of the other's citizens. About
130,000 Eritrean adults were registered in Ethiopia at the time of the
independence referendum in 1993, but estimates of the total Eritrean population
in Ethiopia range from 250,000 up to 500,000. The number of Ethiopians
in Eritrea is estimated at around 100,000.
While the exact figures and the degree of coercion are disputed on both
sides, it is clear that large numbers of people have been uprooted, repatriated,
and are now living in temporary shelter or with relatives, disorientated
and angry. The ICRC has been involved in "ensuring safe passage"
of the migrants across the front lines on at least 18 occasions, but a
carefully worded statement, issued last week, alluded to "recurrent
humanitarian problems".
The Eritrean foreign ministry has announced that 30,000 Eritreans have
come back from Ethiopia as of 21 October while Ethiopia says 27,000 of
its citizens have returned as of 25 September, AP reports.
Human rights groups have criticised both governments for their treatment
of civilians, but Ethiopia has come in for harsher criticism. Human Rights
Watch (HRW) urged both governments to stop the "harassment and targeting"
of civilians in a 17 June statement. HRW noted that the Ethiopian government
had made an official demand on 14 June for Eritrean members of political
and community organisations to leave. No such formal demand has been made
by the Eritrean authorities on Ethiopians. A statement from the Eritrean
ministry of foreign affairs on 25 September says, "Eritrea has no
policy of expulsion of Ethiopian nationals". Ethiopia retorts that
Eritrea makes life "intolerable for them [Ethiopians] while refusing
them permission to leave". Both sides regard the treatment of migrants
to be violations of human and economic rights, complaining of arrests,
beatings and seizure of money and assets.
The ICRC also reports that it is able to visit civilian detainees in
both countries, but regularly has access to prisoners of war only in Ethiopia.
Reuniting unaccompanied minors with their families is part of the ICRC's
work, while 700 Red Cross messages have been passed in and between Ethiopia
and Eritrea.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is proposing a human rights
monitoring mission in both countries, perhaps in conjunction with the OAU,
a UNHCHR official in Geneva told IRIN.
(continued in part 2)
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN,
a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123
Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: [email protected]
for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or
re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations
or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports
are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/
or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to [email protected].
Mailing list: irin-cea-weekly]
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary objective is to widen
the policy debate in the United States around African issues and the U.S.
role in Africa, by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and individuals.
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