A Week in the Horn December 7, 2007

The Week in the Horn

07.12.2007

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s long day in Addis Ababa
Real figures for Mogadishu refugees: 44,000 not 600,000 – the UN makes a count.
What next along the Ethiopia Eritrean border?
Reporters Without Borders calls for President Issayas to be banned from the EU
Human Rights Watch ignores terrorist atrocities, continues to parrot ONLF claims

The United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, visited Addis Ababa for a series of meetings on Wednesday. During her visit, the Secretary of State held three separate meetings on Somalia, Sudan and the Great Lakes Region with regional leaders. She also had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Foreign Minister Seyoum, focusing on regional security and fighting terrorism, democracy and human rights, economic development and food security and health concerns including HIV/AIDS as well as issues with Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. The Secretary encouraged Prime Minister Meles to send the troops Ethiopia had previously pledged to Darfur and to work with Khartoum to allow UNAMID deployments. She encouraged Ethiopia to avoid any actions that might heighten friction with Eritrea and to take concrete steps to lessen tension along the border. She said there must be no resumption of hostilities by either side. She also discussed the importance of strengthening democratic institutions in Ethiopian and emphasized that the US administration did not support the HR2003 bill.

The Presidents of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as the interior minister of the DRC joined the US Secretary of State in urging the strengthening of the DRC security forces to drive out foreign and rebel forces. The four countries of the Great Lakes region appealed for greater international help, and recommitted themselves to the November agreement between the DRC and Rwanda. On Sudan, although there was no government delegate present, the main focus of the meeting was to urge the Government of Sudan and the SPLM to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with a view of insuring peace in Sudan. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum said that the CPA was a great achievement and that the international community should not sit back when it was facing difficulties. It was also suggested that IGAD should convene a meeting with a view to helping the parties move the peace process forward. Foreign Ministers of IGAD member states or their representatives and AU and U.N representatives were also present at the meeting on Sudan. Secretary Rice also raised concerns over the delays in deploying the UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Somalia was represented by its newly appointed Prime Minister, Mr. Nur Hassan ‘Adde at the roundtable discussion on Somalia. Prime Minister Nur ‘Adde’ thanked the Secretary of State for her visit and said that her presence was an indication of the US government’s desire to see peace in Somalia. He also thanked Foreign Minister Seyoum and the Government of Ethiopia for standing up for peace and stability in Somalia. He briefed participants on the improving security situation in Mogadishu and on significant signs of co-operation between the people of Mogadishu and the security forces. He underlined his aims to establish a broad and inclusive government and consolidate the reconciliation process which was now moving into the regions. He said he would be focusing on establishing the federal institutions laid out in the National Charter. Pointing out that Somalia faced a direct threat from terrorism, he also underlined the need for the deployment of more peacekeepers, suggesting they should not be limited to troops from African countries. The AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Said Djinnit, told the meeting that the AU was committed to boost its efforts in Somalia to relieve the burden on Ethiopia. Secretary of State Rice said the US would push for more peacekeepers, indicating that she believed Ethiopian troops should not have to stay in Somalia past a certain point. Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told the meeting that virtually all of Mogadishu’s 16 districts had been peaceful for the last six months, and that security had also been extended to most of the rest of the country. However, he also expressed Ethiopia’s disappointment with the composition of the new Somali government appointed a few days earlier. Only two members were from outside parliament despite parliament’s endorsement of the National Reconciliation Congress’ recommendation to open up ministerial appointments to non-parliamentarians. Foreign Minister Seyoum stressed that the TFG needed to develop strong constituencies among the business community, academics, women, and the youth, as well as among opposition elements whose track record was free of terrorism.

Prime Minister Nur ‘Adde’ himself also emphasized that the humanitarian situation in Somalia was high on his agenda. This was the subject of an interview on CNN by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, who visited Somalia on Monday. He said he thought there were around “1.5 million people who probably need help of one sort or another”, and that something like 600,000 people had left Mogadishu in recent months. In fact, it is now clear that this latter figure, at least, is very greatly exaggerated. Indeed, as UN officials privately admit, exaggeration is necessary otherwise no aid will arrive. Sir John said, for example, he had been able to visit an area where an estimated 200,000 people, all from Mogadishu, were camped by the side of the road. This week, counting of these groups was finally completed by the UN in collaboration with the TFG and the Benadir administration. The exact number in the two major refugee areas along the Afgooye to Mogadishu road, with twenty and thirty four “villages” respectively, is actually 44,182. As Sir John admitted, they are getting food and water and some medical help. Certainly, there remains a major humanitarian problem in Somalia where the most recent harvest has been very poor, and there has also been both drought and floods in the last two years, but as is now clear the figures have been grossly exaggerated by critics of the TFG and of Ethiopia.

Prime Minister Nur ‘Adde’ also had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Meles, Foreign Minister Seyoum, and Minister of State, Tekeda Alemu, on Wednesday and Thursday, before leaving to attend the European-African summit in Lisbon this weekend. President Abdullahi of Somalia, who was briefly hospitalized in Nairobi this week, is not attending the summit, but will be going to London for a check-up. The first European Union –Africa summit for seven years is being held in Lisbon this weekend. It is intended to forge a new EU-Africa partnership with closer links between the two continents, and is set to approve a detailed action plan, listing priorities in a range of areas from security to human rights. The action plan prioritizes enhancing the capacity of Africa and the EU to respond in a timely fashion and adeqautely to security threats; it seeks greater cooperation in the fight against corruption, and calls for coordinated positions on global issues in international forums.

On Thursday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, also briefed the Security Council on his visit last week and this week to Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. In Ethiopia, he said, he and the government agreed to disagree about his analysis of the humanitarian crisis in the Somali Regional State, but Prime Minister Meles made it clear the government would respond as if the UN’s worst case scenario was justified. Sir John said he had urged the government to allow full humanitarian access to the region, speed up relief efforts, enable more NGOs to operate within the areas of military operation, allow WFP trucks to move in safer areas without escort and let local officials resume normal work in health areas. He accepted that some progress had already been made in meeting these requests. His own assessment was that there was no humanitarian catastrophe at present, though no one from outside had yet been able to visit some of the more remote areas. Equally, it was very necessary to take action to prevent a catastrophe occurring in the next few months. Current estimates are that some 950,000 people will require 53,000 tonnes of food for the next three months. The first 9,000 tones has been moved to the district capitals, but there is a lot more to be done. Sir John said that following what he called worrying reports of the human rights situation in the Somali region, he had urged the government to allow an independent investigation and monitoring of human rights in the region. The Government has strongly contested these reports.

On Monday Human Rights Watch (HRW) in New York issued another report in its series of criticisms of Ethiopia. It called for the UN Security Council to press the Ethiopian and the Somali governments to end what it claimed were “grave human rights abuses that are fuelling the worsening humanitarian crisis in Somalia and eastern Ethiopia's Ogaden region”. Not for the first time, HRW, apparently deliberately, failed to emphasize the activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front or of al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, dismissing these under the phrase that “both sides” were responsible for abuses. HRW once again deliberately prefered to concentrate on allegations against Ethiopia and the TFG despite the wealth of evidence about the activities of both the ONLF and al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab, whose terrorist activities go back at least three years, is merely categorized as “insurgents”. The ONLF is identified as having responsibility for abuses, but, outrageously, its massacre of 74 Ethiopian and Chinese workers at the Abole oil exploration camp in April is defined as no more than 'an attack”. In fact, the workers were slaughtered in cold blood while lining up for breakfast or asleep in their huts in a quite deliberate act of terrorism. HRW then managed to describe Ethiopia's subsequent security operations to find those responsible for this atrocity as a “brutal crackdown”. It referred to what it called Ethiopia's “scorched earth tactics to depopulate and terrorize rural areas...by burning villages...executions, sexual violence...and confiscation of livestock”, allegations for which there is no shred of evidence. By contrast, HRW briefly noted that the ONLF has killed “suspected collaborators” and used anti-vehicle mines indiscriminately. However, it gave no indication that the ONLF has actually killed hundreds of civilians in a deliberate attempt to terrorize various Ogaden sub-clans to support them, nearly a hundred in the last few months alone. These are not “collaborators”, they are merely opponents of the ONLF, as a majority of the Ogaden clan actually are. Equally, as HRW should well know, the ONLF regularly burns the villages and houses of its opponents, and seizes their livestock.

In fact, HRW appears to have no real knowledge (and little understanding) of what has been happening in the limited areas of the Somali Regional State in which the ONLF have been operating, nor of the politics of the Somali Regional State. The ONLF came into the political process in 1991 when the previous military regime was overthrown. In 1994/5 it split over a suggestion to hold an immediate referendum for self-determination. Most of the ONLF stayed within the political process and subsequently merged with the other main Somali party, the Ethiopian Somali Democratic League, to set up the Somali Peoples Democratic Party, which overwhelmingly won the last election in the regional state. A small minority of the ONLF refused to accept the decision in 1995 and turned to armed struggle. This group was supported by only a few of the dozens of Ogaden sub-clans, and indeed until April this year it was barely active. In the last few months, however, following the arrival of several hundred fighters trained and armed by Eritrea, and in addition to the atrocity at Abole, it has carried out a number of other terrorist actions – including throwing bombs into public gatherings in Jijiga and Deghabhur, landmines in Deghabhur zone, attacks on Dobaweyn (killing ten civilians including a pregnant woman), and Shilabo (five civilians killed) and in Lahelow district. None of this is given any mention by HRW. In fact, HRW persisitently continues to limit its accounts almost exclusively to claims made by opponents of the TFG or supporters of the ONLF. It makes no apparent effort to investigate the truth of the allegations it repeats, and consistently ignores facts that might contradict criticisms of the TFG or of Ethiopia. Indeed, in the face of these omissions, it is hard to treat HRW's other claims with the seriousness that they might otherwise deserve.

The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) dissolved itself on December 1st, 2007 leaving behind a “virtual demarcation” on paper. This “virtual demarcation” has no legal force or effect, and is contrary to international law and practice and in violation of the object and purpose of the Algiers Agreements. Nevertheless, the fundamental obligations that Ethiopia and Eritrea assumed under the Algiers Agreement of December 12, 2000 and the Algiers Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities Agreement of June 2000 remain to be fulfilled. These fundamental obligations involve ensuring a comprehensive and lasting peace between the two countries including the demarcation of the boundary. Demarcation remains to be completed, in fact and in law, through a valid demarcation process, consistent with the Algiers Agreements and international practice. Ethiopia's overarching objective remains to resolve all disputes with Eritrea without resort to the threat or use of force, the normalization of relations, and the establishment of lasting security and peace in the region. This can only be achieved with Eritrea returning into full compliance with the Algiers Agreements, including immediate and full withdrawal from the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), removing the restrictions it imposed on UNMEE and refraining from acts of destabilization against Ethiopia. Regrettably, the current ongoing media campaign by Eritrea does not provide any indication that it intends to be receptive to international calls to exercise restraint. Statements coming out on Eritrea’s official websites, and other thinly disguised official sources, remain belligerent. These are, in themselves, outright violations of the Algiers Agreements as they contain direct threats to use force.

Ethiopia fully accepts that it is now up to the two parties to the Algiers Agreements to discharge their primary responsibility to implement these agreements. It welcomes the initiatives taken by the United Nations Secretary General to assist. The UN Under-secretary General for Political Affairs, Mr. Lynne Pascoe, is due in the region shortly to undertake consultations. He was expected last week but his arrival has been delayed. It is anticipated that United Nations’ efforts to break the impasse in the peace process will include a reminder to the parties that they are ultimately responsible to resolve their disputes, including the implementation of the delimitation decision, through peaceful means. The UN efforts are expected to include suggestions to undertake valid demarcation to ensure a peaceful and stable boundary within the context of a framework to ensure a lasting and comprehensive solution to all disputes between the two countries. The process should prevent any more suffering for those living along the boundary, make certain that the demarcation of the boundary guarantees a sustainable peace, and durably and comprehensively addresses all outstanding disputes between the two countries. Ethiopia remains committed to normalize relations with Eritrea and to avoid any escalation of tension. It stands ready in every way to cooperate with the efforts of the UN Secretary General to assist in the normalization of relations with Eritrea. As it has repeatedly emphasized, the way forward must be an international effort to provide full compliance with the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, with normalization of relations and demarcation in accordance with the Delimitation Decision, the Algiers Agreements, and international practice. It is Ethiopia’s firm position that demarcation should lead to sustainable peace. This can only be guaranteed if the process is carried out within the context of normalized relations between the two countries.

On the eve of this weekend's Lisbon EU-African summit, Reporters Without Borders called upon the EU Presidency to declare President Issayas Afeworki of Eritrea persona non grata throughout the European Union because of the serious violations of human rights and press freedom committed by his government in Eritrea since 2001. Reporters Without Borders wrote to all 785 members of the European parliament on November 26, giving detailed documentation on the situation of the press in Eritrea, and asking the MPs to support its call for President Issayas and members of his government to be banned from the EU. Reporters Without Borders said: “After years of impunity, the contempt shown by the Eritrean authorities for the agreements they have signed with the EU must finally be punished.” The statement went on: “This summit offers an opportunity for Europe to finally shed its indifference and announce that its tolerance had reached the limit. Solidarity with political prisoners requires those responsible of the tragedy taking place behind closed doors in Eritrea since 2001 should at the very least be barred from European territory.” In September 2001, the private media was closed down, and executives, editors and journalists thrown in prison, along with hundreds of other critics of the government including eleven members of the central committee of the ruling party. Held incommunicado in secret prisons, in appalling conditions, they have never been charged, or tried, nor even allowed any contact with the outside world. A number have died. Reporters Without Borders suggested that the EU should adopt targeted sanctions against President Issayas in May this year. In June, it urged EU MPs to request visas for a visit to Eritrea; the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly tried to send a delegation to Asmara, but finally gave up its efforts in October after getting no cooperation from the Eritrean authorities. Yesterday, Eritrea’s acting Information Minister, Ali Abdu, was quoted by Voice of America as saying that Reporters Without Borders was “a tool used by foreign governments...to spread false information....They are simply trash”.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of the BBC’s World Agenda, for December 2007, detailed challenges facing the media in Eritrea. A report noted that Eritrea is Africa’s biggest jailer of journalists, and in 2007 it had earned the title of ‘The worst country in the world’ for press freedom. One journalist was quoted as saying that working in Eritrea is like working in the “deep hot heart of a volcano”. Telephones are tapped, the ownership of mobile phones is limited and few speak openly in public for fear of the omnipresent “mosquitoes”, the spies and informers of government security. Just two foreign journalists make up the entire official independent media. Their activity is hampered by the near refusal of any officials to speak to them, and by the tight restrictions on the movements of all foreigners, residents and tourists alike, with special permits needed to move anywhere outside Asmara. If they write reports deemed to be critical they are first “frozen”, temporarily barred from writing, and as a final move expelled. With breathtaking hypocrisy, the government's Eritrean Profile newspaper, while accusing Ethiopia of jamming Eritrean radio broadcasts, recently editorialised: “Restricting people from hearing voices other than your own is not only a violation of human rights but also a clear indication of anxiety ...on the part of any regime.”