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• This week, On Monday, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon issued a Special Report on UNMEE and its current position
(S/2008/145), detailing the steps he had taken over the previous three
months to try to persuade the Eritrean authorities to lift their stoppage
of fuel supplies to UNMEE and the reasons for the decision to relocate
the Mission. A Technical Assessment Mission was sent to Ethiopia in early
February to discuss the logistics of temporary relocation for UNMEE. Ethiopia
agreed to this relocation on the understanding that the move would be
temporary and that the Security Council formally confirmed that the TSZ
and adjacent areas remained UNMEE's area of operations, which it did.
The Assessment Mission was unable to visit Asmara because the Eritrean
authorities refused visas. Subsequently the plan to relocate the Mission
personnel at five places in Ethiopia had to be abandoned because of Eritrea's
refusal to co-operate and its decision not to allow UNMEE to take equipment
into Ethiopia. In mid-February, the Secretariat briefed the troop contributing
countries on the developments. They considered the measures imposed by
Eritrea to be “unwarranted, untenable and unacceptable.” They demanded
the Government of Eritrea should provide the necessary fuel for relocation
and allow UNMEE peacekeepers to leave Eritrea with their equipment and
in a dignified manner. The Secretary-General's report lists the numerous
obstructions that UNMEE subsequently faced in bringing troops and equipment
to Asmara. The report details the various requests and Notes Verbales
addressed to the Eritrean government asking for its co-operation. In a
letter dated February 20, the Permanent Representative of Eritrea claimed
that UNMEE had not informed the Eritrean authorities of its relocation
to Asmara until the previous day. In fact, as the Secretary-General itemized,
there had been a meeting with an Eritrean liaison officer on February
12 as well as Notes Verbales sent to the Eritrean authorities on February
15 and February 18. UNMEE has now given the Eritrean authorities inventories
of equipment left at various posts which have been abandoned, and informed
the Eritrean government that it expects it to safeguard this material
until it can be safely removed. The Secretary-General noted that a further
communication had been addressed to the Permanent Representative of Eritrea
on February 22 requesting the Government of Eritrea to reconsider its
position, resume fuel supplies to UNMEE, lift all restrictions against
the Mission and allow UNMEE to carry on with its mandate. As of March
3 no answer had been received.
In conclusion the Secretary-General made a number of observations. Because
the relocation of equipment from Asmara, by road to Massawa, by sea to
Djibouti and then by road back to the five designated relocation sites
in Ethiopia, would take three months, he had decided to instruct UNMEE
military personnel to relocate to their home countries pending a final
decision by the Security Council. Some would remain in Asmara to secure
the equipment and facilitate its eventual transport. A number of civilian
personnel will also remain in Asmara for liaison purposes and to inventory
equipment.
The Secretary-General noted that the restrictions imposed by Eritrea on
UNMEE were unacceptable and in breach of the fundamental principles of
peacekeeping. They also had, he said, serious implications for the safety
and security of peacekeepers deployed elsewhere. He added that “as a party
to the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, under which the two countries
invited the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers, Eritrea has an obligation
to treat the peacekeepers with respect and dignity and to guarantee their
safety and security as well as their right to move freely and perform
their mandated tasks without any restrictions”. The Secretary-General
added that it was imperative for the Security Council to consider ways
to address the underlying issues at the root of the tensions between Eritrea
and Ethiopia that had impeded UNMEE's operations. He considered that there
was still an opportunity for Eritrea to reconsider its position. Should
it not do so, however, it had an obligation to facilitate the relocation
of the mission. This, the Secretary-General emphasized, was without prejudice
to any of the provisions of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities
including the integrity of the Temporary Security Zone. He strongly urged
both countries to avoid any action that might exacerbate the situation
on the border area or undermine the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities.
The Secretary-General said that once the relocation was complete he would
submit a further report to the Security Council outlining options and
recommendations for any future peacekeeping presence in the area.
In fact, after more than a week of repeated difficulties, UNMEE personnel
finally completed their regrouping in Asmara on Monday. According to UNMEE
all its staff had left the Temporary Security Zone and had reached Asmara
with the exception of 112 who were in Assab awaiting further instructions
by the beginning of the week. A day later, on Tuesday, the first group
of UNMEE peacekeepers left Eritrea. Fifty members of the Jordanian battalion
flew out for Amman in the first stage of relocating a majority of the
Kenyan, Jordanian and Indian battalions to their home bases. Further flights
are likely to take out the bulk of the peacekeeping force within the next
few days. The relocation will not affect UNMEE personnel in Ethiopia.
UNMEE officials continue to stress that the relocation from Eritrea is
only a temporary measure until the Security Council decides on UNMEE's
future. The Security Council will be meeting on Thursday next week, March
13, to discuss its response to Eritrea’s recent actions.
• Meanwhile, on Monday, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued
a press release claiming that the UN Secretariat had been engaged in an
“unwarranted negative press and diplomatic campaign against Eritrea”.
Somewhat bizarrely describing its own comments as “constructive engagement”
with the UN Secretariat, it said the Secretariat had abandoned its neutrality,
that it was continuing in its aim of tarnishing the image of Eritrea,
and in demonstrating its long-term “partiality and subservience on the
part of the UN and the Security Council to the needs of Ethiopia and its
patrons”. Most of the lengthy press release criticized UNMEE, the UN Department
of Peacekeeping Operations, and the UN Secretariat, for failing to notify
the Government of Eritrea of their plans for temporary relocation sufficiently
in advance, despite the evidence provided in the Secretary-General's report.
The press release even claimed, despite numerous Eritrean government statements
to the contrary, that Eritrea had never taken any action that might endanger
UNMEE lives or restrict UNMEE operations to the point of forcing UNMEE
to relocate temporarily outside Eritrea.
The press release also repeated Eritrea’s claim that Ethiopia has violated
the Algiers Agreements by its rejection of the EEBC Decisions. The Government
of Eritrea has made this allegation on numerous occasions. Continued repetition,
however, does not make it any more accurate. Since November 2004, despite
earlier reservations, Ethiopia has repeatedly made it clear that it has
accepted the Boundary Commission Decisions totally and unreservedly. It
has made it equally clear (as the EEBC accepted) that it has been attempting
to discuss the actual implementation of Delimitation of the Boundary for
more than three years. Eritrea has consistently refused to do so. Indeed,
rather than become involved in the necessary dialogue for demarcation,
Eritrea set out systematically over these three years to dismantle the
Temporary Security Zone and force the withdrawal of UNMEE in despite of
the demands of the UN Security Council. As the EEBC acknowledged, both
UNMEE and the TSZ are fundamental to the peace process, and are central
elements in the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities. Now a position
has been reached where Eritrea has effectively torn up the Algiers Agreements.
Talk of provocation, of frustration, of a lack of Security Council neutrality,
of UN partiality and subservience, of attempts to tarnish Eritrea’s image,
are all irrelevant. Progress on Delimitation of the Border requires the
full and complete restoration of the Algiers Agreements, the restoration
of the integrity of the TSZ and the deployment of UNMEE as required by
the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. Ethiopia remains deeply concerned
by the way Eritrea has treated UNMEE, not just because of the effects
on the Algiers Agreements. It also has serious implications for UN Peace
Keeping, to which Ethiopia is committed.
• On Tuesday, Admiral William Fallon, the Commander of CENTCOM, the US
Central Command, testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee, providing
an assessment of the security and stability in his area of command. This
still includes the Horn of Africa though this will transfer to AFRICOM,
the US Africa Command when this becomes fully operative next year. Admiral
Fallon noted that the countries of the Horn of Africa “faced border and
ethnic tensions, insurgencies, corruption, terrorist infiltrations and
poverty”. He said that CENTCOM’s Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa
(CJTF- HOA) conducted operations, training, and humanitarian missions
in the Horn of Africa and Yemen to improve quality of life, expand governance,
strengthen bilateral relationships and build partner nations’ military
capability, and contribute to building their own capacity to combat terrorism
and prepare for other challenges, including natural disasters. Admiral
Fallon described Ethiopia as a key regional strategic ally and close partner
in the war on terror. Ethiopia, he added, has also demonstrated strategic
importance by its considerable contributions to United Nations peacekeeping
missions, such as the UN Mission in Liberia and its pledge of 5,000 peacekeepers
for the UN African Union Mission in Darfur. Admiral Fallon said US support
for the efforts of the Ethiopian military to modernize and professionalize
would be critical to the government’s ability to address security threats
effectively and in conformity with international norms. On Eritrea, he
said that the amount of assistance CENTCOM could provide would be severely
limited as long as Eritrea was aggressive toward its neighbors and repressive
against its own people. Admiral Fallon noted that President Isaias Afwerki’s
government sponsored violent extremists in Somalia, and there was evidence
it did the same in Ethiopia. He said Isaias had jailed all political opponents
and devastated what had been a relatively healthy economy. Eritrea had
denied supplies to the United Nations Mission (UNMEE) there in order to
force it to depart.
• A weeklong conference on “Science with Africa” opened in Addis Ababa
on Monday. It was a follow up to the AU Summit last year which declared
2007 the year of science and technology. Calling on member states to allocate
one per cent of their gross domestic product to scientific research and
development (R and D). In an opening speech, Ethiopia’s Minister of Education,
Dr. Sintayehu Wolde-Michael, told delegates that there was compelling
evidence that investment in R and D could lead to higher per capita growth
rates. Investment in R and D was a good indicator of a country’s economic
competitiveness. The minister emphasized the need for the building of
“knowledge societies”. He said Ethiopia had increased its public investment
in education from 3.2% of GDP in 2000 to 4.5% today. Educational expenditure
as a percentage of the budget had nearly doubled, but there was still
scope for considerable increase, the minister said. At the same time the
share devoted to higher education had risen from 15% to 23%, largely because
of the 13 new universities recently opened. The conference was attended
by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Duran Caplovic;
the AU Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, Professor
Nagia Essayed; and the UN Under-Secretary and Executive Secretary of the
ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh. It also brought together African and international
scientists, experts in project management, intellectual property, patents
, the exploration of research results, African scientists, technology
policy and decision makers, development partners and a variety of civil
society organizations. The themes of the conference include science policy
and innovation as well as energy, transport and infrastructure, health,
life sciences, agriculture and climate change, and ICT. It is expected
to provide for increased synergies between international and African-based
scientific organizations, promote North-South co-operation, improve awareness
of access to patent information and technology transfer, put in place
an enabling ICT environment, and establish mechanisms to sustain innovation
in R and D. It will provide a framework to use science and technology
as a support for economic development and encourage linkages between scientific
research and business enterprise.
• Monday, March 3, was celebrated for the sixth year running as Africa
Environment Day. In a statement, the Commission of the African Union called
on member states to commemorate Environment Day with the widest possible
participation of local communities. The Commission underlined that land
degradation and desertification were key causes of hunger, deprivation,
poverty and under-development. It noted that natural disasters caused
by climate variation and climate change had recently assumed unprecedented
frequency and intensity. The AU Summit in January 2007 adopted a Declaration
on Climate Change and Development in Africa, calling on all member states
and other development partners to co-operate to establish mechanisms to
minimize the negative impact of climate change. This week, climate experts,
meeting in Kampala under the auspices of IGAD’s Climate Prediction and
Application Centre urged regional governments to take immediate action
to cope the impact of difficult weather conditions expected in the region
during the next three months. The CPAC predicts that much of Somalia,
eastern, central and southern Ethiopia, as well as many areas of Kenya
and southern Sudan will be affected by shortages of rain in this period.
Most of Uganda is likely to have normal or near-normal rainfall during
these three months but the south west of Uganda will experience harsh
conditions. South-west and east Sudan, western Ethiopia, south western
Kenya, extreme south Burundi as well as northern, western and south western
Tanzania are likely to have normal or near-normal rains. Some preparations
are already being made. In Ethiopia, the government of the Somali Regional
State has released a joint multi-sectoral Drought Emergency Response Plan
to address outstanding requirements over the next six months. The plan
which will cost 32 million birr focuses on providing assistance in health
and nutrition, water and sanitation, and agriculture and livestock to
mitigate the effects of poor seasonal rains in 2007 and of the current
dry season. The plan notes that 33 woredas (districts) are facing critical
water shortages. It allows for water trucking interventions; the Regional
Water Bureau, and UNICEF, have also identified 28 boreholes which are
in need of immediate rehabilitation.
• This week the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Ethiopian
Embassy in Brussels, organized a seminar on "How to do Business in
Ethiopia". The seminar coincided with the visit of a 55 strong trade
and investment mission of Belgians, Czechs and Greeks, led by Mrs. Clare
TilleKaerpf, Head of the Flanders Investment and Trade Agency of Belgium.
Another 100 people from the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral
Associations participated as did a number of senior officials and diplomats
from the Belgian, Czech and Greek embassies. Ato Esayas Gutta, Acting
Director-General, Economic Cooperation and Business Affairs General-Directorate,
MFA, opened the seminar. The key-note speech was made by Ato Tadesse Haile,
Minister of State for Trade and Industry, who provided an overview of
the performance and prospects of the Ethiopian economy and an outline
of the favorable business climate in Ethiopia. Participants heard a presentation
from the Director-General of the Ethiopian Investment Agency on the wide
ranging investment opportunities available, as well as investment and
export incentive schemes, investment guarantees and protection, and the
one-stop shop service. Other presentations were made by: the Deputy Director
General of the Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising
Agency; Ato Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Mines and Energy; Ambassador
Mohammed Dirir, Minister of Culture and Tourism; representatives of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and of the Chamber of Commerce.
All highlighted the investment opportunities available in their respective
sectors. A subsequent lively discussion session answered general and specific
questions raised by members of the trade and investment mission. A Business
to Business meeting in the afternoon brought together mission delegates
and local businessmen involved in a wide range of interests, ranging from
construction and engineering to cement, hotel, tourism, pharmaceuticals,
beverages and food, agro-industries, power, metallurgy, and various consultancies.
The seminar closed with a speech from Ambassador Gunther Sleeuluwagen
of Belgium. The next day the delegation met with officials of the African
Union, the African Development Bank, UNDP, the World Bank and the Economic
Commission for Africa. It also visited a flower farm, and paid a courtesy
call on the Prime Minister today.
• Last weekend, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored two days of
discussion and training on Diaspora affairs. Chaired by Wo. Mebrat Beyene,
Director General for Ethiopian Expatriate Affairs, the seminar included
a one day training session and performance evaluation of Regional Diaspora
Affairs Coordinating Offices. The training was organized by the Directorate
General for Ethiopian Expatriate Affairs in collaboration with the International
Office of Migration and the Regional Coordinating Offices. It covered
familiarization of the program for Migration for Development in Ethiopia,
a program intended to allow the Ethiopian Diaspora to participate fully
in development efforts. Prior to the training sessions, participants from
the Regional Diaspora Affairs Coordinating Offices, and ministry officials,
deliberated on the performances of the Coordinating Offices for the first
six months of the current budget year. Presentations were made by all
the regional offices with the exception of the Somali and Afar offices.
These were evaluated and some important lessons were learned particularly
about the ways to attract Diaspora investment. The Southern Regional Government
has had some notable success in this direction. A number of issues were
raised during the discussions including the difficulties encountered by
people from the Diaspora attempting to acquire a plot of land for residential
housing, as well as land for investment. Other points covered the stringent
procedures necessary to acquire ID cards as persons of Ethiopian origin,
and the lack of facilities for returnees. One particular issue was the
provision of housing accommodation by the government for Diaspora professionals
who are willing to come and serve their country, offering a transfer of
knowledge and expertise, in the short to medium term.
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