Eritrea, 2005

Allow me to congratulate

the President on his election to preside over the

General Assembly at its sixtieth session. I wish to

assure him and his colleagues in the Bureau of my

delegation’s support as he guides our deliberations.

Allow me also to thank his predecessor, Mr. Jean Ping

of Gabon, for his effective leadership at the fifty-ninth

session of the Assembly.

In addition, let me take this opportunity to extend

my country’s deep sympathy and condolences to all

Governments and peoples that have suffered tragic

losses of life and destruction of property as a result of

acts of terrorism and natural and man-made disasters.

At this general debate, I wish to address the

Assembly on a matter of grave and immediate

importance to my country that has serious

consequences for the supremacy of international law

and the maintenance of regional peace and security.

Almost four years after the decision of the

Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, the dark

clouds of war once again hang over my country. The

legal provisions of the Algiers Agreement, the legal

underpinnings of the independent arbitration process

and the manner in which that process was established,

and the unequivocal decision of the Boundary

Commission are all too well known to be repeated

here. But allow me to cite the cardinal elements of the

Algiers Agreement to refresh members’ memories.

Article 4.15 of the Algiers Agreement explicitly

states,

“The parties agree that the delimitation and

demarcation determinations of the Commission

shall be final and binding. Each party shall

respect the border so determined, as well as the

territorial integrity and sovereignty of the other

party.”

I must stress here that violation of the Agreement

represents nothing less than blatant disrespect for the

territorial integrity and sovereignty of a United Nations

Member State.

In the sixteenth report on the work of the

Boundary Commission of February 2005, when the

Commission was forced to close down its field offices

in Eritrea and Ethiopia, it warned that,

“... the line of the boundary was legally and

finally determined by its Delimitation Decision of

13 April 2002. Though undemarcated, this line is

binding upon both Parties, subject to the minor

qualifications expressed in the Delimitation

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Decision, unless they agree otherwise. Conduct

inconsistent with this boundary is unlawful.”

(S/2005/142, Annex I, para. 33)

The Boundary Commission’s decision should not

be tampered with. In that regard, article 4.2 of the

Algiers Agreement unambiguously stipulates that,

“The parties agree that a neutral Boundary

Commission composed of five members shall be

established with a mandate to delimit and

demarcate the colonial treaty border based on the

pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902 and 1908)

and applicable international law. The

Commission shall not have the power to make

decisions ex aequo et bono.”

The situation with which we are now confronted

is therefore not an intractable border dispute requiring

the flexibility of the parties. It is squarely a grave

matter of an illegal and forcible occupation of the

sovereign territory of Eritrea, a United Nations

Member State, in clear violation of Article 2.4 of the

United Nations Charter.

Ethiopia is not only occupying the village of

Badme and other sovereign Eritrean territory; it also

continues to build illegal settlements in those areas

with a view to, in the words of Secretary-General Kofi

Annan, creating facts on the ground.

Ethiopia’s unrestrained assault on the rule of law

and the sanctity of treaty agreements will have severe

consequences not only for the people of the two

neighbouring countries and the Horn of Africa but,

through the bad precedent it sets, also for other

countries and regions, as well as for the credibility and

the legitimacy of the United Nations. Yet Ethiopia’s

acts of occupation continue to be tolerated by the

United Nations and the other guarantors of the Algiers

Agreement.

Paragraph 14 of the Agreement on Cessation of

Hostilities (S/2000/601, annex), which is an integral

component of the Algiers Agreement, specifies that

“OAU and the United Nations commit themselves

to guarantee the respect for this commitment of

the two Parties until the determination of the

common border ... This guarantee shall be

comprised of:

“(a) Measures to be taken by the

international community should one or both

of the Parties violate this commitment,

including appropriate measures to be taken

under Chapter VII of the United Nations

Charter by the United Nations Security

Council;”.

The United Nations and the African Union, as

guarantors, are parties to the treaty. They have

obligations to ensure implementation of the Algiers

Agreement without preconditions. In the event that

either Eritrea or Ethiopia fails to implement the

Agreement, the United Nations is empowered by the

Agreement to invoke Chapter VII of the Charter with

respect to the reneging party.

The treaty agreement must be enforced and the

numerous international instruments must be applied in

order to end occupation and restore legality. The

Security Council is mandated to maintain peace and

security, inter alia, by eliminating all forms of

occupation. Unfortunately, the United Nations and

some members of the international community have so

far been advancing arguments that are irrelevant to the

issue and are in contravention of international law in

order to decline from taking the appropriate action.

Existing and aspirant members of the Security

Council — both permanent and non-permanent — must

fully appreciate the fact that the cardinal principle of

the Charter is that membership of the Security Council

must be considered as service to humanity and the

cause of peace and not as a means to promote and

protect their own interests or the interests of their

allies. They must uphold the sacred trust to protect the

credibility and viability of the United Nations.

Respect for international agreements has been,

and must continue to be, the foundation of the principle

of peaceful coexistence among nations. Any

compromise on that principle will result in the erosion

of trust in the international system and will severely

damage the functioning of the United Nations.

Eritrea and Ethiopia may soon be dragged once

again into a new phase of armed conflict. Yet, there is

still an opportunity for a peaceful resolution if the

United Nations honours its treaty obligations and

addresses the one core issue, Ethiopia’s illegal

occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory. If the United

Nations fails to reverse the occupation, it will be as

responsible as Ethiopia for any renewed armed conflict

and its consequences.

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At this juncture, I wish to remind the Assembly

that the United Nations has betrayed the Eritrean

people twice during the past 60 years. This would be

the third betrayal if it does not respect its treaty and

Charter obligations by settling this occupation through

peaceful means.

In conclusion, I wish to inform the Assembly

categorically that Eritrea is determined, and has the

right, to defend and preserve its territorial integrity by

any means possible.