The
Reverend Abba Tesfamariam Baraki
An
Irob-native Ethiopian-American Citizen
Washington,
DC, USA
July
2, 2004
Mr. Congressman,
Your concern and frustration over the staled border demarcation between
Ethiopia and Eritrea and the situations of displaced peoples from both sides of
the two countries are quite understandable and legitimate, and definitely it is
the concern and frustration of the border area peoples as well. Those of us,
who have families and relatives adversely affected by the war of 1998 which
lasted over two years and left so much destructions and damages upon human
lives, properties, and socioeconomic fabrics of the severely poverty-stricken
peoples of both countries, are very much worried about the impasse and the
potential rekindling of another conflict as a military option where political
solution has been failing so far. Those of us seriously concerned are praying
for a durable peace for both Ethiopia and Eritrea to be achieved through a
healthy and constructive dialogue, fair justice, and full respect of human
rights for all the affected peoples from both sides in those contested border
areas.
I’m a clergyman and definitely it is not my desire to see another bloodshed
between the two brotherly peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia. In fact, I greatly
abhor all the bloodshed in Iraq, the Middle East, the Sudan, and many other
places in the world. All human beings are endowed by the Almighty God
inalienable rights to exist in peace and unity in their own sacred birthplaces
undisturbed by outside interferences and unfair and unjust pressures. I
strongly believe that what Eritrea and Ethiopia need are first and foremost,
not an imposed border delimitation and demarcation through international
pressures and intimidation based on economic sanctions, but rather, a sound
political dialogue, reconciliation and normalization of bilateral relations of
the two governments/countries and their respective citizens as a prerequisite
for a true lasting peace, which would lead to a mutually accepted and respected
border delimitation and demarcation, especially for the best interest of their
respective populations in the border areas.
Mr. Congressman,
Whether you realize it or not, in your letter you sent to your colleagues in
the Congress of the United States, you clearly sound and reflect to me
nonobjective or neutral on the issue but rather you appear very much involved
and dedicated to pro-Eritrean cause than to the real peace for both countries
and peoples on both sides. For instance, you have said in your letter:
While the Eritrean government has from the outset submitted to the rulings of
the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, Ethiopia has pushed for increased
dialogue on the commission’s decision, resulting in a stalemate and setting a dangerous
precedent for the Boundary commission. For instance, failure to follow through
on the Algiers Accord jeopardizes adherence to the rule of law in other
long-standing border disputes, some of which have been settled but could be
renewed if one or another party modeled what is currently taking place in the
Eritrea-Ethiopia boundary dispute and failed to comply with decisions of the
Boundary Commission and attempts by the international community to mitigate the
stalemate.
That is also OK
if you are or choose to be that way and if you’ve got more Eritrean
friends/allies than Ethiopians. It’s absolutely your right. But, however,
let me assure you, as a fellow naturalized American citizen and clergyman, that
such kind of favoritism will neither lead to a genuine peace nor benefit both
Eritrea and Ethiopia and above all the victimized peoples in the contested
border areas, such as the Irob of whom I’m descendant and for whose rights I’ve
been advocating for a long time. For sure, your conviction and pressure alone
cannot bring about the direly needed and wanted long-lasting peace for the
adversely affected peoples in the border areas.
Your letter does not address or show any concern for the adversely affected
peoples, such as the Irob and many others inhabiting the 600-miles-long border
between the two countries. How sad and insensitive for a black congressman of
African roots to ignore the voiceless African peoples’ outcry for justice and
respect of their human rights to exist as cohesive tribes in their own
God-given sacrosanct birth and ancestral places! I strongly wish that the
Afro-American congressmen could be heralds of justice and fairness whenever and
wherever injustice had be done against African peoples anywhere. What a pity
for African-American congressmen to completely ignore the desperate cries of
the voiceless and defenseless African peasants (such as the Irob). What a shame
to so easily forget African peoples’ mistreatments and sufferings under the
bitter yokes of colonialism and slavery and now to promote a forced separation
and division among African families, relatives, and communities tied by
ancestral cultures, languages, and traditions, in the name of an unfair,
inhuman, and unjust verdict designed and destined to disintegrate these helpless
peoples against their will and political choice. Why so easily forget and
disregard what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sacrificed for by
emphatically saying, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere”?
Mr. Congressman,
Injustice has been done by the unjust ruling of EEBC at The Hague on 13 April
2002, when the Court issued a verdict to heartlessly and irresponsibly
disintegrate, for instance, a tiny Irob tribe, descendants of one chieftain
named Summe (Soumme), which had never been colonized or administered by Italy
during the colonization of Eritrea or by British after the Italians were
ejected from Eritrea by the Emperor Haile-Sellassie during the World War II.
The Boundary Commission, despite the outcry of the Irob people in Ethiopia and
Diaspora, resolutely and mercilessly decided to divide the Irobland and its
inhabitants into two hostile countries exposing them to possible ethnic
cleansing or extermination. The Irob people, who have been illegally invaded,
occupied, and heinously abused as well as forced to be displaced by the
Eritrean forces from 1998-2000, have been passionately and resolutely rejecting
and protesting the The Hague’s ruling since 2002, warning the international
community and their government that they will not allow their God-given
sacrosanct birth places and their people to be partitioned and given away to
Eritrea. The Irob people have warned many times that such move will not bring
peace and stability to the region without their participation and full referendum
on the peaceful settlement and the fate of their homogeneous-tribal-family and
their fatherland. The Irob people repeatedly have warned the world community
that they are Ethiopians and want to remain Ethiopian citizens without any
compulsory separation or division imposed upon them by any external or internal
forces. They are resolutely determined to die in dignity in their native and
ancestral land instead of being forced to be split in halves and be
disintegrated.
Mr. Congressman,
While the civilized western world, including our country the United States of
America, had worked so hard to convince and facilitate the totalitarian world
of Communism to tear down the Berlin Wall of separation and division of the
German peoples, why you, as an African-American Congressman are resolutely
determined to separate and disintegrate the peoples like the Irob minority
tribes by building another Berlin Wall of separation among the voiceless and
defenseless Irob tribe and others of African Continent? Why are you so much
concerned about the passage of the controversial pending legislation (H.R.
2760) which is designed to support the unjust decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary Commission destined to inhumanely and detrimentally disintegrate and
divide peoples like the Irob? I am so puzzled with your true motives.
You have clearly expressed in your letter that you want the Congress to pass
the pending legislation and put sanction on Ethiopia that is refusing or
delaying to implement unconditionally the demarcation of the Border according
to the Algiers Agreement signed by both parties on December 12, 2000 as final
and binding without any appeal to it.
In your letter, you clearly indicate when you say, “While a lingering border
dispute between two countries on the Horn of Africa may seem distant and
parochial, it has global implications. Both Ethiopia and Eritrea are U.S.
allies in the war on terrorism, and their cooperation in the region is vital to
U.S. interests.” Your concern seems very noble and commending to
fight global terrorism and the interest of the United States. But you are
definitely failing or ignoring the African peoples from being terrorized and
threatened by unjust and inhuman rulings such as of the EEBC in The Hague
designed to expose minority groups like the Irob to survival dangers in those
highly contested border areas between Eritrea and Ethiopia. How can’t we
realize what is happening to the voiceless and defenseless black tribes in the
Sudan, who are being persecuted and exterminated through open and systematic
ethnic cleansing by the Arab ethnic groups? Does it concern you, as an
African-American Congressman, what the Washington Post reported on the Sudan’s
ethnic cleansing of the black tribes, particularly in Darfur? According to the
Post, “The U.S. government has said it is investigating the killings of
an estimated 30,000 people in Darfur and the displacement of the more
than 1 million people from their tribal lands to determine whether
the violence should be classified as genocide” (The Washington Post,
Wednesday, June 30, 2004, p. A16).
Mr. Congressman,
This is exactly what the Irob minority tribe is afraid of can happen to them,
if the Ethiopian government has to accept the unjust and erroneous decision of
the EEBC (without the necessary rectification) which would expose the Irob
minority and other ethnic groups long the disputed border areas to a possible
sociopolitical danger of tribal disintegration or extinction. The Irob tribe
which is estimated about 30,000 can be easily exterminated if they refuse to
accept the verdict and submit to their lords or owners and attempt to use civil
disobedience in self-defense in the demarcation process of the border. The Irob
people strongly believe that Ethiopia has a sacred duty and responsibility to
not expose its citizens to dangers but to protect them and safeguard their
inalienable rights and historical and ancestral territorial integrity within
their motherland, Ethiopia.
In my opinion, the law must be just one designed to protect and safeguard the
fundamental and inalienable God-given human rights of dwelling in own sacred
birth places peacefully undisturbed by any dictatorial human laws. We believe
that it is the Almighty God who gives life and a land to dwell in for human
beings as inalienable inherent rights by birth. This is God-given divine right
for all human beings. I am not sure what do you mean when you say that the U.S.
Congress should be at the forefront of respect for the law, even international
law...when the law you’re talking about is designed to harm and disintegrate
families, relatives, communities of the same ancestral origin and culture, like
that of Irob in northeastern Ethiopia. How can you claim “in the interest of
peace” while an unjust law, such as The Hague Boundary Commission’s
ruling, is destined to lead to more conflict and cause instability in the
region? How can you then say and treat such a law as fair and honorable in the
interest of “stability and peace” while it is hampering and destroying the
whole peace process or the same “stability and peace” you’re talking about?
In conclusion, Mr. Congressman, it should be known that the Irob people in
particular are neither belligerent nor anti-peace. As a matter of fact, the
only thing they want is peace and economic development for their day-to-day
survival. The only thing they ask from the international community, the EEBC,
the United Nations and other concerned parties is fairness and justice that can
lead to a genuine lasting-peace and stability with their geographically close
neighbor Eritreans. The only thing they reject is an unjust and compulsory law
which is being imposed upon them and which is a serious threat that is destined
to partition them into two nationalities and deprive them of Ethiopian
nationality to which they are passionately attached and devoted to for
centuries. The Irob people absolutely reject a military solution to the
territorial dispute in the Irobland, but rather prefer a peaceful means of
dialogue sponsored by the United Nations with full guarantee of referendum
supervised by the same body to be given them in order to freely decide to which
country or nationality to belong.
If you have an adequate knowledge and understanding about the real issues and
situations of the peoples in the border areas, particularly of the Irob ethnic
minority, I invite you to seriously and genuinely as well as objectively with
full neutrality engage yourself and other U.S. Congressmen to facilitate a
healthy and constructive dialogue (before any demarcation) that would lead to a
genuine reconciliation and mutual political healing as well as a normalization
of bilateral relations of the two governments and their respective peoples.
Only then, the demarcation process could begin and be implemented on mutually
and amicably agreed upon principles and genuine commitments for the best
interest of the two countries and their respective citizens.