Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki posited that the reason why the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been stalled is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’s refusal to return the occupied territory back to Eritrea.
« The real reason why the occupied territory has not yet been returned is because of TPLF’s adamant refusal, » said Isaias in an interview broadcast on Eritrea’s state-owned TV channel Eri-TV on Friday evening. TPLF is instead is engaged in distributing vast tracts of land for its loyal supporters in the disputed area, he said.
The town of Badme was the start of a two-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea that led to the deaths of an estimated 80,000 people between 1998 and 2000. The conflict ended after the two countries signed a peace deal in Algiers in December 2000. However, Ethiopia has not withdrawn its troops from Badme, which the commission awarded.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed has promised to implement the conclusions of a commission on the demarcation of the border in June 2018. However, the Prime Minister’s decision « was not put into action, and the situation in Badme was worse than it was before, » Isaias said.
«The legal decision was handed down. It should have been respected accordingly and the occupied sovereign land returned to Eritrea. But this has not been done. If you ask how come, the bankrupt clique (TPLF) has been using the border issue as a way of making threats and as a gambling game. Nothing has been done in a year and a half. Without going into the details, I would say that the situation has deteriorated. »
Isaias accused of TPLF for distributing tracts of land in Badme with the view to blocking the realization of the decisions of the boundary commission’s ruling.
Isaias, however, said that his country fully supports the reform introduced by the Ethiopian Prime Minister and would be working to consolidating peace in the region. « Peace is something that you bring through hard work: it is not manna that falls from the sky, » he said.
Two . two means the train is coming. The TPLF hierarchy didn’t see it
Is Isaias suggesting Tigray is a separate entity? Or is he once again playing off Ethiopia with Tigray?
Meles/Tplf went to war over nothing that claimed 80,000 lives not counting colateral damages. It is time the case be brought before International Criminal Court. Only then would justice be done.
Meles failed to defend Ethiopia’s interest having routed Isaias’s army at the cost of getting Ethiopian youth slaughtered. To the amazement of observers and to the outcry of Ethiopians Meles/Seyoum Mesfin, etc turned around to agree to Isaias’s demands. No satisfactory explanation was advanced so far for that. The simple reason however was physical fear that Isaias will come after them individually. Does anyone know how Meles died?
The fact that Isaias now brings up this issue only goes to confirm that he is beyond reforming. He thinks Abiy will deliver his wishes if it were not for Tplf getting in the way.
So now Abiy has Arabs (including Egypt) siding with Isaias because he is League member. Tplf is sabotaging Abiy’s every effort internally. A dangerous situation is developing.
Abiy may wish to avoid border skirmishes. Tplf has been hording military hardware and training Tigrayan youth for over a decade. Tplf wants to keep the border open in the hope that Isaias will die and the long planned merger with Eritrea will be realized. That also explains why Tplf chose to deny Ethiopia access to the sea (Assab) and leave the border issue in limbo.
Abiy needs to tread carefully. In spite of his rhetoric Isaias only has one agenda. That is, get the demarcation Tplf denied him and then have Ethiopia rebuild Assab and pay rent. In other words, a tiny nation will lord it over a nation twenty times its size! Isaias’s plan has not changed a bit in 40 years! His plan has always been to humiliate Ethiopia and in this no different from Tplf.
Apologies; please read “play off Ethiopia against Tigray.”