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Eritrean–Ethiopian War

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Eritrean-Ethiopian War
Date1998-2000
Location
Eritrean-Ethiopian border
Result Stalemate
Belligerents

Eritrea

Ethiopia
Commanders and leaders
General Sebhat Ephrem General Samora Mohammed Yunis
Casualties and losses
19,000;20-50,000[1] up to 60,000.[2]; 123,000

The Eritrean-Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea. From 1962 until 1991, Eritrea had fought a long war of independence against Ethiopia, ultimately leading to a referendum and peaceful separation in 1993. At the time of Eritrea's independence, the border between the two countries was undemarcated, and several adjacent areas were subject to dispute. However, since the two gurrella fighters were close allies they agreed to set up a commission to look into their common border disputed places.[citation needed]

Background and initial attack

Following independence, the two neighbours disagreed over currency and trade issues, and both laid claim to several border regions including Badme, Tsorona-Zalambessa, and Bure. Since early 1991 they had set up a commission to look into each other's claims.[citation needed] On 6 May, 1998, an envoy of Eritrean soldiers entered the disputed Badme region along the border of Eritrea and Ethiopia's northern province of Tigray, resulting in a fire fight between the Eritrean soldiers and the Tigrayan militia and security police they encountered.[3] Eritrea, claiming that several Eritrean officials who were in Tigray for talks had been ambushed and murdered near Badme on their way back, angered by the action of Tigray government financed militia the Eritrean platoon lost its member in the ambush react strongly by killing those involved in the ambush using mechanized force. Ethiopia then declares total out war on Eritrea, on 12 May 1998 and mobilized its forces for a full assault against Eritrea.[4][5]

A Chronology of the Crisis Between Eritrea and Ethiopia

April 20-21, 1997 A meeting to discuss border issues that had surfaced in the course of the previous year was held in Shire, Tigray, Ethiopia between the vice president of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, and the deputy administrator of the Gash-Barka Region of Eritrea.

June 22-27, 1997 A sub-committee, designated in accordance with the Shire decisions, met to make a tour of the "demarcations," a length it determined at about 40 kms. It was established then that, not just one, but a set of at least three demarcations, each creeping deeper into Eritrea had been laid on the ground. This was, naturally, highly objectionable to the Eritrean representatives.

July 18-19, 1997 "Three truckloads of Ethiopian troops entered the Badme area and planted radio communications equipment. Eritrean territory inside the "unilaterally demarcated" area was, thus, put under patrol. Subsequently to these massive expulsion of Eritreans begun."

July 24, 1997 Ethiopian administrators instructed the Eritrean administrators to disband -- they were taking over. They declared Adi Murug Ethiopian territory and appointed their own administrative committee.

August 8, 1997 Two Eritrean officials traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the matter with their counterparts in Ethiopia. They tried to register their protest on what was happening at Adi Murug and in Badme and that it was inconsistent with the friendly relationship between the two sides. They argued that using force to create facts on the ground was not acceptable. They also asked that the Ethiopian government reverse the steps it had taken. Any outstanding matters, they maintained, could be handled in a spirit of understanding and taking the welfare of the border population into consideration

August 16, 1997 Less than a month after the Adi Murug and Badme incidents of July 19, Eritrea 92s President Isaias Afeworki wrote the following letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. letter reads: Comrade Meles, I am being compelled to write you to day because of the preoccupying situation prevailing in the areas around Bada. It cannot be said that the border between our two countries is demarcated clearly although it is known traditionally. And we had not given the issue much attention in view of our present and future ties. Moreover, I do not believe that this will be a cause of much concern and controversy even in the future... August 25, 1997: another letter was dispatched revealing trouble: Regarding the situation in the border areas, my information establishes that the measures taken at Adi-Murug were not in areas that are undisputed but in our own areas and by expelling our officials and dismantling the existing administration...(http://www.tfanus.com.er/infopedia/denden.com/Conflict/newscom/com-alem98.htm)

October 17, 1997 Weyin, the official organ of the TPLF, printed a new map of Tigray Region, which for the first time, in almost a hundred years, altered Eritrea's colonial border with Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Mapping Authority also officially printed this "illegal" map of the Tigray Region. The map later appeared on the new Ethiopian currency.

November 1997 The Joint High Commission met in Asmara, Eritrea and agreed to meet again within three months. There was no discussion on substantive matters. In the meantime, in January 1998, Ethiopian troops were deployed to the border on the Assab line to demand that the Eritrean border post situated on the Assab-Addis Ababa road move several kilometers towards Assab, as the area was being claimed by Ethiopia. A patient handling and quiet diplomacy on the part of Eritrea averted what could have been a dangerous confrontation.

January 1998 Ethiopia tried by military means to occupay sovereign Eritrean territory on the Burie area (Assab-Dessie road ). Unfortunately, Eritrean efforts to solve the problem amicably and bilaterally failed as the Government of Ethiopia continued to bring under its occupation the Eritrean territories that it had incorporated into its map.

May 6, 1998 Ethiopian troops, unprovoked, fired at an Eritrean patrol unit on routine duty along the border around Badme. Several of its members were killed. This triggered off a chain reaction on both sides.

May 13, 1998 The Ethiopian Parliament declared war on Eritrea!

May 14, 1998 The Eritrean Government called for peace and invited neutral parties to examine the circumstances leading to the incident of May 6.

(http://www.dehai.org/conflict/home.htm?publications.htm)

The War

The fighting quickly escalated to exchanges of artillery and tank fire and four weeks of intense fighting. Ethiopia launched air strikes against Eritrea's capital, Asmara. Eritrean aircraft then bombed the northern Ethiopian towns of Adigrat and Mek'ele. Ground troops fought on three fronts.

There was then a lull as both sides mobilized huge forces along their common border and settled into a period of Trench warfare similar to that of World War I.[6] Both countries spent several hundred million dollars on new military equipment.[7] In late June 1998, both sides agreed to halt air raids.

In October 1998, however, they renewed their mobilization efforts, moving soldiers and arms to the border. Hostilities involving artillery, tanks, ground troops, and warplanes resumed in February 1999 when Ethiopia took back Badme from Eritrea.

The fighting led to massive internal displacement in both countries as civilians fled the war zone. Ethiopia expelled 77,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin after confiscating their wealth[citation needed], thus compounding Eritrea's refugee problem. The economies of both countries were already weak as a result of decades of revolution, civil war and drought. The war exacerbated these problems, resulting in food shortages. Prior to the war, 67% of Eritrea's trade was with Ethiopia, and Eritrea imported much of its food from Ethiopia as it could only provide one-quarter of the food it needed.

The fighting also spread as the Eritrean government began supporting the Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group seeking independence of Oromia from Ethiopia that was based in a part of Somalia controlled by Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Ethiopia retaliated by supporting groups in southern Somalia who were opposed to Aidid, and by renewing relations with the Islamic regime in Sudan – which is accused of supporting the Eritrean Islamic Salvation, a Sudan-based group that had launched terrorist attacks in the Eritrea-Sudan border region – while also lending support to various Eritrean rebel groups including a group known as the Eritrean Islamic Jihad.

After a series of failed international mediations to stop the war, on 12 May 2000, Ethiopia launched an offensive that broke through the Eritrean lines between Shambuko and Mendefera, crossed the Mareb River, and cut the road between Barentu to Mendefera, the main supply line for Eritrean troops on the western front of the fighting.[8]

The air moratorium set up with the help of President Clinton was once again broken by Ethiopia.[citation needed] By May 2000, Ethiopia occupied about a quarter of Eritrea's territory, displacing 650,000 people[9] and destroying key components of Eritrea's infrastructure. The Eritreans evacuated the disputed border town of Zalambessa and other disputed areas on the central front claiming it was a 'tactical retreat' to take away one of Ethiopia's last remaining excuses for continuing the war.[10] Having recaptured its territory, Ethiopia declared the war was over.[11] As they were in a strategically vulnerable position, the Eritreans were willing accept the ceasefire offer, followed by peace agreement. Eritrea claimed that 19,000 Eritrean soldiers were killed during the conflictCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page)., while Ethiopian casualties are in the tens of thousands, killed principally in the two major assaults in February-June 1999 and May-June 2000.</ref>

The governments of both countries are widely accused of using the conflict as a basis for suppressing internal dissent.

Cessation of hostilities

On 12 December 2000, the belligerents agreed to a comprehensive peace agreement and binding arbitration of their disputes under the Algiers Agreement. A 25-kilometer-wide Temporary Security Zone was established within Eritrea, patrolled by United Nations peacekeeping forces from over 60 countries (the United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia, or UNMEE).

On 13 April 2002, the Boundary Commission established under the Algiers Agreement in collaboration with The Hague Court hands its Final and Binding Verdict. In that ruling some territory to each side, but Badme (the flash point of the conflict) was awared to Eritrea.[12] Both countries vowed to accept the decision wholeheartedly the day after the Ruling was made official. A few months later Ethiopia requested for clarifications, then subsquently rejected the decision, but in November 2004, said that it accepted the final and binding ruling "in principle". Nonetheless, Ethiopia has begun remobilizing troops along the border, and as of 2005, there is new fear that the two countries could return to war.[13] On 7 December 2005, Eritrea ordered Western members (particularly from the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia) of a UN peacekeeping mission on its border with Ethiopia to leave within 10 days, sparking concerns of further conflict with its neighbour.[14] On 10 December 2005, Ethiopia announced it was withdrawing some of its forces from the Eritrean border "in the interests of peace".[15] On 15 December 2005 the United Nations began to withdraw peacekeepers from Eritrea in response to a 14 December 2005 UN resolution.[16]

On December 21, 2005, a commission at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Eritrea broke international law when it attacked Ethiopia in 1998, triggering the broader conflict.[17] The ruling with regards to who started the war was designed to save face, while the incurtions in Adi Murug in July of 1997 was documented and confirmed by the letters exchanged by the two heads of states.[citation needed]

Arbitration

Since Badme village (as opposed to some other parts of the Badme region) lay on what was found to be the Eritrean side of the treaty line, there was no need for the Commission to consider any evidence of Eritrean governmental presence there, although Eritrea did in fact submit such evidence. Moreover, even some maps submitted by Ethiopia not only showed the distinctive straight line between the Setit and Mareb Rivers, but also marked Badme village as being on the Eritrean side of that line. The Commission must also observe that the Ethiopian invocation of the findings of the OAU in respect of Badme in 1998 (Comment, para. 1.4, footnote 4) failed to mention the OAU's express statement that those findings did not "prejudge the final status of that area which will be determined at the end of the delimitation and demarcation process and, if necessary, through arbitration."

Eritrea - Ethiopia Boundery Commission - Observations 21 March 2003 (http://pca-cpa.org/PDF/Obs.EEBC.pdf)

As agreed in the Algiers Agreement, the two parties presented their case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration to two diffent Commissions:

1. Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission

The International Bureau serves as Registry for this Commission established pursuant to the Agreement of 12 December 2000 between the Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with a mandate "to delimit and demarcate the colonial treaty border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902 and 1908) and applicable international law." Its first progress report to the UN Secretary-General was presented on June 19, 2001.
The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission delivered its Decision on Delimitation of the Border between Eritrea and Ethiopia to representatives of the two governments on Saturday, April 13, 2002. ...
On 19 November 2003, the Commission met in The Hague with representatives of the parties. The President of the Commission made an opening statement expressing the concern of the Commission at the lack of progress in the demarcation process, setting out the Commission’s understanding of the positions of the parties and indicating that if progress was to be made, certain rigid positions would have to be modified. Following that meeting, the Commission concluded that, until the positions of either or both of the parties were modified, there was nothing more that the Commission could do.

2. Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission

The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (the Commission) was established and operates pursuant to Article 5 of the Agreement signed in Algiers on 12 December 2000 between the Governments of the State of Eritrea and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (the "December Agreement"). The Commission is directed to:
"decide through binding arbitration all claims for loss, damage or injury by one Government against the other, and by nationals (including both natural and juridical persons) of one party against the Government of the other party or entities owned or controlled by the other party that are (a) related to the conflict that was the subject of the Framework Agreement, the Modalities for its Implementation and the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, and (b) result from violations of international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions, or other violations of international law."

In July 2001 the Commission sat to decide its jurisdiction, procedures and possible remedies. The result of this sitting was issued on August 2001. In October 2001, following consultations with the Parties, the Commission adopted its Rules of Procedure. In December 2001 the Parties filed their claims with the Commission. The claims filed by the Parties relate to such matters as the conduct of military operations in the front zones, the treatment of POWs and of civilians and their property, diplomatic immunities and the economic impact of certain government actions during the conflict. At the end of 2005 final awards have been issued on claims on Pensions, and Ports. Partial awards have been issued for claims about: Prisoners of War, the Central Front, Civilians Claims, the Western and Eastern Fronts, Diplomatic, Economic and property losses, and Jus Ad Bellum.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Banks, Arthur; Muller, Thomas; and Overstreet, William, ed. Political Handbook of the World 2005-6 (A Division of Congressional Quarterly, Inc.: Washington, D.C., 2005), p.366. 156802952-7
  2. ^ Banks et al., ed. Political Handbook 2005-6, p.378.
  3. ^ Brothers at War, by T. Negash see Bibliography.
  4. ^ Ethiopia declares victory BBC 1 March, 1999
  5. ^ World: Africa Eritrea: 'Ethiopia pursues total war' BBC June 6, 1998
  6. ^ Ethiopia's push north BBC 20 May, 2000
  7. ^ Will arms ban slow war? BBC 18 May, 2000
  8. ^ Ethiopia's war strategy BBC 19 May, 2000
  9. ^ Eritrean, Ethiopian exchange of POWs begins CNN 23 December, 2000
  10. ^ Eritrea's 'tactical retreat' BBC 26 May, 2000
  11. ^ Ethiopia says 'war is over' BBC 31 May, 2000
  12. ^ Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission United Nations web site.
  13. ^ UN: Ethiopia-Eritrea Stalemate Could Spark Renewed War article by Voice of America 31 March 2005
  14. ^ Eritrea orders Westerners in UN mission out in 10 days, International Herald Tribune, 7 December, 2005
  15. ^ "Ethiopia 'to reduce' border force" BBC 10 December 2005
  16. ^ "Some UN Staff to Relocate to Ethiopia From Eritrea" Voice of America 15 December 2005
  17. ^ "Ruling: Eritrea broke international law in Ethiopia attack" CNN 21 December 2005
  • Summary
    • Ethiopia / Eritrea War GlobalSecurity.org 2000-2005
    • Eritrea - Ethiopia Conflict Page This site is developed and maintained by Denden LLC and dehai.org. The site was initially developed by the Eritrean Media and Information Task Force (Badme Task Force), a volunteer group of Eritrean-Americans in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
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