Statement by Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, alternate representative for special political affairs of the United States mission to the United Nations, on the situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea, in the Security Council, August 14, 2000
We would like to thank the Presidency for calling this important Open Meeting and we join our colleagues in welcoming the Permanent Representatives of Ethiopia and Eritrea to this Chamber.
Mr. President, through you may I ask our distinguished colleagues from Ethiopia and Eritrea to let this occasion mark a new chapter in their young bilateral relationship. At last and following a horrific price, the guns have fallen silent. We implore the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea to fill this silence with the language of compromise, reconciliation, and hope.
With the exception of our island state members, all of us have neighbors and all of us share common borders. The challenge to the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea will be to determine what kind of border they want. They can easily have a green line, where concertina wire backed by military force marks a demarcation borne of nothing more than physical separation.
That is not what we as a council must seek. Such a complete division is certainly better than the resumption of conflict, but it might also be a squandering of a unique opportunity. Mr. President, we urge the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea to aspire to more than the tragic experiences that produced decades-old lines across the Korean peninsula, the Middle East and the island of Cyprus.
Instead, we believe that Eritrea and Ethiopia must turn towards the SADC and COMESA model of integration based on the free flow of people, goods and ideas. Looking further afield, perhaps Spain and Portugal provide a useful model for the necessary inter-relationship that must be developed. Ethiopia and Eritrea are unique national entities that nonetheless share a range of common historical experiences. These two countries must develop a sophisticated bilateral relationship based on interdependence and a common agenda for prosperity.
Looking at the economic dynamo that is today's European Union, it is appropriate to point out that the original impetus for the EU was the realization on the part of Germany and France that economic integration was the key to preventing forever the return to war.
Mr. President, the Security Council has an institutional concern here as well. Blue helmets should not be viewed as some sort of substitute for comprehensive peace agreements, they should be seen as the creators of the opportunity to achieve peace based on shared values, shared cultures, shared borders and shared aspirations. The growing U.N. presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea should calm tensions and create an enabling environment for the search for durable solutions.
The search for better bilateral relations goes on forever; the presence of U.N. peacekeepers should not.
We as a council must ensure that peacekeepers provide the catalyst for progress, and not a justification for inaction on the political front.
What the parties must seek is something infinitely beyond the mere cessation of hostilities. Instead, we urge them to work towards a just and lasting peace among nations.
Mr. President, we are in broad agreement with the recommendations contained in the recent Secretary-General's report on Ethiopia and Eritrea. Just as we did with UNSCR 1312 establishing the United Nations Mission, we are currently drafting a resolution and hope to move expeditiously to experts' negotiations.
We look forward to the rapid naming of an SRSG and the quick deployment of a full U.N. mission. That is the Security Council's obligation.
Our expectation of the parties is more than the mere cessation of hostilities. The Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities signed under the auspices of the OAU by Ethiopia and Eritrea makes explicit the commitment of the parties to determine their common border, including through the use of an arbitration mechanism if a quick agreement cannot otherwise be reached. Indeed, this commitment appears no fewer than five times in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.
We as a council must press for an agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of the common border as a critical component to a comprehensive peace agreement. This element will be essential if the peace between these two formerly warring neighbors is to be self-sustaining and beneficial to the people of both countries.
The United States remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian issues, especially renewed deportations, that are exacerbating the living conditions of many people affected by the conflict and are threatening to worsen relations between the two countries at a critical juncture in the peace process. We call on the Eritrean government to allow full access for the ICRC to detainee and POW camps, and ensure that any repatriations are done with the full involvement of the ICRC. We also call upon the Ethiopian Government to ensure that appropriate international organizations, including the ICRC, have full access to Eritrean civilians in areas of Eritrea currently occupied by Ethiopia, and for the Ethiopian government to allow access to all Eritrean POWs.
Our fondest hope is that both governments will turn their attention to the genuine needs of their people: health, education, food security, jobs and housing. As we know, there is no peace dividend if the peace is based on mutual assured destruction, for that is merely a truce based on the maintenance of arms.
Ethiopia and Eritrea must instead build peace on mutual prosperity and
mutual dependence, for that is a peace based on shared values and
shared aspirations.
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