Westminster
UK Members of Parliament discussed regional security in the Horn of Africa during a debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday. Ivan Lewis, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responded to the debate representing the UK Government.
The debate focused on issues of security and stability in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen acknowledging the strategic, economic and cultural importance of these countries. However, a great part of the discussion in Westminster Hall centered around the border problem between Eritrea and Ethiopia as a driver of conflict in the region.
Conservative MP Mark Pritchard opened the discussion on Eritrea and Ethiopia by stating, “What happens in Addis Abeba matters”. Mr Pritchard supports his view by arguing that Ethiopia is one of the most stable countries in the Horn. He told attending MPs that he recently made a visit to Ethiopia and that the country reflects stability regardless of ongoing disputes and tensions with Eritrea.
Mr Pritchard was asked by Jeremey Corbyn, Labour MP from the Islington constituency, if he was able to discuss the issue of border dispute with the Ethiopian Government during his visit to Addis Ababa and whether he believes that there is any chance that the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling might be accepted by both parties.
Mr Pritchard replied that he had discussed it with the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia and other representatives of the Government. He said that it would help if the court would make the effort to visit the border rather than making judgments based on a map from a room in a European capital.
Throughout the debate the Conservative MP appeared to support Ethiopia accusing Eritrea of causing instability in the Horn with the support of Libya, Qatar and Iran. While the Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs tried to emphasise the complexity of the forces driving conflict in the Horn.
“I wonder whether we are not sometimes too simplistic in looking at goodies and baddies, and whether a much higher degree of involvement is needed,” Mr Corbyn said for instance.
Moreover, Labour and Liberal Democrats seemed to support the view that the Algiers Agreement and the Court of Arbitration ruling might be key to solving many problems in the region.
Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ivan Lewis responded to the debate saying,
“To my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North who raised the issue of the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, I have to say that there was arbitration. The Eritrea-Ethiopia boundary commission made a very clear decision on the border.
Despite our friendship with Ethiopia and our tremendous admiration for the progress it has made, we continue to press it to implement the decision following arbitration. The matter will continue to be a running sore and a cause of much instability until it has done so.
I say to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey) who asked the question that we continue to make the case for that recommendation to be implemented, because it is a root cause of the significant instability.”
“We support the sanctions regime against Eritrea because we believe that country has consistently flouted international law, which is why we supported UN Security Council resolution 1907. However, that is not an alternative to engagement. Of course, we want to engage with Eritrea, as well as to insist that it does not behave in a way that undermines stability in the horn. It is very important to get that balance right.”
Watch the debate on link below:
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Asmara
21°
From a justice stand point,what the UN or(the US and UK) did is a horrendous mistake for not taking on Ethiopia for its refusal to implement the courts decision. This shouldn’t come as a suprise as the UN has had several black spots on its history for injustice.
However this shouldn’t be an excuse for a petty dictator to wreck and cause havoc in the region by arming, training and supporting rebel groups from all over the region including across the sea.There should be a sober way of making your case to be heard so that wars can be avoided. But the dictator is doing this simply to keep the country in permanent war footage so that to justify his barbarian and iron fist rule.Look what has been happening at home.
Thousands have been jailed incommunicado for more than a decade and many others were killed in mysterious way for simply expressing thier views and what is worse, many were disappeared without trace.
Today Eritrea is the only country on earth with no constitution, functional parliament and free press. Justice,democracy and elections that we paid a heavy price for being out of question,our leaders offers nothing but a bankrupt vision of misery and horror.
In conclusion,the border demarcation should not be a justification for all the injustices that are taking place in the country that we all love.
I think we know that our government is non-democratic. Should we therefore ignore the fact that Ethiopia is refusing us our land? Does this mean our opposition should rely on Ethiopia as a friend to free us from dictatorship? There are always two sides of a coin. In my view the government and the opposition do both the same mistake- they just see one side of the coin.