A Brand New Ethnicity, Moves To Underwrite Asmara's
War Strategy
by Alemnesh Ghebrehiwot
It is reported that the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Flash Appeal for Humanitarian Assistance to Eritrea, September 1998- February 1999, makes a request in the amount of USD8.9 million. In principle, it is correct to uphold the impartiality of humanitarian assistance to non-combatant civilian populations. However, there are misconceptions and unfortunate implications in the appeal which need rectification.
1. Eritrean Ethnicity: The first page of the Appeal says the "obliged return of people of Eritrean ethnicity from Ethiopia", in a context implying that an Eritrean ethnic group was being expelled from Ethiopia.
Reaction: I am not sure if there is any one who is aware of the presence of persons of "Eritrean ethnicity". The experts in the classification of ethnic groups with scientific criteria have to enlighten us on this. Eritrea is a diverse nation with 9 different ethnic groups of which most are also found in Ethiopia. More than half of Eritreans share the same Tigrean ethnicity as the Ethiopians who inhabit Tigrai Region. Other ethnicities (such as the Afar) also straddle the border. As a simple example, the leaders of both Ethiopia and Eritrea belong to the same ethnic group. By the way, how are the Afars of Eritrea different from Afars of Ethiopia and Djibouti?
The pseudo-racial concept is being invented by the Eritrean Government. In fact the Eritrean people and the Ethiopian people are brothers, and sometimes, literally so. There are various ethnic groups in both countries, and in many cases, the same ethnic groups. To try to bring in the concept of "Eritrean ethnicity" is simply to promote an Eritrean Government propaganda concept based on an artificial racism.
The appeal document cannot be taken seriously with this senseless concept which is harmful to the long-term relations between the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
It is obvious that UN bureaucrats, may be not at the level of higher echelon, have fallen prey to the EPLF manipulation to create an ethnic group which has hitherto never been identified by anthropologists. They should be reminded of the true facts, if they plead innocence, or be corrected lest they indulge in more absurdities.
2. Who was expelled?
No Eritrean has been expelled from Ethiopia on the basis of his or her ethnicity or nationality. By Eritean official accounts, there are 130,000 of them living in peace in Ethiopia. Some Eritrean citizens have been expelled for well-defined reasons related to Ethiopian national security, such as:-
- EPLF war veterans and lately recruited commandos exported to Ethiopia and capable of participating in the 'internal war' that their leader has threatened to unleash against Ethiopia;
- members of the extensive clandestine EPLF/Eritrean Government political/intelligence networks established in Ethiopia to control the resident Eritrean population, extort funds from them, and provide an infrastructure for EPLF operations in Ethiopia.
- persons engaged in the operation of EPLF/Eritrean Government- controlled businesses and other "businesses" contributing to EPLF funding operations in Ethiopia.
If the Eritrean Government requires UN assistance for the up-keep of these persons who number under 7,000, that is alright. Nonetheless, the UN should discipline some of its staff to be impartial when there is a clear issue of subversive elements working for one member state against another in a situation of conflict.
3. Apportioning Blame Implied In the Appeal
The cover photographs of the appeal document depicting a bus, with the implication deportation of Eritreans from Ethiopia, aimed at giving the impression that the humanitarian crisis in Eritrea is purely of Ethiopia's making. It has a sinister polemical intent designed to imply that the
humanitarian crisis in Eritrea is primarily due to the Ethiopian expulsion of EPLF military veterans and political operatives. This surely looks like a subtle propaganda initiative using the UN in support of the Eritrean Government war effort and propaganda.
One also notes that the UN bureaucrats have unwisely chosen to accept at face value and publish the unlikely figure of 17,000 Eritrean deportees from Ethiopia, without bothering to check and attempt to ascertain the true number. Ethiopia said in mid-September that only 6,500 had been expelled for evidenced security reasons.
4. Moves to Underwrite Eritrean Strategy?
There is surprisingly a clear partisan position on the part of the UN staff with
respect to the estimates of affected populations and the assistance required. The appeal document puts the figure of 260,000 war-affected civilians, which is nearly 10% of the Eritrean population, including
100,000 displaced. Who displaced them from where?
The facts are that aggression took place inside Ethiopian territory where common sense has it that people are displaced. The aggressor in this conflict is the Eritrean regime, the Eritrean Army has occupied Ethiopian territory; and it is simple common sense that the majority of those affected are Ethiopians, whether in the war zone, or displaced from the war zone. It is most unlikely that many Eritreans have thus far been displaced by the conflict. Facts should not be distorted to parrot the falsification of the Eritean regime.
The UN Appeal for Ethiopia, the victim of aggression, and source of most of the displaced, is put at only USD4.1m, while the appeal for Eritrea purports to cover a much larger Eritrean population than is warranted by the effects of the current conflict and is double the appeal for Ethiopia. This does not indicate any sense of balance, proportionality and fairness relative to the effects of the conflict. The UN functionaries responsible for the appeal would do well to be sensitive to credibility.
The war and its principal effects have so far mainly taken place within Ethiopian territory, and the larger population and most of the war-affected and displaced civilians are within Ethiopian territory.
The Appeal appears to cover not only the immediate needs of the affected population, but also Eritrea's long term needs, such as perhaps, resettlement. This unbalanced appeal may aim at assisting the Eritrean Government's war and propaganda efforts through removing and resettling populations not affected by the conflict, as a means of channeling support to the aggressors. Such strategy may have the implication of prolonging the conflict.
It is known that there is a roster of possible recruits for assignment to places of conflict. It is, therefore, plausible to assume that certain middle and low-level functionaries at the UN have friends on the roster for whom there would be employment in UN peacekeeping operations if the Eritrean strategy materializes. Both ways, the UN may be misguided into what amounts to underwriting the Eritrean regime's strategy which has been proven to be for provoking conflicts with its neighbours.
The extent to which some members of the UN family have become politicized and partisan and lost their integrity and professionalism is very sad and unfortunate. Ethiopia, a founding member of the UN and an all-out advocate of fairness is right to deeply resent the message that some UN staff attempt to convey through their pro-Eritrean Government propaganda photograph and their acquiescence in serving as a propaganda tool of the aggressors. The UN owes Ethiopia an explanation and an apology.