Eritrea says Ethiopia’s encroachment threat to security in Horn of Africa

ESAT News (September 28, 2017)

Eritrea warned that Ethiopia’s continued occupation and encroachment on its territory is a threat to peace and security in the Horn of Africa.

“Another impediment in front of Eritrea, indeed in front of the whole Horn of Africa region is the 15-year-old occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory by Ethiopia,” Eritrean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Osman Saleh Mohammed said at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly of heads of state and government.

“Eritrea calls on the Security Council to ensure the end of this flagrant violation of international law and several UN resolutions,” the Foreign Minister reiterated his demand to the UN body.

Eritrea also called on the U.N. to lift arms sanctions imposed in 2009.

A former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Herman Cohen also supports the lifting of sanctions on Eritrea. “As President of UN Security Council in September, Ethiopia should propose long overdue lifting of sanctions against Eritrea,” he said in a tweet last week.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody war from 1998 to 2000 in which at least 70,000 had died on both sides. A Boundary Commission awarded the flash point of the war, Badme, to Eritrea. Ethiopia still occupies the town demanding “normalization” before the implementation of the Commission’s decisions.