ERINEWS
Bi-Weekly Newsletter
Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to AU and UNECA
Press Section

President Isaias Attends Kenya’s 50th Independence
Day Celebrations
H.E. Isaias Afwerki,
President of the Stateof Eritrea attended
Kenya’s 50th Anniversary of Independence
that was officially celebrated on 12 December
2013 at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.

Volume 1, Issue 1
01 January 2014

Inside this issue:
2
President Isaias
Afwerki’s Letter to theUNSC calling for theLifting of the“Sanctions”

President Isaias at the celebrations with other dignitaries

During his stay in Nairobi, the President also
held talks on strengthening bilateral ties andissues of mutual interest
with President Uhuru
Kenyatta and thePresidents of theDemocratic Republic
Congo, Uganda andSouth Sudan.

Ethiopia Must be
Urged to Vacate
Sovereign Eritrean
Territories Including
the Town of Badme

3

Team Eritrea Crowned 3
African Cycling
Champions for a
Record Fourth Time
Eritrea Donates aPainting to the AUC

3Nova Airways Launches Flights to Asmara
On 21 December, Nova Juba flight is scheduled
Airways started flights to on Wednesdays andand from Asmara.
Saturdays. To this end,
the company has opened
Nova Airways will fly liaison offices inAsmara-Khartoum twice Asmara, Kassala, Khara day on Tuesdays, toum and Juba.
Wednesdays and Saturdays, and to Kassala Nova Airways will
every Tuesday.
shortly expand its flights
to Cairo, Dubai andThe Asmara-Khartoum- Jeddah.

Vol 1. No. 1, 01 January 2014

HAPPYNEWYEAR!!

Page 2Eri-News

President Isaias Afwerki’s Letter to the UNSC Calling for the Lifting of theUnjust and Illegal “Sanctions”
As will be recalled, the Security
Council imposed unwarranted“sanctions” against Eritrea four
years ago in 2009. This resolution
was adopted almost stealthily
during the Christmas holiday
season, without any legal basis orfactual evidence and throughunorthodox procedures, including
denial to Eritrea of its inalienable
right of defence as the accused
party.
Eritrea, which had remained a
victim of, and which hasrelentlessly combated, declaredterrorism since achieving its
independence in 1993, could not,naturally, acquiesce to the unjust
and illegal “sanctions”. Indeed,
the only proper and legitimate
course of action for Eritrea wasand remains the wholesale rejection of this unwarranted act.
The other irony in this sad
episode wastheSecurity
Council’s ill-advised decision toinvoke an alleged border disputeand misconstrue it as anadditional accusation to bolster
the “sanctions” without ascertaining the facts or pursuing due legal
processes. This lopsided decision
was in spite of the Security
Council’s failure to shoulder its
legal obligations in terms of theEritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary
Commission award of 2002 andthe continued occupation ofsovereign Eritrean territories.
In the past four years, intensive
efforts have been undertaken
through the Monitoring Group toensure that the “sanctions”
resolution that was originallyadopted through myriad baselessallegations would not be reversed
but would rather become anaccomplished fact. However, allthefabricatedaccusations
cobbledtogetherbytheMonitoring Group could not only
not alter the true facts that prevailon the ground but have furtheraccentuated,inunequivocal
terms, that the allegations
peddled to impose the sanctions
were baseless from the outset.
To accept and acquiesce to theseillegal,
unjustandunfair“sanctions” as an accomplishedfact and grapple with theconsequenceswouldbetantamount to buttressing andconsolidating the suppression of
the rule of law and injustices. As
such, the Government of Eritrea
has, beyond exerting determinedefforts to ensure its rights and therespect of the rule of law, beenincessantly appealing to theSecurity Council to redress this“error” for the last four years.
The Government and people ofEritrea again call today, after fouryears, upon the Security Council
to re-examine the underlying
motivations and evidences of alltheoriginalandbaseless
allegations in a transparent
manner as well as to respect
Eritrea’s right of defence inaccordance with the provisions ofinternational law so as to rectify
the“erroneoussanctions”
resolution.
3 December 2013
(Signed)Isaias Afwerki

Vol 1. No. 1, 01 January 2014

One of the world-wide demonstrations
held against the unjust and illegal
sanctions“In view of the absence of
any intelligence, real orfabricated, linking Eritrea
with Shabaab for over fouryears, the UN Security
Council should terminate
sanctions imposed in 2009 byUNSC resolution 1907.”
Herman J. ‘Hank’ Cohen,
Former U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for Africa‘Time to Bring Eritrea infrom the Cold’, posted on
www.africanarguments.org,
December 16, 2013

Page 3

Volume 1, Issue 1

Ethiopia Must be Urged to Vacate Sovereign Eritrean Territories
Including the Town of Badme
On the bases of the Algiers Agreement, the Eritrea
Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EBBC) has
delimited and demarcated the boundary between
Eritrea and Ethiopia in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
Final and Binding means Final and Binding. There is
no longer a border dispute between Eritrea and“The parties agree that a neutral Boundary ComEthiopia. What we have is Ethiopia’s occupation ofmission composed of five members shall be estabsovereign Eritrean territories.
lished with a MANDATE to DELIMIT andDEMARCATE the colonial treaty border based
The Guarantors and Witnesses of the Algiers Agreeon pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902 andment should stop playing diplomatic and political1908) and applicable international law. Thegames under the pretext of dialogue. They must urge
Commission shall not have the power to make deEthiopia to respect its treaty obligations and immedicisions ex aequo et bono.”
ately and unconditionally vacate from the territories
the EEBC has awarded to Eritrea, including the town
“The parties agree that the delimitation and demarof Badme.
cation determinations of the Commission shall be
FINAL and BINDING. Each party shall respect
Eritrea has consistently reaffirmed that if Ethiopia
the border so determined, as well as territorial
withdraws from the Eritrean territories it is occupyintegrity and sovereignty of the other party.”
ing in the morning, dialogue between the twocountries on issues of mutual concern could start thesame day in the afternoon.

The Algiers Agreement of 2000 signed by the Presidentof Eritrea and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, guaranteed by the AU and UN and endorsed by the UNSC
clearly states that:
1.

2.

Team Eritrea Crowned African Cycling Champions for a Record Fourth TimeThe Eritrean national cycling teamwon the African Championshiptournament for a record fourth timeby claiming gold in the team,individual and road race competitions at the 9th African Continental
Cycling Championship that wasconducted at the Egyptian resort cityof Sharm el-Sheikh, from 1-5 December 2013.

Eritrean Tesfom
Okbamariamstormed to the 2013 African
Champion title by edging Namibian
Dan Craven. Another Eritrean Merhawi Kudus stood 3rd.
The Eritrean team has also won thecontinental Championship in thetournaments hosted by Rwanda(2010), Eritrea (2011), and Burkina
Faso (2012).

Eritrea Donates a Painting to the AUC
On 23 October 2013, the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the AU
and UNECA donated to the African Union Commission (AUC) apainting with the title Struggle→
Independence→Forward.

Eritrean People for Independence andtheir jubilation and bright future.
The painting is now on display
amongst several paintings donated to
the AUC by other African States.

The acrylic on canvas painting is
the work of an Eritrean artist,
Mr.
TesfaiGhebremichael.
It depicts the Struggle of theStruggle→ Independence→Forward

Vol 1. No. 1, 01 January 2014