BARTHOLET: You have agreed to allow the United States to ship desperately needed food for Ethiopia through the port of Assab. When will food start moving? ISAIAS: You can see that children are dying. Reports now say that more than 8 million people are threatened in Ethiopia. This is not politics to us. The ports are open to the [aid donors]–anytime they want to send the food.
Eritrea apparently confiscated 45,000 tons of U.S. grain meant for hungry Ethiopians in July 1998. What happened to that food? This is not true at all. Ethiopia bombed ports and major towns at that time. The 45,000 tons were at the port. They perished at port. It was a perishable commodity. We did not confiscate anything.
What guarantees have you provided that food will be delivered? This is stupid. No one is interfering. If people are serious about providing assistance, they have to get down to business. They can’t use this as an excuse. It’s a matter of bringing in supplies and transporting them to the needy. Full stop.
Haven’t you raised conditions about who will get the food? We raised a number of concerns–that this food aid should reach the people in need. Often in Africa, food aid is diverted to militaries. Raising this concern is not in any way a precondition.
It is said that in one battle between Eritrean and Ethiopian forces last year, more people were killed in three days than died in the Kosovo war. Can you describe the battlefront? You can imagine an army with very modern fortifications–with modern and sophisticated weapons–on the defensive side. And an army attacking these positions, adopting very medieval tactics. Ethiopian troops are brought to the front lines to attack the defensive positions in human waves. It’s a massacre, not a battle.
How many people have been killed? No less than 70,000 people have been killed in two major battles so far.
What are you fighting over? We’re not fighting over anything as far as we are concerned. The border conflict came as an aggression from the Ethiopian side. They began redrawing the boundaries.
Haven’t you agreed to withdraw from territory you entered? No. It’s part of a peace package that calls for all parties to agree to withdraw to a number of areas. This [arrangement] has nothing to do with the final demarcation of borders based on international boundaries. You have to go back to the status quo. And the status quo is the colonial boundaries.
Are there any resources in the disputed area? It’s not an area full of minerals or other resources. It’s a small town with about 200 or 250 homes. Most of the year it’s dry.
You’ve said that the peace process with Ethiopia is “on the brink of collapse.” Is it still? Yes, because the Organization of African Unity, the U.S. government and the United Nations came up with a peace package. They produced three basic documents. The last document is technical arrangements for implementation [of the peace agreements]. Ethiopia refused to accept this last document. We have waited for six months, and six months have been wasted. It is fair to say the peace process is stalled or blocked.
Some say the war is, in part, a personal battle between yourself and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. To what extent is that true? I think this is bull–t. I don’t know him well enough to have quarrels with him. Had it been personal it could have been solved very early.
If, as you say, the peace process is stalled, will we see another major battle sometime soon? That’s what the government in Ethiopia is telling us. They are either blackmailing us or they are serious. But it’s good to be prepared. I can assure you that irrespective of what Ethiopia will do, we will be committed and work hard to achieve peace through legal means. Ultimately, peace will prevail.
