World-Wide Peace March On Friday, 26 March, '99

Citizens for Peace and Development of Eritrea (CDPE) Press Release, Toronto, Canada, March 24 , 1999–  

WHO WE ARE & WHY WE’RE DEMONSTRATING

Eritreans living in Europe, North America, Australia, Eritrea and other

parts of Africa will march for peace to bring to the attention of the

international community the bloody war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, two

neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa.

WHY IS THERE A WAR?

• Supposedly because of a border dispute. Ethiopia has unilaterally

redrawn its international border with Eritrea producing a 1997 map

incorporating large chunks of Eritrea’s land. A Joint Border Commission

failed to solve the dispute

• In May 1998, war erupted turning the Horn of Africa into Africa’s New

Killing Fields.

• After more than nine months of international efforts to broker a

cessation of hostilities, Ethiopia continues to refuse a cease-fire

• Eritrea has repeatedly and consistently called for a cease-fire
• Eritrea strongly believes that force cannot solve the border dispute.
• It has now become clear that land-locked Ethiopia wants to remove the

sovereign Government of Eritrea by force and have access to the Red Sea

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR SO FAR?

• Tens of thousands have been killed in senseless "human wave" attacks on

Eritrean defensive positions,

turning the Eritrean-Ethiopian border into AFRICA’S NEW KILLING FIELDS

• Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, including children and elders
• Ethiopia has deported more than 54,000 Ethiopians of Eritrean origin

and Eritrean residents who lived for decades in Ethiopia

• More than 1,500 Eritrean youth are languishing in Ethiopian

concentration camps, reminiscent of World War II internment camps

• Ethiopia’s indiscriminate bombing of Eritrean villages/towns has caused

huge loss of life and property

• Ethiopia continues to use close to 200 Russian and East European

mercenaries

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

• The Organization of African Unity (OAU) has come up with an 11-point

Framework Agreement that will enable both parties to demarcate their

border. Eritrea accepted the OAU Plan and has formed a high-level

government body to start implementation of the Agreement. Ethiopia, after

accepting the OAU Plan, is now coming with new preconditions and is

refusing to cease-fire.

• The United Nations, European UNION and Canada have endorsed the OAU Plan.
• Ethiopia must cease-fire for the OAU Plan to be implemented.
  

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

a) Sign our petition cards

b) Contact your Member of Parliament and urge him or her to ask Canada put

pressure on Ethiopia to:

1. Cease-fire immediately and give peace a chance

2. Implement the OAU plan without injecting any new preconditions.

3. Commit itself to the demilitarization of the disputed areas within

the context of the OAU peace plan.

4. Agree to the demarcation of the entire Eritrean-Ethiopian border based

on the OAU’ s principle of the sanctity of already established colonial

borders.

5. Desist from engaging in illegal acts that violate Eritrea’s

territorial integrity and sovereignty

6. Stop using mercenaries to kill and maim innocent Eritrean civilians

7. Stop the gross human rights violation of Ethiopians of Eritrean

descent and Eritrean residents