According to general opinion, there is a great lack of interest about the political situation of the Horn of Africa region and all the problems involved that affect dramatically not only the local population but, indirectly, the whole international community.
The International Institutions, competent with these hard matters, tried to act, but their measures have been hardly enforced and, nowadays, measures that are, in the matter of facts, just declarations of intent, incapable to produce any practical contribution towards the region pacification, are not sufficient any longer.
As already seen in these very days, only those risks affecting the most immediate interests of the International Community, urged European Countries, not directly involved, to take specific actions.
January the 15th, European Parliament approved a resolution (P6_TA-PROV(2009)0026 B6-0033/2009) about the situation in the Horn of Africa; this resolution includes some recommendations about the issues still open, such as:
Regional security;
Alimentary security and development
Human rights, democratization and governance.
REGIONAL SECURITY
About the regional security issue, the above mentioned resolution relates specifically to Algiers Agreements which established a Commission about Eritrean-Ethiopian boundary (EEBC) and placed a UN peacekeeping Mission1 (UNMEE) directly involved in the whole region (mandate ended July 31st 2008, due to Eritrean explicit will to obstacle the mission and Ethiopian refuse to apply the EECB decision over a dispute about Badme region).
About this matter, European Parliament issued a formal request “to Ethiopian Government to formally endorse the EEBC’s demarcation by map coordinates between Eritrea and Ethiopia as final and binding”. Besides, European Parliament “calls on the Eritrean government to agree to a dialogue with Ethiopia, which would address the process of disengagement of troops from the border and physical demarcation in accordance with the EEBC’s decision, as well as the normalisation of relations between the two countries, including reopening the border for trade; calls on the international community and the EU to put pressure on both sides to overcome the current impasse”.
Another qualifying aspect of the aforementioned resolution, is the nomination of a “EU Special Representative/Envoy” to control the region.
Use of “Super Partes” Entities to supervise and guarantee, is the typical way International Institution intervene into disputes over border matters.
About Somalia, European Parliament, “Calls on the Council and Commission to continue their support for institution-building in Somalia, the implementation of the Djibouti peace agreement and the IGAD’s efforts in the peace process; urges the reinforcement of AMISOM and the deployment of the UN stabilisation force in a timely manner as soon as political and security conditions allow”
ALIMENTARY SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT
About this particular issue, the European Resolution intends to make Eritrea and Ethiopia responsible for the realization of specific form of cooperation, through the structured interventions of both those International Organizations competent on these matters and the principal Humanitarian Organizations.
More specifically, Ethiopian government is requested to grant Humanitarian Organizations full access to the Ogaden Somali region and to secure the enforcement of those necessary conditions to enable aid to get to the beneficiaries throughout the region.
The Commission is requested to verify that none of its aid programs, including “cash for work” , is realized by means of forced labour.
HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRATIZATION AND GOVERNANCE
Besides, no such measure can be considered separately from a formal acknowledgement and an official commitment, shared by International Community and the involved Countries, to the issue of human rights recognition and those evolutive processes aiming a democratic rule of the countries themselves.
Specifically, the EU Parliament calls on Eritrean government for a formal commitment to acknowledge the whereabouts and the state of health of political prisoners and journalists and, ultimately, to free them. An example: the lasting detention in Eritrea of the Sweden-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, detained since his arrest in September 2001 without any regular process. His immediate release has been requested, in conjunction with a similar request involving every other journalists imprisoned during the same period of the aforementioned episode.
Besides, the Eritrean Government is called to respect the Human Rights and the fundamental freedoms, including freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of media and freedom of conscience.
The Somali Transitional Federal Government is requested to explicitly condemn the kidnapping of two Italian catholic nuns, and to adopt every measure in order to speed up their release and prevent further kidnappings.
Djibouti authorities, as well, are called to respect the rights of the opposition parties and to protect the labour rights in accordance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) core conventions.
Besides the above mentioned recommendations, Ethiopia is asked to “review the press law and party registration law, as well as the composition of the Election Board, so as to ensure that the political rights of opposition parties are guaranteed; urges the Ethiopian authorities to investigate the allegations of harassment and arbitrary arrests affecting the opposition and civil society organisations and to bring those responsible to trial”.
About this last issue, the recommendation contains explicit reference to some specific cases that particularly outraged the International Community; among them the detention of Birtukan Midekssa leader of the opposition party Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) whose immediate and unconditional release is requested, in accordance to the basic democratic principles generally accepted and acknowledged.
Besides the above mentioned EU Parliament Resolution, Italian Chamber of Deputy as well issued a motion (n. 152 25/3/2009) about the political situation of the Countries of the Horn of Africa.
