Hague decision clashes with Ethiopia’s directive

August 24th, 2009 | EthioPolitics.com |

By Yohannes Anberbir, Capital

The Ethiopian government is assessing compensation claims over the expulsion of Eritrean citizens from Ethiopia during the Ethio-Eritrean war, following the The Hague Commission release of its final verdict on August 17, 2009.

The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission established on December 12th, 2000 as part of the 2000 Algiers peace deal that ended the two-year border war, awarded Eritrea US$46,000,000 as compensation in respect of expellees.

“Based on its analysis of the evidence available in the records, the Commission awards
Eritrea US$46,000,000 as compensation in respect of expellees’ losses of property on account of Ethiopia’s unlawful actions,” article 39 of the compensation award reads.

While the Claims Commission based at The Hague awarded compensation to expelled Eritrean residents this past week, a directive issued two months ago by the Ethiopian Council of Ministers, allowed Eritreans to fully claim and access their property left in Ethiopia.

Eritreans who had lived in Ethiopia were expelled due to security reasons during the 1998-2000 war between the two countries. However, their property has been protected until now, Bereket Simon, Minister of Communications told Capital.

Bereket stated that their property had never been confiscated, saying that while several properties had been sold by the government, revenues from these sales are kept at the National Bank of Ethiopia, and many properties remain in the hands of legal representatives. “That is why the Council of Ministers issued the directive allowing Eritreans to access their property,” Bereket told Capital.

Despite this, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission’s final decision requires Ethiopia to pay 46 million US dollars in compensation to Eritrean citizens expelled during the war.
“There is no way Ethiopia will compensate the expellees,” said Bereket “we have already set up a mechanism to restore the property of the expellees.

However, Bereket was not willing to reveal what action Ethiopia will take in view of this new decision of The Hague, saying the issue was under examination.

According to the award, Ethiopia will be compensated US$174,036,520, and obliged to pay a total monetary compensation of US$161,455,000 to Eritrea including the US$46 million as compensation in respect of “expellees’ losses of property.” Moreover, the decision requires Ethiopia to pay US$2,065,865 compensation in respect of claims presented on behalf of individual claimants.

The decision should bring US$10.5 million to Ethiopia; however Ethiopian officials are not satisfied with the decision citing Eritrean offences which they argue were proven by the Commission.

“The amount of compensation is totally incommensurate with Eritrea’s offences; it does not detract from the fact that Eritrea’s brutal actions in flagrant violation of international law has again come to light as the United Nations Security Council considers sanction against Eritrea for acts of destabilization in the Horn of Africa,” said Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry on its press statement issued on August 18, 2009.

Ethiopia also argues it was unable to reclaim property stranded at the ports of Assab and Massawa during the war. According to the BBC who published a breakdown of the study, Ethiopian property valued at 133.3 million US dollars was looted at the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had made a case for the Commission of The Hague claiming property mostly owned by the Ethiopian business community, but the Commission rejected the case when making its earlier decision in 2005.

Property expropriated includes, 135,000 tons of dry cargo, including aid shipments of 81,000 tons and 1,400 new vehicles, as well as 33 million litre of fuel according to a statement made by the government of Ethiopia at the Commission hearing.

“Any such claims would in any event appear to be outside the scope of the Commission’s jurisdiction…. Nevertheless, the Commission encourages the Parties to consider some arrangement to bring about the early return or other appropriate disposition of the remaining stranded property, as well as of the proceeds of other property that Eritrea sold or transferred,” reads the final statement of the Commission. The Commission further revealed its willingness to assist both parties in this regard if they jointly request to do so. However, nothing has so far been reported from either side on this matter to date.

“I have stopped thinking about my vehicles stranded during the war, and nothing is communicated by the government regarding any compensation,” Nebyu Wubishet, a vehicle importer at the time, told Capital.

“I have no comment with regards to compensation for Ethiopian businesses,” said Bereket. “It is the Eritrean government that confiscated the property; the government of Ethiopia had tried to restore it through the Commission, but the case was out of the Commission’s mandate and the result was communicated to the businessmen at the time of the decision,” he explained.
“We are all victims of the Eritrean aggression,” Bereket stated at a press briefing held Thursday in his office.

A study made by the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute, following the conclusion of the war notes, the two and a half year border war costs Ethiopia more than 2.9 billion US dollars.