November 01, 2019

 

From: The Canada Wide ‘Yiakl’ (Enough) Movement

To: Norwegian Nobel Committee

 

An Open Letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee

 

We are members of a Canada Wide Yiakl (Enough) Movement, a grassroot movement formed after the recent peace accord between Ethiopia and Eritrea, with the aim of ending tyranny and human rights violations in Eritrea.

 

As representatives of Eritrean Canadian voices, we are writing to express our shared assessment regarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019, which was awarded to current Ethiopian Prime Minister – Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali. We are pleased to see that the Norwegian Nobel Committee is paying attention to the grave situation in the horn of Africa, which is often neglected by the international community. We believe every effort that brings a lasting and real peace to the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea deserves recognition.

 

Having said that, we would like to express our deep concerns with this year’s award. Our concern is not necessarily projected against the Honorable Dr. Ahmed, as a person, but to the very basis for which the award was given out. The award was given out for the efforts of the prime minister to achieve peace and resolve the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

 

Despite the illusive rapprochement between the leaders of the two countries and limited interactions between people and government officials, no real peace was achieved as a result of the efforts of Dr. Abiy Ahmed.  The borders of the two countries are closed again; Eritrean land is still occupied by Ethiopian forces; and the border dispute has not been resolved in accordance with the Alger’s Peace Accord, signed by both countries.

 

More importantly, Eritreans have not seen any tangible benefits or dividends from the recent peace agreement. Instead of introducing the much-anticipated domestic reforms, the fictitious peace deal rather emboldened the one-man regime of Eritrea, taking its tyrannical records to new heights. The mandatory forced national conscription of young Eritreans is still in place. The gross and systemic human rights violations perpetrated by the Eritrean government that was widely considered as amounting to crimes against humanity by UN Human Rights Council continue unabated. The ratified constitution of 1997 remains unimplemented. The government took aggressive measures against the religious institutions.  Hence, it is clear that the peace deal has little positive impact on the lives of Eritreans on the ground. On the contrary, in the aftermath of the peace accord, more than 20, 000 Eritreans fled Eritrea and crossed into Ethiopia and Sudan to seek refugee protection.

Besides, the dealings of Dr. Abiy Ahmed and President Isais Afeworki was conducted in secretive manner and without taking into account the wishes and participations of the people of Eritrea. As one reporter said, “To date, the peace has largely remained at elite, political levels—and even personalized between Abiy and Isaias.” Alarmingly. Dr. Abiy Ahmed has made numerous statements that infringe upon the sovereignty of the State of Eritrea, worrying many Eritreans about the peace deal that is kept hidden from the public.

For the above stated reasons, we would like to call upon the Norwegian Nobel Committee to remain seized of the matter and continuously monitor the situation between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the conditions inside Eritrea. We also call the committee to work with other members of the international community to bring lasting peace to the two peoples– a peace founded on respect to human rights, democracy and justice. In our opinion, failing to do so, will render the Committee to fall short of implementing the visions of Alfred Nobel and the very reasons why the Noble Peace Prize should be awarded.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Canada Wide ‘Yiakl’ (Enough) Movement.

 

The Canada Wide ‘Yiakl’ (Enough) Movement is a Canada-Wide grassroots community based Coalition of 15 Canadian cities (Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort-McMurray, Saskatoon, Regina, Brandon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Kitchener-Guelph-Waterloo, London-Ontario, Montreal and Halifax-Nova Scotia). It is the representatives of the Eritrean Canadian community voices before the people, Government of Canada   and international community.

 

References:

https://www.voanews.com/africa/hopes-dashed-ethiopia-eritrea-peace-process-stagnates

https://qz.com/africa/1662277/the-ethiopia-eritrea-abiy-isaias-peace-accord-glow-is-fading/

https://www.usip.org/publications/2019/08/year-after-ethiopia-eritrea-peace-deal-what-impact

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/nobel-peace-eritrea-ethiopia-ottawa-1.5319456

https://www.washingtonpost.com › opinions › 2019/10/19 › nobel-peace-pri…