EU Politician Asked Ethiopian Regime to Leave Occupied Eritrean Territory

This article was translated from Italian to English using online software

By Askanews

There is currently no possibility to normalize relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the problems after the conflict of 1998-2000 "are all open" and even Addis Ababa "has threatened acts of invasion" against Eritrea. "There is a bad climate," he told askanews Gianni Pittella, President of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, who returned from a few days from a visit to Ethiopia pointing, also, to encourage a resolution of differences between the two countries of the Horn of Africa to stem the flight of thousands of young people who dream of reaching Europe.

Before leaving for Addis Ababa, Pittella had declared, in a speech published by the Huffington Post, that he seeks to raise with the Ethiopian authorities the question of the unresolved conflict, since it was Ethiopia that continues to reject the UN resolution that ended the border war, offering Asmara "an alibi" for "total militarization of the country." The Eritrean government has always justified the lever indefinitely, the main cause of flight of young Eritreans arriving on Italian shores, with the condition of "neither peace nor war" with neighboring Ethiopia.

Pittella had announced that he would ask the Addis Ababa government to "work towards a peaceful solution that would stabilize not only the two countries but the entire region of the Horn of Africa".

"We spoke forcefully in meetings with the prime minister, with the minister for Federalism and the speaker of parliament," he said in a telephone interview Pittella. "We asked to get rid of any excuse .. but did not give any response on the enforcement of the peace agreement," added the MEP, admitting that "the problems between Ethiopia and Eritrea are all open, because the answer we have been given is that Eritrea is a despotic and authoritarian regime "and that there will be no solution" until you put an end to this regime. " "Even they threaten acts of invasion ... there is an atmosphere not good," he remarked.

MEP, together with colleagues of the Socialists and Democrats group Cécile Kyenge and Norbert Neuser, raised European concerns about the failure to respect human rights, freedom of information and of political pluralism on Ethiopian domestic front, while acknowledging how Ethiopia is now "a good example of reception of migrants and refugees, since today it is home to over 800,000 refugees, a huge number considering the difficulties that Europe is having to accommodate a million refugees on a lot of territory wider ".

"Ethiopia is a central nation in the stabilization of a large region of Africa, has created a stability inside of contradictions with respect to a very marked ethnic fragmentation and is implementing an economic and social progress," said Pittella, recognizing that " shortage problems in terms of human rights, freedom of information and political pluralism. " On this front, "we have made our voice heard with great force, also recalling the resolution adopted by the European Parliament" last January, in which Brussels has condemned the repression of the Oromo community protests against a government plan that threatened the property of their lands. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 140 people were killed.

"I told him clearly the prime minister in the face," he claimed responsibility for the MEP, when asked if he had raised the issue with his interlocutors. "I told him that if he wants to become a political leader must change this attitude to the crackdown, putting in jail people who disagree, not to ensure the political and informational pluralism. Verbally agreed and said that he had shared the repressive positions against the protests of citizens. "

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