The 1998-2000 war between Eritrea and Ethiopia : an international legal perspective

This book is the outcome of a joint research project carried on by the University of Milan and the Scuola superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and directed by Gabriella Venturini. The study was carried on between 2006 and 2008 by two groups of scholars in Milan and in Pisa (under the responsibility of Gabriella Venturini and Andrea de Guttry, respectively) in close cooperation with Harry Post. On 19-20 October, 2007, an international Conference was organized at the premises of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in Pisa, aimed at discussing the main aspects of the study with an outstanding group of Italian and foreign scholars and experts. This book is the result and the fruit of the reports and comments provided by the participants at the Pisa Conference. The war between Eritrea and Ethiopia raged from 1998 to 2000 with great cost of life and devastation. International efforts did lead to a cease-fire in 2000 and eventually to the 2000 Algiers Peace Agreement. Primarily the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia is examined in the light of existing international law. Before the analysis of the state of the law, a thorough introduction and critical assessment of the complex history, as well as of the modern state of Eritrean-Ethiopian relations from the perspective of history, geography and political science is done in Part I. Eritrea has been an Italian colony and Ethiopia was occupied by Italian forces in 1936 and regained independence after 1941. The importance of Italian colonial history in understanding essential aspects of the tensions between both States, especially regarding their boundary, is inescapable. The study in this sense is often critical of the contribution by the law and lawyers to the dispute who arguably too easily seem to forget the common history and geography of both States. The law regarding cease-fires and peace agreements and the developing law on peace-keeping operations in the context of the Eritrea Ethiopia War is dealt with in Part II of the book, while Part III analyzes the historical and legal aspects of the boundary dispute between the two countries. In December 2000 as part of the efforts by the United Nations, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to the establishment of two arbitral commissions: the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC). Both Commissions were founded to solve the conflict or at least to help solve some of the problems of the two countries. On 13th April 2002, the Boundary Commission issued its basic decision on the definition of the Eritrean-Ethiopian boundary. Since then the Commission has been working on the actual demarcation process. In 2003 due to further divergences between the Parties, the process of demarcation stalled. Later it was resumed, but since November 2008 the activities of the EEBC have stopped without a final solution acceptable to both parties. Apart from an in depth legal analysis of the EBBC’s major decision and its further steps in Part III, an important part of the background and critical examination from a historical, geographic and political science point of view also focuses on the EBBC’s approach and decisions. Since July 2003, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission has issued a considerable number of decisions on claims by either Party on a wide variety of subjects, i.e., in relation to the treatment and exchange of prisoners of war, aerial bombardments, claims of civilians, liability issues, etc. In 2005 and 2007, the Commission issued further partial and final awards on a variety of issues of diplomatic law, economic relations during armed conflict (including on the taking and destruction of property) and on various claims regarding violations of International Humanitarian Law. In Part V of the book these are discussed and examined in particular in light of the existing law so far. The EECC found that in 1998 Eritrea had launched armed attacks on Ethiopia in violation of the law on the threat and the use of force. In Part IV this ‘central’ decision is extensively discussed and commented upon. In the next and final phase of its activities the Claims Commission will assess damages and award compensation for the successful claims. In the final Part VI of the book the framework of the law of state responsibility and of compensation and damages as it stands now is examined and explained taking into account important modern armed conflicts such as the Gulf Wars.