Eritrea Djibouti Mediation Agreement

On June 2nd, awate.com’s Gedab News broke the  news that Eritrea had withdrawn its troops from its contested territory with Djibouti and that a Qatari-brokered agreement between Djibouti and Eritrea would be held in Doha.  The agreement was, indeed, signed on June 6, 2010 and presented to the UN on June 7th.   The UN, which had been calling on Eritrea to acknowledge its border dispute with Djibouti, withdraw its troops, and enter into negotiations since January 2009 (See resolution 1862), expressed its satisfication with the developments and provided a summary of the agreement.  The Qatar-brokered agreement came 12 months after the deadline imposed by the Security Council, and six months after yet another resolution (See resolution 1907) was imposed on Eritrea, this time partly for its refusal to comply with resolution 1862.  Since the agreement was never made public,  it was never clear who initiated the agreement and  what precisely are the contents of the agreement and why has the Eritrean government to this date not disclosed that it signed a peace agreement, fulfilling all the requirements of resolution 1862, a year after a UNSC imposed deadline. awate.com has obtained a copy of the agreement, which it is sharing with its readers.  The original document is in PDF format and includes the original documents (in Arabic, not included) and English.  The “unofficial translation” are also in the original.  The only editing made here is to insert the phrase “begin new page” to inform our readers of the number of pages in English.
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The President of the Security Council presents his compliments to the members of the Council and has the honour to transmit herewith, for their information, a copy of a letter dated 7 June 2010 from the Charge d’affaires of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, and ,its enclosure.

 This letter will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/2010/291.

8 June 2010

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Permanent Mission of the
State of Qatar to the United Nations
New York

QUN/l0-558

7 June 2010

Excellency,

I have the honour to enclose herewith, a letter dated 6 June 2010 addressed to Your Excellency from His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr AI-Thani, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, with its enclosure, the Executive Document of the Agreement concerning peaceful settlement of the border dispute between the State of Eritrea and the Republic of Djibouti, signed on 6 June 2010 by His Excellency the President of the State of Eritrea and His Excellency the President of the Republic of Djibouti.

It would be highly appreciated if the letter and its enclosure are circulated among the members of the Security Council for their information.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Alya Ahmed S. Al-Thani
Ambassador
Charge d’ Affaires, a.i.

His Excellency Ambassador Claude Heller
President of the United Nations Security Council
New York
Fax: (212) 963-7878
(212) 371-2906

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Unofficial Translation

STATE OF QATAR
Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs

No 5/938/1/2010

His Excellency Ambassador Claude Heller
President of the United Nations Security Council
New York

Excellency,

It gives me pleasure to inform Your Excellency that the Governments of the State of Eritrea and the Republic of Djibouti have agreed to entrust the State of Qatar to undertake mediation efforts to reach a resolution to the border dispute between their countries through peaceful means. The Presidents of the two countries have signed an agreement for this purpose, which was also signed on behalf of the State of Qatar as mediator and witness, by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa AI-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar.

In this agreement, the two countries have agreed, based on the strong relations between both of them and the State of Qatar, to authorize the mediator with full powers to issue a document for work implementation containing legal and technical actions as well as mechanisms as he deems fit for a final and binding resolution of this border dispute, and have confirmed their acceptance of the said document to be announced by the State of Qatar and of the ensuing resolution.

I would like to add that the State of Eritrea has withdrawn from the disputed border areas-such withdrawal not to be considered a recognition of any rights until the final resolution of the dispute in accordance with the Agreement. The State of Qatar has verified the withdrawal through the deployment of its forces in the border areas. It will supervise the monitoring of the border until a final decision is reached regarding the dispute settlement. In the process of the implementation of the agreement, the State of Qatar also intends to form a committee under its chairmanship with the membership of the two parties to select and appoint, with their consent, a global company to demarcate the borders according to the provisions of international agreements and rules on border delineation that the two parties are bound with. The issues of the POWs and the missing persons will also be settled under the supervision of the State of Qatar.

I would appreciate it if Your Excellency see to it that this letter is brought to the attention of all members of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

[signed]

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr AI-Thani
Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Doha on 6 June 2010

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Unofficial Translation
Agreement between
the State of Eritrea and the Republic of Djibouti

The Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Republic of Djibouti, hereinafter referred to as the “parties”,

Having considered the request by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Djibouti that His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar intervene to resolve the dispute between the Republic of Djibouti and the State of Eritrea,

Based on the strong relationship between both countries and the State of Qatar,

Desirous to entrust to the State of Qatar to undertake mediation efforts to reach a resolution of the border dispute between them through peaceful means,

Expressing deep appreciation to the State of Qatar for accepting the mediation,

Have agreed to authorize the mediator, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa AI-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, with full powers to issue a document containing legal and technical actions as well as mechanisms as he deems fit for a final and mutually binding resolution of this border dispute, and accepted the work document that will be announced by the State of Qatar and the ensuing resolution.

State of Eritrea                                                                 Republic of Djibouti
[ signature]                                                                        [signature]
Isaias Afwerki                                                                   Ismail Omar Guelleh
President of the State of Eritrea                                President of the Republic of Djibouti

                                                        Mediator and Witness
State of Qatar
[signature]
Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Emir of the State of Qatar

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Executive Document of the Agreement

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim fin Jabor AI-Thani the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar announced that based on the authorization of H.E. President Isaias Afewerqi, President of the State of Eritrea, and H. E. President Ismael Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti to His Highness Sheikh bin Khalifa AI-Thani to resolve the boundary difference between them,

Noting by the State of Qatar the withdrawal of the State of Eritrea from the boundary areas subject of the difference, provided that will not constitute recognition of any rights until the final settlement of the difference in accordance with the Agreement, and the verification it carried out,

Implementing the instructions of His Highness the Emir, The following Executive Document of the Agreement has been issued:

Article (l)

A Committee shall be established under the Chairmanship of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al-Thani, with one representative from each of the Parties to resolve the boundary difference in accordance with the authorization given by the Two Parties to the State of Mediation.

The Committee shall nominate and appoint with the agreement of the Parties one of the world

companies to carry out the demarcation of the frontiers between the two countries, in accordance with the principles and rules known internationally on frontiers demarcation and in a manner conforming to the agreements and the international rules on delimitation of borders binding upon their respective countries.

The Chairman of the Committee may establish committees and have resort to any person he deems appropriate, whether from politicians, technicians, professionals or lawyers, to complete the tasks of the Committee.

Article (2)

The Committee shall aim at putting to an end the frontiers difference between the Parties and the demarcation of the frontiers between their respective countries in a manner which would serve the relations of good neighbourliness.

Article (3)

Each Party shall provide the State of Qatar with a list containing the number and names of POW’s detained by it, if any, and also a list containing the number and names of missing persons. The exchange of POW’s between the two countries shall be made, and each Party shall investigate the fate of missing persons. All this shall be done under the supervision of the State of Qatar.

Article (4)

Each Party shall provide the State of Qatar with all the information, documents, and instruments which would facilitate the work in order to present them to the world company entrusted with the demarcation of the fronries.

Article(5)

The world company agreed upon to demarcate the frontiers shall present the outcome of its work to the Committee referred to in Article(1) of this Document. and the decision of the Committee shall be final and I binding upon the Parties.

Article (6)

The State of Qatar, in its capacity as Mediator in resolving the dispute between the two Parties, shall supervise the monitoring of the borders until such time as the final decision of the Committee referred to in Article (1) of this Document on the settlement of the dispute is announced.

Article(7)

The State of Qatar shall deposit this Agreement and the Executive Document of the. Agreement on the settlement of the boundary difference with the United Nations, the League of Arab States and the African Union.