Recognition is not a Favor, it is a Fact

By ALULA FREZGHI

In the realm of international law, recognition of a sovereign state is not a whimsical gesture, nor a political bargaining chip. It is a solemn acknowledgment of a people’s right to self-determination, rooted in history, struggle, and legal process. Once granted, it is rarely revoked, because to do so would undermine the very foundations of global order.

Yet today, we hear reckless murmurs from certain Ethiopian quarters, suggesting the derecognition of Eritrea. Such talk is not only legally incoherent, it is politically suicidal.

Derecognition has historically occurred only under extreme conditions: when a state collapses, ceases to exist, or is fabricated through brute force and lacks legitimacy. Eritrea meets none of these criteria. On the contrary, Eritrea’s statehood is among the most hard-won and legally validated in Africa. Its independence was affirmed through a UN-supervised referendum, endorsed by the African Union, and recognized by the international community.

To question Eritrea’s sovereignty is to insult the memory of tens of thousands who gave their lives for freedom. It is to deny the legitimacy of a process that Ethiopia itself once celebrated.

Let us be clear: Eritrea is not the one teetering on the edge of disintegration. Ethiopia, plagued by internal wars, ethnic fragmentation, and constitutional paralysis, is the one whose cohesion is in question. Those who speak of derecognition should first ask whether their own house still stands.

To the Progressive Party and its misguided provocateurs: your bluff is transparent, your rhetoric is hollow, and your grasp of international norms is nonexistent.

Eritrea’s flag will continue to fly not because others permit it, but because its people earned it.

ዓወት ንሓፋሽ
Victory to the Masses.