Ethiopia offers hope of breakthrough in stalled peace process with Eritrea

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 25 (AFP) — Ethiopia offered fresh hope Thursday for a breakthrough in its stalled peace process with neighbouring Eritrea when it finally accepted a special commission’s ruling designed to resolve a border dispute that sparked a devastating war between 1998 and 2000.

Ethiopia’s parliament overwhelmingly adopted proposals by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that constitute a major reversal of policy, and which ought to allow the important process of physically marking out the border to start.

Although Meles’ proposal maintains that the April 2002 decision by the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission is “illegal and unjust” the five-point plan calls for its acceptance “in principle”.

“This intiative will make a great contribution for peace in our sub-region,” said the prime minister.

Since the two countries signed an accord in Algiers in 2000 to end the war, hardly any progress has been made in the peace process.

The border has remained closed to all but UN peacekeepers, and bilateral relations have been limited to hostile declarations.

Since Ethiopia dismissed the ruling in September 2003, both states have refused to give an inch despite a desperate search by the international community for some kind of compromise.

Eritrea repeatedly took the moral high ground, insisting that Ethiopia had violated international law because the Algiers accord called for the ruling on the path of the border to be accepted as “final and binding” by both sides, and rebuffed appeals for dialogue and UN mediation.

Ethiopia justified its rejection by claiming the ruling violated other provisions of the peace accord concerning demographics and that the flashpoint town of Badme, which the commission attributed to Eritrea, had long been admistered by Addis Ababa.

And then, out of the blue, this: “Ethiopia accepts in principle the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission (EEBC) decision.”

The five-point plan containing this key phrase was adopted by all but 13 of 441 lawmakers attending Thursday’s session.

“Resolving all sorts of problems betweem the two countries and thus creating conditions for normalisation in the relations between them, is the only guarantee for a durable and sustainable peace. This is becoming more obvious today than ever before,” Meles said in parliament.

The initial reaction from Asmara was one of wait-and-see.

“If Ethiopia accepts the Boundary Commission’s decision, that cannot be separated from the demarcation. We have to see the pillars on the ground,” Yemane Gebremeskel, chief of staff of Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki, told AFP by phone.

Another of the five points in the proposal — “Start dialogue immediately with the view to implementing the decision” — suggests the pile drivers might soon begin work.

“Our earlier position was not totally without merit,” Meles told parliament.

“But it had great limitations insofar as it did not enable the forces of peace to support our agenda with all their energy,” the prime minister added.

“It is manifest that trust is lacking between the two governments. This fact is bound to be an obstacle to the normalisation of relations between the two countries.

“On the other hand, no one has been able to change, and no one will be able to change in the future the fact that we are two brotherly people,” he added.

Stressing the neeed for “give and take”, Meles invited Asmara to join in dialogue to explore the root causes of the war and chided the Eritrean government for having tried “to mobilise ill-will against Ethiopia internationally” with “hostile propaganda.”