Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute could spark war – UN envoy

Sept 22, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute could lead to more war, a U.N. envoy said Thursday, pressing the Security Council and African Union to take urgent steps toward a resolution.

The Horn of Africa nations fought a 2 1/2-year border war that ended after a December 2000 peace agreement. The deal provided for an independent commission to rule on the position of their disputed 1,000-kilometer border.

But Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision issued in April 2002 by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission -part of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands. Ethiopia objects to the awarding of the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.

Guarantors of the peace deal – the U.S., Algeria and the European Union – should meet to discuss ways of ending the stalemate and the African Union should take the lead in efforts to resolve the border dispute, said Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, head of the U.N. mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

“The Security Council should do better than what it has been done in the past to make sure that we can resolve this stalemate as soon as possible and peacefully,” Legwaila told journalists.

Wednesday, Eritrea’s Finance Minister Berhane Abrehe told the U.N. General Assembly that his country might resume its border war with Ethiopia if the world body failed to resolve the dispute.

Eritrean officials say Ethiopia has continued to build illegal settlements in areas that were awarded to Eritrea.

(AP/ST)