US official, Ethiopian PM discuss Ethiopia-Eritrea row
Nov 5, 2005 (WASHINGTON) — A top US official on Friday called Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to discuss deadly protests in Addis Ababa and rising tension over Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea.
The US Undersecretary of State for political affairs, Nicholas Burns, spoke to Zenawi after 46 people were killed this week in clashes between security forces and demonstrators protesting alleged electoral fraud.
Burns renewed Washington’s call for Addis Ababa to create an independent commission to probe the demonstrations and to free all political prisoners, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Burns “underlined the importance that anybody who might have been arrested in these demonstrations for political reasons should be released immediately,” McCormack said.
“And if there are any accused of acts of violence in the demonstrations, that they are granted the full rights under the judicial system, that they have a speedy hearing of their cases, and that those cases proceed in a transparent manner,” he said.
Burns also discussed escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea over their border.
The US official “underlined that we’re going to be looking with the UN at ways that we might help both sides de-escalate from a situation now where it seems to be tensions are rising along that line,” McCormack said.
Zenawi said Friday his troops were ready to “take necessary measures” to defend the country’s sovereignty in escalating sabre-rattling with Eritrea over the unresolved border dispute.
Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace accord in 2000 ending a two-year war in which an estimated 80,000 people were killed over their mostly barren border.
The accord required both countries to accept a new border demarcation drawn up by an international panel.
The United Nations, United States and African Union have expressed deep concern over the mounting tensions between the two impoverished African nations, urging both sides to resolve the dispute through dialogue.