Opposition Eritrean Democratic Party welcomes US border mediation

Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP)

Jan 11, 2006 — The Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP) welcomes the statement made by
Ambassador Bolton regarding the demarcation of the border between
Eritrea and Ethiopia in accordance with the judgment of the Border
Commission.

We at EDP and the vast majority among Eritreans have been expecting
this type of statement and energetic steps taken towards
implementation of the Commission’s judgment, which the Ethiopian
government has been dogging artfully. When that government came out
with its five-point proposal, two positions were taken, namely: A)The
Ethiopian government was using this proposal as a smokescreen to
confuse the issue and postpone implementation of the border
commission’s judgment; and B)Accepting the proposal “in principle”
could pave the way towards the implementation of the judgment.

The majority of the Eritreans who considered the proposal supported the
position stated in (A). That was also the position taken by EDP. And a
delegation of EDP leadership met with the then Assistant Secretary of
State for African Affairs and urged that the US government should take
steps to help secure the implementation of the Commission’s judgment.
The delegation was given to understand that the US government policy is
intent upon implementation of the judgment unconditionally; accepting
the judgment “in principle” was meaningless, we were assured, and that
the judgment must be implemented unconditionally.

Ambassador Bolton’s recent statement is, therefore, in tune with a
policy position of the US government that had already been taken. But
he should be commended for the clarity, forthrightness and decisiveness
with which he issued the statement, and the EDP so commends him. Let
us hope that Ambassador Bolton’s statement will be translated into
action.