Meeting called to resume marking Ethiopia-Eritrea border
Mar 9, 2006 (NAIROBI) — International mediators have called Eritrea and Ethiopia to a meeting to resolve a border dispute that led to a two-year war, but it was not clear Eritrea would attend.
The meeting was scheduled Friday and Saturday in London. While Ethiopia, whose opposition has stalled border demarcation, promised to send representatives, it was not clear if Eritrea would, diplomats said.
A frustrated Eritrea has said there was no need for more talks and that the international community should simply ensure the border ruling is implemented.
The chairman of the International Boundary Commission, set up to resolve the bitter border dispute that sparked the bloody 1998-2000 war, issued a statement in New York late Wednesday announcing that he was seeking a meeting, but did not give any further details.
“Although there has been little change in the situation …the commission considers that a further attempt should now be made to secure the consent of both parties to the resumption of the demarcation process that was interrupted in 2003,” Elihu Lauterpacht said. “It is therefore seeking to arrange a meeting with the parties to that end in early March 2006.”
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but their 1,000-kilometer border was never settled.
Work on demarcating the frontier has been frozen since 2003 because of Ethiopia’s refusal to accept the awarding of the disputed town of Badme and other territories to Eritrea.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has reiterated earlier warnings that the protracted stalemate between the two countries has become “increasingly untenable.”
“If the present situation persists, any miscalculation by the parties could result in a rapid escalation, with unpredictable consequences for the two countries and regional stability,” he said in a progress report on the situation released late Wednesday, which included Elihu’s remarks.
There has been intense pressure from the international community to try to break the stalemate. Feb. 24, the U.S., U.N., European Union, African Union and Algeria – the five parties who witnessed and guaranteed the peace deal signed in 2000 – called on both sides to attend new talks and work out technical details on marking the border.
Since October, Eritrea has in an apparent protest restricted U.N. peacekeepers patrolling its border with Ethiopia by banning helicopter flights and movement of other vehicles at night.
Annan called on Eritrea to lift those restrictions, saying the border cannot be demarcated unless the U.N. is “able to perform its duties with restrictions and with full freedom of movement throughout its area of operations.”
(ST/AP)