Ethiopia’s PM says Eritrea must change stance on border row
September 17, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Monday that Eritrea must change its stance if the protracted border dispute between the two countries is to be resolved.
Addis Ababa wants the ruling revised, saying it splits families, while Asmara has insisted that it is final and binding.
“A solution can only be found once Eritrea changes its present stand,” Meles said in an interview broadcast by state-run Ethiopian television.
Last week, Ethiopia criticised the work of a UN border demarcation commission which said the 2002 border would be final if no breakthrough was reached by November 2007, when the commission is to be dissolved.
“There won’t be any difference whether the boundary commission completes its mandate or not,” Meles said.
“They may delimitate the border on maps but demarcation can only be viable if implemented on the ground. There might be a need for another body in the future…”
But Eritrea dismissed the comments, demanding instead that Ethiopia fulfil the legally binding border ruling.
“Eritrea will never, ever change its stand, and the border will be demarcated according to the law,” Information Minister Ali Abdu told AFP.
“How, when, where and in which way … History and time will have their answers.”
Eritrea earlier this month promised to fulfil all requirements demanded by the boundary commission, including lifting restrictions on UN peacekeepers and withdrawing its troops from a border buffer zone if Ethiopia honoured the 2002 agreement.
Observers have voiced concern that the border dispute could once again evolve into a full-fledged conflict after both sides flexed their military muscle and escalated rhetoric.
Eritrea has often complained that the international community — especially Ethiopia’s ally the United States — has not done enough to make Addis Ababa accept the new border.
(AFP)
Kifly Merhu
Ethiopia’s PM says Eritrea must change stance on border row
Mr. Prime Minister please make a bold decission and let the border demarcate in order to close the chapter for ever.
Believe me, the border will one day irrevalent, because we are brothers/sisters, we don’t need any borders which devide us. But at the moment just for the matter of principle the border (if it is really the root cause) must be demarcated.
Please end the mess in the Horn. We the ordinary people of the Horn want to live in peace and we want fight our real enemy, namely poverty and backwardness.
It is very sad to see how the Horn is governed today. Other nations build imperiums and we kill eachother for minor matters, it is very foolish and stupid. The Horn lacks at the moment visionary and prudent leaders/servers, who bring us together.