Eritrea-Ethiopia border commission dissolves

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

December 1, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Eritrea-Ethiopia border panel has dissolved it self on Friday after arch enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea failed to agree till the deadline expired.

Last September, the boundary commission brought the two sides together for talks to push forward measures to physically demarcate the border along the line established in 2002, but the talks made no progress.

The independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) which brought an end to the 1998-2000 border war said, it is done with its job ,just leaving the 1,700 UN peacekeepers and both troops glaring at each other behind.

“Until such time as the boundary is finally demarcated, the delimitation decision of 13 April 2002 continues as the only valid legal description of the boundary,” the commission said in a statement on Friday.

But UNMEE still says it is ambitious to avoid any new war from breaking out just like that.

The border commission has long warned that if both nations fail to agree on the 2000 irreversible border ruling, then the key town of Badme will remain granted to Eritrea.

In June 2007, Ethiopia wrote to the U.N. Security Council indicating its acceptance of the boundary commission ruling awarding Badme to Eritrea. Asmara dismisses the announcement, saying attached conditions mean Addis Ababa does not intend to comply fully with the commission’s decision.

The EEBC was set up by the two countries under the Algiers accord to establish a legal international border which they both agreed would be “final and binding”.

The five members of the Hague-based EEBC are Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, President, Prince Bola Adesumbo Ajibola, Professor W. Michael Reisman, Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, Sir Arthur Watts.

Some 70,000 people died during the 1998-2000 war.

(ST)