Eritrea’s Afwerki rejects mediation on border row with Ethiopia

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

February 24, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has rejected any offer to mediate a border dispute with arch-foe Ethiopia , calling it a “wicked ploy”, state media said.

During a three day visit to Eritrea earlier this month after the end of African summit, the new chairman of the African Union, Muammar Gadhafi announced from Asmara on February 8 he would launch an initiative to end the order dispute between the two countries.

He told reporter in a statement the official media didn’t report, that his initiative would be based on the court’s ruling and the constitutive act of the African Union.

The strong statement from the Eritrean leader comes after new-elect AU chairman and Libyan president Muammar Qadhafi earlier this month announced that he would launch an initiative to bring an end to border row of the two east African rivals.

“The political and diplomatic campaigns undertaken by Ethiopia … are but wicked ploys designed to appease the Eritrean people and international community,” state media quoted Isaias as saying.

“As long as sovereign Eritrean territories remain under occupation, engaging in dialogue about any issue is totally illogical,” He further underlined.

The once-close Horn of Africa neighbors have been locked in a bitter row over their 1000-km (625-mile) frontier since a 1998-2000 war that killed 70,000 people.

Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi welcomed the move of the Libyan leader to arbitrate the conflict between Addis Ababa and Asmara, but doubted the maneuver would be successful.

In November 2007, Ethiopia said ready to implement an agreement signed between the two countries in Algeria in 2000 that I had initially rejected but called for more negotiations. However Eritrea has persistently maintained that the border issue was a closed case once the boundary commission in 2002 passed a decision that awarded it the contested town Badme.

(ST)