INTERVIEW-Ethiopia wants Eritrea talks, war would be “stupid”
By William Maclean
ADDIS ABABA, July 8 (Reuters) – Ethiopia wants to solve its border dispute with Eritrea through dialogue because the only other option is a return to war, which would be “stupid”, Ethiopia’s prime minister said on Thursday.
The prime minister, Meles Zenawi, added in an interview with Reuters that Ethiopia would never start a war with its former foe but was taking sensible security precautions since the Horn of Africa was a “rough neighbourhood”.
“Theoretically there are two options: Fight it out or talk it out. Fighting is stupid and is not a viable option and that is why we have to find a way around this problem through dialogue. The first thing that needs to be done is to talk.”
Eritrea and Ethiopia went to war between 1998 and 2000 in a dispute over the small Ethiopian-run border town of Badme.
An agreement signed in Algiers in 2000 ended the conflict, in which more than 70,000 people were killed.
But demarcation of the disputed border has been indefinitely postponed since Ethiopia rejected a ruling by an independent boundary commission that said Badme was part of Eritrea.
Asked to comment on reports of increased Ethiopian military activity near the Eritrean border in recent months, Meles said: “We are not looking for a fight with Eritrea or anybody else. Other than a general recognition of the fact that this is a rough neighbourhood, and the consequences of that recognition, there is no specific preparation for war (by Ethiopia).”
Eritrea says there is nothing to negotiate and the ruling must be honoured.
Asked if he would ever agree to hand Badme to Eritrea, he replied: “It’s not a question of giving up this or that particular piece of territory. It’s a question of what people can live with in an environment of rationality. We are talking about 150 metres here, 800 metres there. Nothing substantive.”
“On this side of the boundary there is no question of us initiating any conflict with Eritrea. That is a closed chapter. As to whether there is any such possibility on the other side of the boundary only the leader of that country can say.”
Meles said Eritrea appeared sceptical for the moment about the usefulness of dialogue on the border row. And in the wider region Eritrea was stirring up trouble in Sudan by supporting rebels in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, he said, echoing an allegation repeatedly made by Khartoum.
Eritrea has consistently denied the charge.
“I don’t think Eritrea is the cause of the problem in Darfur but there is no doubt whatsoever that Eritrea is trying to fish in troubled waters, and this is true to form,” he said.