Asmara blames Security Council for stall of peace process with Ethiopia

ASMARA, Nov 23 (AFP) — Eritrea on Tuesday reiterated that it held the United Nations Security Council to blame for the impasse in its peace process with neighbouring Ethiopia, with which it fought a border war between 1998 and 2000.

“Our position is known. We think (UN Secretary General) Kofi Annan should put more pressure on the Security Council to implement the demarcation” of the border between the two countries, presidential chief of staff Yemane Gebre Meskel told AFP.

He was speaking a day after a plane carrying Annan made a refuelling stop in Asmara of 50 minutes, during which he was visited by Labour Minister Askalu, according to a government statement.

“The stalemate in the peace process is a result of the UN Security Council’s failure to see to the implementation of the Algiers Peace Agreement (of 2000) and the EEBC (Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission) ruling,” Askalu said in the statement.

In the Algiers accord, both Asmara and Addis Ababa pledged to accept the commission’s decision on the exact path of the border, but in September 2003 Ethiopia rejected the ruling as unjust.

Insisting it has international law on its side, Asmara has rebuffed calls for dialogue and has repeatedly appealed to the international community to force Addis Ababa to abide by its obligation under Algiers.

Consequently, the process of physically marking out the border, a crucial stage of the peace process between the eastern African countries, has not got off the ground and relations between the two countries remain virtually non-existent.

The UN has more than 3,000 peacekeepers deployed in a buffer zone that hugs the Eritrean side of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) border.