Ethiopian ministers approve new drive to pursue peace with Eritrea
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 24 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s council of ministers on Wednesday approved a new drive to end animosity with Eritrea in a bid to breathe life into their stalled peace process, the information ministry said in a statement.
The ministers “approved the initiative after a detailed evaluation of the objective reality that existed between the two countries,” the statement said.
“The ratification of the new initiative was prompted by the fact that establishing durable peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea could enable the peoples of the two countries to live in peace and brotherhood,” it explained.
The approval “was consistent with Ethiopia’s principles for establishing sustainable peace and promoting the spirit of good neighbourliness,” said the statement, which did not give details of the new peace initiative.
A border row pushed the two neighbours in the Horn of Africa into a devastating war in 1998, and since then plans to return the region to a durable peace have stalled.
In the Algiers accord that ended the war in 2000, 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.
The two countries have since traded accusations.
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 remain virtually non-existent.
On Tuesday, Asmara reiterated that it held the UN Security Council to blame for the impasse in its peace process.
“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, in the day Annan made refuelling stop-over in Asmara, during which he was visited by Labour Minister Askalu.
Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will on Thursday present the initiative to parliament for final approval.
The United Nations has more than 3,000 peacekeepers deployed in a buffer zone that hugs the Eritrean side of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) border.