Ethiopia agrees to demarcate most of border

By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Friday demarcation of most of the country’s 1,000 km (600 mile) border with Eritrea could begin immediately, raising hopes a long-simmering border dispute could be resolved.

“On the so-called 85 percent of the boundary (with Eritrea), we have said all along that we don’t have any objection and it can be demarcated straight away,” Meles told resident diplomats in Addis Ababa in a briefing session attended by reporters.

Meles said disagreement over the remaining 15 percent of the border could be solved through dialogue with Eritrea, which went to war with Ethiopia between 1998-2000.

“Resolving the issues of a few meters here and a few hundred metres there — at most one or two kilometres — is not going to be an insurmountable task,” Meles said.

However, Eritrean presidential adviser Yemane Ghebremeskel accused Ethiopia of playing games, saying previous attempts at negotiation had failed.

“I think Ethiopia is playing games, and I don’t think that the international community should entertain these games,” he told Reuters by telephone from the Eritrean capital Asmara.

“As far as talks are concerned, this was tried for a number of years, both bilaterally and through the facilitation of mutual friends, but this led to a dead end and only resulted in Ethiopia launching three wars.”

Ethiopia had previously refused to accept an independent commission’s ruling on where the border should lie, delaying demarcation, while Eritrea has long accepted the verdict in its entirety.

One of the key sticking points has been the commission’s decision to award the town of Badme — flashpoint of the war which killed 70,000 people — to Eritrea.

“Even in the case of Badme we are talking about 800 meters, nothing more,” Meles said. “Negotiation means give and take. It also means that whoever is coming to the table for negotiations is prepared to give some things, but not others.”

Last week Meles said the fact Ethiopia now accepted the ruling should remove any fears in the international community about a return to violence between the two Horn of Africa countries.

(Additional reporting by Ed Harris in Nairobi)