Ethiopia must comply with ruling of boundary commission: Eritrean FM

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 14, 2004 (AP) — Ethiopia must withdraw its troops from a border town awarded to Eritrea by an international boundary commission in order to restore peace between the two countries, the Eritrean foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Ethiopia must also let the commission demarcate the border between the two Horn of Africa nations as provided under the terms of a four-year-old peace deal, the ministry said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya.

The two nations are deadlocked over the decision of the boundary commission to award the town of Badme to Eritrea — the source of their 1998-2000 border war, which cost each country an estimated US$1 million (euro760,000) a day and left some 70,000 people dead.

The commission is part of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Ethiopia has said it “in principle” accepts the commission’s ruling, but insists it will not cede any territory.

Eritrea said “the way forward lies in Ethiopia’s … strict compliance with the boundary commission of April 13, 2002,” and the “withdrawal of its forces from sovereign Eritrean territories.”