AU calls for compromise to end Ethiopia/Eritrea row

ABUJA, Jan. 31, 2005 (Xinhuanet) – The two-day African Union (AU) summit ended in Abuja Monday afternoon suggested a compromise between Ethiopia and Eritrea as the only way to end the protracted row between them.

AU Chairman, Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, who briefed reporters on the outcome of the summit, said: “What is needed is for both countries to be willing to give and take. That way, there could be a meeting point.”

“Once they can not give and take, there is no way we can get a solution,” he declared.

The two nations have been at each others’ throats over the ownership of Badme, a village on the borders of the two with about 5,000 inhabitants. They fought a bitter battle over the village in2000.

An arbitration panel sat in Algeria in 2002 gave the disputed area to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to hand over the village.Enditem