ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Asmara tells Addis to comply with border ruling

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Eritrea has called on Ethiopia to abide by the ruling of an independent commission that delineated their disputed border in 2002 and urged the international community to help secure peace and stability in the Horn of Africa.

An Eritrean foreign ministry statement sent to IRIN on Tuesday said the wrangle over the 1,000-km border could be resolved if Addis Ababa withdrew "its forces from sovereign Eritrean territories".

It demanded Ethiopia's "cooperation with the Boundary Commission to ensure expeditious demarcation of the boundary" and called for "full and unconditional respect of the Algiers Agreement".

"The government of Eritrea urges the international community to help secure peace and stability in our region by putting pressure on Ethiopia to ensure the long overdue demarcation of the boundary," the statement added.

The two neighbours fought a two-and-a-half year border war that claimed an estimated 70,000 lives. The war ended in December 2000 with a peace plan signed in Algiers, that called for the establishment of an internationally recognised border between them.

As part of the deal to end the war, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to form an independent boundary commission and to consider its decision final and binding.

Ethiopia objected to the commission's ruling, handed down in April 2002. Following the objection, the physical demarcation of the border was delayed. Relations between the two countries have since remained tense.

However, on 25 November, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced in parliament a five-point plan for peace between the two countries, saying Ethiopia would accept the ruling "in principle".

On Monday, Meles told journalists in Addis Ababa that his country was committed to peace.

"The only way forward is through dialogue and to address the root causes of the problems," he said. "I do not believe unilateral military steps are conducive to peace in this region."

The Eritrean statement said the border stalemate had dislocated 60,000 people from their homes and villages and created "clouds of another unnecessary and unjustifiable confrontation".

[ENDS]