DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ERITREA - PRESIDENT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261059
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki says peace
negotiations with Ethiopia have gone "back to square
one" after proximity talks between the two nations
were postponed last month. The two Horn of Africa
nations have not been able to agree on a ceasefire or
a plan to end their nearly two-year-old border war.
As VOA's Challiss McDonough reports, the Eritrean
leader is in Washington to lobby for support.
TEXT: President Isaias says there is not likely to be
a solution to the conflict between Ethiopia and
Eritrea anytime soon. He says it will not be easy to
make up for lost time.
The latest trouble has arisen over a "technical
arrangement" related to a cease-fire. The two sides
have been haggling over the agreement for six months,
and they were supposed to discuss it last month. But
those talks never happened.
Mr. Isaias says Eritrea agreed to the plan, but
Ethiopia has rejected it. So, he says, the
negotiators are starting over, trying to forge a new
plan.
// ISAIAS ACT ONE //
We have to go to a new process and go back to
square one without even knowing what the
concerns and objections of the Ethiopian
government are. We are told we need to read
between the lines.
// END ACT ONE //
Mr. Isaias says U-S mediators are now taking the lead
in working out a formula for a cease-fire, with a
reduced role for the Organization for African Unity.
He urged the United States to step up pressure on
Ethiopia.
// ISAIAS ACT TWO //
The process has been very slow. [There has
been] confusion and complications at times. I am
puzzled and everyone else is puzzled what this
new document would look like. I think to
summarize, one can say the inaction of the
United States to make things happen on the
ground has been the cause of a delay.
// END ACT TWO //
// OPT // But in response to Mr. Isaias's comments,
State Department spokesman James Rubin said it is up
to Ethiopia and Eritrea to reach a peace deal.
// OPT RUBIN ACT //
The problems between Ethiopia and Eritrea are
the fault of Ethiopia and Eritrea, not the
United States. If Ethiopia and Eritrea want to
make peace, they can very easily do that without
our help. We are trying to help, and we work
very hard to help.
// END RUBIN ACT //// END OPT //
Mr. Isaias is meeting with several U-S officials while
he is in Washington, but he did not say precisely what
he planned to tell them. The State Department says he
will discuss the peace efforts with Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright on Tuesday.
On the famine situation in Ethiopia, president Isaias
says he is willing to allow international aid agencies
to use Eritrea's main port to get relief supplies to
victims in Ethiopia.
He said he had "responded positively" after a senior
U-S official asked him to open the Assab port for
emergency aid shipments. Ethiopia has dismissed the
offer as a public relations gimmick, but Mr. Isaias
insists he is serious.
// ISAIAS ACT THREE - opt --//
It's up to the international community. Bring
in your supplies to the port, and you will see
whether we are genuinely committed to what we
say. The technicalities will have to be sorted
out without wasting time for dialogue or an
understanding to be reached with the two
parties. This has nothing to do with this
government.
// END ACT -end opt --//
Mr. Isaias says it is up to the international
community to figure out how to get aid from Assab
across the front lines to the people who need it.
// REST OPT //
// ISAIAS ACT FOUR //
This is a test for the international community,
rather than a test for the government in
Ethiopia and the government in Eritrea.
// END ACT //
Without the Assab port, relief agencies will have to
use much smaller facilities in Djibouti and Somalia.
The coming rainy season is likely to make the roads
from those ports nearly impassible. (Signed)
NEB/CEM/ENE/PT
07-Apr-2000 16:45 PM EDT (07-Apr-2000 2045 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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