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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ERITREA: Isayas says Ethiopia "spoilt child" of superpowers

NAIROBI, 7 February 2003 (IRIN) - Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki has described Ethiopia as the "spoilt child of the world's superpowers".

In the first part of an interview with the ruling party's Shaebia website, he said some countries were afraid of Ethiopia's "disintegration" and therefore believed "it is better to take care of the present regime".

He accused Ethiopia of hindering border demarcation, because of its "desire to incorporate Badme into Ethiopian territory".

The two countries fought a bitter two-year border war from 1998 to 2000, which flared up in the disputed village of Badme. Last year, an independent border commission, set up after a peace accord was signed, issued a "final and binding" ruling on where the border lies. Both countries claim to have been awarded Badme.

Isayas accused Ethiopia of trying to "influence" the commission to change the coordinates of Mai Anbesa and Mai Tomsa in southern Eritrea "in order to incorporate Badme".

"Generally speaking, we do not expect many changes in the demarcation process," Isayas added. "The technical details of the implementation process are well handled by the commission."

"Primarily, the war was not a border dispute, it had its own political reasons," he said. "At present the weyane regime [Ethiopia] has no reason to declare an open aggression on Eritrea, since it is actively working to destabilise Eritrea through mercenaries and the formation of coalitions with neighbouring countries, with the intention of not letting Eritrea settle down, prosper and be mighty."

"This means we have war in a different way," he said.

Asked why Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara, Isayas replied that it was an "unexpected step" and questioned Addis Ababa's explanation that it was for budgetary reasons.

"I think it would be very difficult to cite economic problems when Ethiopia is buying arms, and with the rampant misappropriation of funds in the country," he said. "The closure of the embassy might look like a simple phenomenon, but it might be linked to border demarcation."

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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