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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border commission "unfair", Ethiopia says

ADDIS ABABA, 7 April 2003 (IRIN) - The Ethiopian government on Friday voiced its opposition to an independent boundary ruling which places the symbolic village of Badme in Eritrea.

In a statement, the information ministry accused the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) of "misinterpreting" the Algiers peace accord of December 2000 and the border ruling of 13 April 2002.

The government was reacting to the latest announcement by the EEBC which upholds last year's border ruling and rejects calls by Ethiopia to vary the new 1,000-km border.

The Boundary Commission was set up by the two countries under the Algiers accord to establish a legal international border which they both agreed would be “final and binding”.

“The Ethiopian government and people would exert utmost efforts to legally and peacefully correct the Commission’s misinterpretations of the border ruling,” the statement said.

It accused the Commission of an "unfair tendency" in implementing the border ruling.

Badme village – which is currently administered by Ethiopia - was the flashpoint of the bitter two-year war which flared up in May 1998.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has cautioned that his country might “reject” the ruling if adjustments were not made.

And Tsergay Berhe, the president of Tigray region which borders Eritrea, has warned of local clashes over Badme.

Diplomats say the EEBC ruling is a purely legal decision, drawn up by five lawyers, and based on a strict mandate agreed by both countries.

They stress that the ruling has nothing to do with “the rights and wrongs” of the border war.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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