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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Asmara rules out any border changes

NAIROBI, 25 September 2003 (IRIN) - The Eritrean government has reiterated there can be no renegotiation of the ruling on the border with Ethiopia and said latest moves by Addis Ababa to have the decision changed shows its primary motive is to see the "disintegration" of Eritrea.

Earlier this week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi sent a letter to the UN Security Council calling for a new body to rule on contested areas of the border, particularly the symbolic town of Badme where the two-year border war flared up and which has been awarded to Eritrea.

"Badme has become a second pretext for a second war," Eritrea's acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told IRIN on Thursday.

He said the call for a new body to rule on the contested areas was a "clear violation" of the Algiers peace agreement which formally ended the bitter war between the countries and which stated that an independent Boundary Commission had the supreme authority on any border decision. Both countries accepted the agreement as final and binding.

"This latest move by Ethiopia shows that the war never was and never will be a border issue," Ali Abdu said. "Ethiopia wants to subjugate Eritrea and see Eritrea's disintegration."

"This is tantamount to declaring war on the Security Council, on the guarantors of the peace agreement, on the Boundary Commission and on all global humanitarian bodies and civilisation," he added. "It is a conflict between Ethiopia and the rule of law."

He stressed that any attempt to amend the ruling was "unthinkable" and he completely rejected a partial demarcation of the border. Demarcation, which has been twice postponed, is due to begin next month in the less controversial eastern sector.

Ali Abdu warned that if the guarantors of the Algiers agreement - the UN, US, EU and AU - failed to uphold the provisions of the accord, which include measures under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, it would set a dangerous precedent for conflict resolution worldwide.

"We would have the rule of the jungle instead of the rule of law," he noted.

The UN has also expressed concern over the latest move by Ethiopia, saying the peace process had probably entered its "most critical" phase.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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