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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: President urges UN to intervene over border issue

ADDIS ABABA, 7 October 2003 (IRIN) - Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis has reiterated calls to the UN Security Council to "rectify the mistakes" over the ruling on the border with Eritrea.

In a keynote address at the opening session of parliament on Monday, he said the Ethiopian people "should not be forced to accept the distorted decisions and interpretations of the boundary commission".

"Therefore, Ethiopia once again requests the UN Security Council to rectify the mistake committed by the boundary commission," he said.

Ethiopia has been stepping up calls lately for a new body to rule on the disputed border with Eritrea, following their bloody war from 1998-2000. The Boundary Commission, set up by a peace deal which ended the war, ruled last year that Badme - flashpoint of the conflict - was in Eritrea. Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision, but last week the UN told Ethiopia to implement the ruling as it stood.

Elsewhere in his speech, President Girma said Ethiopia must target development, transparency, accountability, good governance and peace.

Bolstering these priorities would “conquer poverty” and reverse years of dependency on foreign aid, he told parliamentarians.

“In the objective reality of Ethiopia, the people, especially the peasantry, are the main force that determine the successful implementation of development packages and food security programmes,” he said.

“The labour of the farmers, no doubt is of greater value than the financial capacity of the government and non-government institutions which can only play a supportive role,” he stated.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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