ERITREA / FILE: Eritrea says its deadlock with Ethiopia over their unmarked border puts region's security at risk

Record ID: 454755

  • Title: ERITREA / FILE: Eritrea says its deadlock with Ethiopia over their unmarked border puts region's security at risk
  • Date: 25th November 2006
  • Summary: (AD1) ASMARA, ERITREA (NOVEMBER 22, 2006)(REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) YEMANE GHEBREMESKEL, ERITREA PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR, SAYING: "But at the end of the day, I think Eritrea is sovereign country, it has all the rights that are enshrined in UN charter... (pause) We can not accept the reality of our territory being occupied by a foreign power indefinitely."
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA20RESKJWQVUWVC8ZJQ9YSAIXT
  • Story Text: Eritrea says its deadlock with Ethiopia over their unmarked border puts the region's security at risk and criticises the United Nations for not doing more to break the four-year impasse.
    Both Horn of Africa countries rejected on Monday (November 20) a proposal put forward by an independent boundary commission designed to end the stalemate over the 620 mile (1,000 km) frontier.
    As part of a 2000 deal to end a two-year border war, both Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to accept as final and binding the commission's 2002 ruling mapping the boundary.
    But the process ground to a halt after Ethiopia rejected the ruling, which awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, and demanded more talks.
    "Our agenda is not regime change anywhere either in Eritrea or anywhere else, our agenda is to protect our sovereignty and our peace. We have had one round of war with Eritrea, if we have another round of war, we will try to make sure that we will not have a third round," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in an interview with Reuters last year.
    Asmara insisted the ruling could not be altered.
    "We can only point out the dangers of not solving this problem, not only in terms of its consequences for peace and security in this region, but also the precedent it creates if one country can defy an arbitration process," said Yemane Ghebremeskel, advisor to Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki.
    "We can not accept the reality of our territory being occupied by a foreign power indefinitely," he added in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
    Earlier this month, the boundary commission said it would demarcate the border on maps, leaving both sides to establish the physical boundary themselves.
    The plan was rejected by both sides. Ethiopia said it would not recognise any demarcation of the contested border, while Eritrea said the commission should deal with Ethiopia's "non compliance" with the border ruling rather than searching for "ways to skirt the issue".
    Yemane said for the commission to limit its work to indicating the coordinates of the border on a map, rather than physically marking it, meant a "job half-done".
    "The delimitation has been done. The demarcation should have been done a long time ago. We have lost time. We have lost opportunities ... simply because Ethiopia does not want to recognise Eritrean sovereignty," Yemane added.
    Echoing criticisms in the government press, he said the United Nations was shirking its duty to enforce the decision.
    Defending national pride, Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war between 1998-2000 over a frontier of dusty villages and scrubby plains. Fighting killed an estimated 70,000 people.
    Diplomats fear Somalia may become a proxy battleground for the former foes, who are among countries accused by the United Nations of breaking a 1992 arms embargo. Both deny the allegations.
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