Eritrea will accept Ethiopia war damages ruling

18 August, 2009

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – Eritrea said Tuesday it will accept "without equivocation" an international tribunal's decision on compensations Asmara and arch-foe Ethiopia are set to pay each other for damages sustained during their 1998-2000 war.

The Hague-based Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission -- set up under a 2000 Algiers peace deal that ended their two-year border war -- is expected to make public its rulings Tuesday despite no signs of a thaw.

"Eritrea is well aware of the interference that has impaired the administration of justice," the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

The statement was referring to Ethiopia's refusal to recognise a binding verdict by an international panel that granted the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea.

"Nonetheless, and irrespective of the plausibility of the evidence and legal instruments invoked to arrive at the award, the government of Eritrea accepts the award of the Claims Commission without any equivocation due to its final and binding nature under the Algiers Agreement."

Ethiopia has repeatedly called for adjustments in the implementation of the new demarcation and maintains troops in disputed territories.

The lack of a breakthrough has prompted Asmara to accuse the United Nations of siding with its bigger neighbour.

The UN Security Council last year terminated the mandate of a 1,700-strong peacekeeping force following fuel restrictions imposed by Eritrea in a move diplomats said was a bid to put pressure on the international community to force Ethiopia to accept the boundary decision.

Some 80,000 people died during the 1998-2000 border conflict ten years ago, many in brutal World War I-style trench warfare.