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By LINDSAY HOLMWOOD, Associated Press Writer
16 June, 2007
UNITED NATIONS - Eritrea dismissed Ethiopia's announcement that it has accepted a U.N. commission's ruling over a disputed town, saying Friday that Ethiopia attached conditions that undermined the spirit of the decision.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war. The Horn of Africa neighbors initially promised to accept the U.N. boundary commission's 2002 ruling awarding Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has not handed it over.
Both countries claim Badme and fought a bloody 2 1/2-year war after Ethiopian soldiers opened fire on Eritrean soldiers in the border town in 1998. A 2000 truce agreement to cease hostilities has made the border more peaceful, but tensions have occasionally flared to the point that international observers feared a new war could break out.
In a letter last week to the U.N. Security Council, the Ethiopian government said it unconditional accepted the commission's 2002 decision. However, the letter also said Eritrea must comply fully with the 2000 cease-fire agreement, and called on the Security Council to impose sanctions against Eritrea until it complies.
In its own letter to the council on Friday, Eritrea blamed the Security Council for failing to force Ethiopia to turn over Badme and "encouraging Ethiopia to flout the rule of law." It claimed Ethiopia also violated the 2000 agreement and urged the Security Council to impose sanctions "to compel Ethiopia to comply."
"So far as Eritrea is concerned, Ethiopia continues to present conditionalities to the decision of the boundary commission, which is final and binding," said Amanuel Giorgio, a diplomat at Eritrea's U.N. Mission.
"It's asking the Security Council to demand that Eritrea enter into dialogue," he added. "That means reopening the decision of the boundary commission. Our reading of the letter is that Ethiopia has not yet changed its position."
Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said in a rebuttal posted on its Web site late Friday that the issue is not demarcation of the boundary, but the need comply with the 2000 cease-fire.