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Biddho.com Eritrea - Rising To The Challenges!    

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Sep 07th
Home arrow News arrow Eritrea's Diplomatic Touch
Eritrea's Diplomatic Touch Print E-mail
Written by Merhawie   
Thursday, 20 September 2007
An Ethiopian official, interviewed in Kenya has given voice to the 800 pound gorilla sitting on the Algiers Agreement. The Algiers Agreement, signed in 2000 between Eritrea and Ethiopia, was meant to provide a mechanism by which each in advance would agree to an international ruling as to the location of their mutual border and its demarcation. The 800 pound gorilla that has paralyzed the work of the Border Commission is Ethiopia’s adamant stance that dialogue is a prerequisite to demarcation. Furthermore, this Ethiopian official has provided further insight into the ultimate aim of the continued stalemated position, “a straight line division of Badme cannot solve the problem.”
 
The town of Badme is located roughly 5 km from the newly delimited boundary of Eritrea and Ethiopia, in light of this, why would a division of the town even be under consideration? Furthermore, the official’s hint to a non-linear border around Badme hints at a larger problem.

Ethiopia’s assertion at the beginning of the conflict (in a map published by the Bank of Ethiopia) is that the border was not a straight line. The conclusion of the Boundary Commission however, was that the line was indeed straight and that the town of Badme was indeed in Eritrean territory. The insidiousness of this comment cannot be underemphasized.

If this comment reflects the genuine policy of the Government of Ethiopia, it would mean the unilateral dissolution of the Algiers Agreement. Even more crucial for the wider audience however, is that this would essentially nullify the sanctity all colonial borders.

Colonial borders throughout Africa have been held sacrosanct; without them the continent would mired in many more conflicts than it already is. Surely this cannot be the policy of Ethiopia, the country in which the African Union, the organization which initially pronounced colonial borders as sacrosanct, is seated.

Perhaps this official was mistaken. After all there seem to be many factual errors in the interview, after all, no one would conclude that today “there is peace and stability in Mogadishu,” after four Ugandan peacekeepers were killed in a bombing. The Ethiopian official also confused dates when he suggested Ethiopia invaded Somalia to fulfill an IGAD mandate from April 2007, however, Ethiopia’s invasion occurred in December of 2006.

Perhaps in the coming days he will issue a clarification. But what if this was not an error, but simply a clarification of what many believe has been Ethiopia’s policy? Eritrea has perhaps two realistic options open to it. Continue to reach out to neighbors, including Sudan and Djibouti while encouraging regional organizations to promote the colonial borders or what is less likely, to acquiesce to Ethiopia’s will. Neither is particularly appealing to Eritreans, however, to Africa as a whole, the former is far more appealing.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 September 2007 )
 
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