As the Commission evidently cannot remain in existence indefinitely, it proposes that the Parties should, over the next twelve months, terminating at the end of November 2007, consider their positions and seek to reach agreement on the emplacement of pillars. If, by the end of that period, the Parties have not by themselves reached the necessary agreement and proceeded significantly to implement it, or have not requested and enabled the Commission to resume its activity, the Commission hereby determines that the boundary will automatically stand as demarcated by the boundary points listed in the Annex hereto and that the mandate of the Commission can then be regarded as fulfilled. Until that time, however, it must be emphasised that the Commission remains in existence and its mandate to demarcate has not been discharged. Until such time as the boundary is finally demarcated, the Delimitation Decision of 13 April 2002 continues as the only valid legal description of the boundary.

The Commission and its staff are barred by confidentiality agreements from commenting on any aspect of the case. The decisions of the Commission and regular reports to the Secretary- General2 contain all relevant public information, and can be consulted on the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at:

http://www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1150.

The Commission was established pursuant to the 12 December 2000 Algiers Peace Agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The UN Cartographer is the Secretary to the Commission. The PCA in The Hague serves as the Commission’s seat and registry.

The Members of the Commission are Sir Elihu Lauterpacht CBE QC (President), Prince Bola Ajibola SAN KBE CFR, Professor Michael Reisman, and Judge Stephen M. Schwebel. The Commission deeply regrets the death of one of its members, Sir Arthur Watts KCMG QC, on 16 November 2007. His contributions to the Commission and international law as a whole were unparalleled and he will be greatly missed.

The Hague, 30 November 2007

1 The Statement can be found at: http://www.pca-cpa.org/upload/files/Statement%20271106.pdf
2 The most recent report of the Commission to the Secretary-General can be found at pp. 11-19 of the document found by following: http://www.pca-cpa.org/upload/files/S_2007_645.pdf

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