ERITREA: Dialogue was the key to resolving the border dispute with Eritrea, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr Meles Zenawi, said yesterday. He was speaking after a meeting in his office with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, to discuss the growing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which many fear could lead to a resumption of conflict.
The war between the two countries from 1998 to 2000 resulted in almost 200,000 casualties.
The Algiers Peace Agreement brought an end to hostilities, but the Ethiopian Government is challenging the findings of a boundary commission, set up under the agreement, which placed the frontier town of Badme inside Eritrean territory.
Badme is a highly-symbolic place. It was originally under Ethiopian administration and, when Eritrea seized it in 1998, this was one of the elements which led to the outbreak of war. It inclusion in Eritrea is regarded as humiliating by many Ethiopians, whereas Eritrea believes that the terms of the Algiers Peace Agreement should be observed.
"Hopefully, sanity will prevail, dialogue will restart and we'll find a peaceful solution around the problem," Mr Meles told journalists after his meeting with Mr Cowen, who was representing Ireland's European Presidency and was accompanied by the Dutch Minister for Development, Ms Agnes Van Ardenne.
When it was put to the prime minister that the international community believed he had initially accepted the findings of the boundary commission and then changed his mind, Mr Meles replied that the map co-ordinates set down by the commission were provisional and were open to adjustment on the basis of investigations on the ground. "None of these investigations were made," he said.
Mr Meles said that if the map co-ordinates had been checked on the ground, the town of Badme would be in Ethiopia instead. It was simply "an 800-metre mistake on a big map".
Of the role of the UN special envoy, Dr Lloyd Axworthy, who has been appointed by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, to mediate in the dispute, the prime minister said: "We support any effort on the part of the international community to help us resolve this problem through dialogue."
Ethiopia was eager to engage in such dialogue. "As far as we are concerned, it could start tomorrow." Asked if his former close friendship with Eritrea's President Isaias could be revived in the process of dialogue, he said: "Reviving peace is more important and, if peace can be revived, everything else can be resolved."
Welcoming the intervention of the European Union, Mr Meles said: "The EU is a friend of both countries. The Irish Presidency are coming at the right time, in a way, because the Minister has a lot of experience in trying to resolve even more intractable problems, and his expertise and experience comes in handy."
Mr Cowen said that the purpose of his talks with Mr Meles, and with President Isaias in Asmara the previous day, was to enhance the prospects for Dr Axworthy "to interact with both sides in a way which will enable us to try and resolve this problem to everyone's satisfaction".
Mr Cowen said there were two sides to every story: "My job is to communicate two messages: one, that obviously the integrity of the process has to be maintained; and, by the same token, as is in the nature of all boundary disputes, the demarcation lines can be adjusted on the basis of issues on the ground in a way that is consistent with the overall sentiment, purpose and spirit of the decision that comes from the boundary commission."
While in Addis Ababa, Mr Cowen visited a community-based HIV-AIDS programme operated by the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
The centre, which was established in 1992, is run by two Irish nuns, Sister Carol Breslin and Sister Kate Young.
This project is already funded by the Irish Government, but the Minister pledged an additional €10,000 to assist its disabled children's programme.