Boundary Commission rejects Ethiopian review request

The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) has said Ethiopia's request for a review of the border ruling, issued earlier this year, is "inadmissible". In a statement, received by IRIN on Monday, the EEBC said no further action would be taken on Ethiopia's "Request for Interpretation, Correction and Consultation" of the border decision which was announced on 13 April. Ethiopia issued its request on 13 May and this was subsequently passed on to the Eritrean government for its observations, which were received by the EEBC on 14 June. Following the border ruling, both sides claimed they had been awarded the disputed village of Badme where the border conflict erupted in May 1998, leading to a bloody two-year war which cost tens of thousands of lives. After the ruling, the two countries had 30 days in which to seek any clarification from the EEBC which is based in The Hague. In the Algiers peace accord of December 2000, both sides agreed to accept the border decision as "final and binding". "The concept of interpretation does not open up the possibility of appeal against a decision or the reopening of matters clearly settled by a decision," the EEBC said in its statement. It said it did not find anything "that identifies an uncertainty" in the border ruling. "Accordingly, the Commission concludes that the Ethiopian request is inadmissible and no further action will be taken upon it," the statement said. It said, however, that the request would remain on the record, as would Eritrea's response. "To the extent that the Commission may deem appropriate, some of these matters may be considered further during the [border] demarcation," it added.