Border demarcation will ensure regional peace

The Ethiopian-Eritrean border demarcation will help to peacefully settle the dispute between the two countries and avert similar conflicts once and for all, the director of the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) said, according to the pro-government Walta Information Centre on 27 March. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Dr Kinfe Abraham said the ruling of the Border Commission, due to be announced on 13 April, would be of paramount importance to the prevalence of peace in the subregion as a whole.

Kinfe stressed that it would be premature to say which party would gain and which would lose in the ruling, and dismissed rumours alleging that Ethiopia would become the ruling's "victim", Walta said.

Commenting on the view expressed by some Ethiopian opposition parties that the border demarcation should not be based on colonial treaties, Kinfe said there was no better basis for the demarcation than the treaties, and that Ethiopia would benefit from this, Walta reported.

Kinfe's views were a close reflection of the government's position, and "augur well for the upcoming ruling by the border commission", a diplomatic source in the Ethiopian capital told IRIN on Thursday. There had been a lot of agitation by the opposition, who wanted to use the border issue as a means of criticising the government. "This indicates that the government is not giving in to that sort of pressure," the source added.