Asmara says it can exist without Ethiopia

Eritrea has dismissed Ethiopia's assertion that relations cannot be normalised unless there is a "regime change" in Asmara as "tantamount to declaring aggression".

Earlier this week, a widely-circulated draft Ethiopian foreign policy document stated that while Addis Ababa would not renew hostilities with its neighbour, the current government in Asmara was an "obstacle" to improved ties.

Eritrea's acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told IRIN on Thursday that Ethiopia's leaders were practising "out of this world psychology".

"The Ethiopian leaders would be doing themselves, and definitely the region, a very big favour if they would only stick to the administration of their people and country," he said. "Anything that has to do with Eritrea should never become an issue on the Ethiopian leaders' agenda."

He said only Eritrea had the mandate to decide on its own affairs. "Talk of regime change is tantamount to declaring aggression," he stated.

"We want to make it clear that Ethiopia does not exist in the Eritrean government's national economic development strategy," Ali Abdu added.

Ethiopia has also stated that it would not be negatively affected "if the two countries manage to last for a long time without going to war and also without building any relations".

Relations between the two countries have been practically non-existent since they signed a peace deal in December 2000 which officially ended a bitter two-year border war.

Demarcation of the common border is supposed to kick off this year, but has been repeatedly postponed. Ethiopia is unhappy with an independent border ruling which places the controversial village of Badme - where the border war flared up - in Eritrea.

[Click here for earlier story on Ethiopian draft foreign policy]