Don't link aid to border issue, says minister

The Ethiopian government has urged international donors not to link desperately needed development aid to the outcome of the contested border ruling with Eritrea. Information Minister Bereket Simon insisted that fighting poverty and border demarcation were two separate issues. “The international community has an obligation as well as a responsibility to assist Ethiopia, if Ethiopia is going to really extricate itself from this poverty,” he told IRIN. He was speaking earlier this week at the end of a three-day congress of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). “We don’t think it is proper to attach the development assistance issue with the issue of the border conflict settlement," he stated. "These are two separate things.” The hot issue of border demarcation did not come up at the EPRDF congress - expected to be the last before elections in 2005 - in the town of Bahir Dar. Bereket noted that foreign policy “was much wider in scope” than simply demarcation of the 1,000 km border with Eritrea. Bereket also rubbished opposition groups which aim to fight the 2005 election on an anti-demarcation ticket, believing the ruling to be a weak link in the government’s armour. “The problem with the opposition groups is that they bet on one issue,” he said. “And it is usually the wrong issue.” The minister, who said the EPRDF congress was a “wrap up” of the last two years, hailed the achievements of the government. But, he said, they could not rest on their laurels. “In a country like Ethiopia a government cannot claim to be satisfied because the problems are so huge,” Bereket said. He also dismissed critics who claim the humanitarian crisis in the country is due to flawed government policies. “We didn’t sit idly,” he added, citing water harvesting as one of the key elements of the fight against future crises in the country.