OAU gets Ethiopian response on “technical arrangements”

Ethiopia on Saturday gave the OAU its response to arrangements for implementing the OAU Framework Agreement intended the end the Ethio-Eritrea conflict, Agence France Presse reported on Monday. “Ethiopian responses to the OAU clarifications have been submitted on Saturday to President Bouteflika in Algiers by the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin. There is no comment in regard to the content,” AFP quoted government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse as saying. At the end of December the OAU submitted written documents to the Ethiopia government to clarify the technical arrangements for implementing the Framework Agreement. Addis Ababa has rejected the technical arrangements, claiming among other issues that loopholes in the plan could allow Eritrea to avoid fully withdrawing to its pre-war position - the “status quo ante” on which Ethiopia insists - before border demarcation takes place.