Ethiopia "wholeheartedly" accepts ruling

Ethiopia claimed victory against Eritrea on Saturday after a crucial border ruling, aimed at bringing peace to the region, was announced earlier in the day. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told a press conference in Addis Ababa that the government had retained all territories which had been administered by Ethiopia and it would "wholeheartedly" accept the ruling by the independent Boundary Commission sitting in The Hague. "This is a victory of law and order over anarchy, chaos and violence," he said. “This is a victory of peace over aggression and violence. This is a victory for the rule of law over the rule of the jungle.” Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border war which claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost millions of dollars in aid. In December 2000, they signed a peace deal in Algiers and agreed to set up a Boundary Commission which would decide on where the border lay. Seyoum said that Ethiopia had been awarded the key villages of Badme, Zalambessa and Bure where some of the heaviest fighting took place. He said it had also retained the villages of Alitena and Bada, and other small villages. But, he added, that despite the ruling, it would take a long time before normal relations existed between the two countries. He said Ethiopia would need to see a regime based in Asmara that was “transparent and predictable". He said the current government - headed by President Isayas Afewerki – had "forced the war on Ethiopia", and accused it of being "irresponsible". Seyoum also called for United Nations peacekeepers to remain in the area to keep up their “vital and important” monitoring work. He said the thousands of lives lost in the war had not been in vain as they had now helped bring peace to the region. He also said Eritrea must abide by the ruling and called on it to release all prisoners of war.