Both sides claim victory in border ruling

Several thousand Ethiopians on Sunday gathered in Meskel Square, the central square of the capital Addis Ababa, to celebrate a ruling on the border with Eritrea.

Both sides were claiming victory, following Saturday's announcement of the crucial ruling on border delimitation by an independent Boundary Commission in The Hague. The countries fought a bloody two-year war, triggered by a border dispute in May 1998 which claimed tens of thousands of lives. But after a peace agreement signed in December 2000 they agreed that the Boundary Commission would finally rule where the disputed 1,000 km border should lie.

The announcement on Saturday was immediately hailed a victory by Ethiopia. The Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin accused Eritrea of "forcing the war" on the country. “This decision has rejected any attempt by Eritrea to get reward for its aggression," he said. "This decision was fair and legal."

But Eritrea hit back accusing Ethiopia of propaganda and branding its claims of victory as a “lie”. In a statement, the Eritrean government said: “It is a victory for the people of Ethiopia, but it is the Eritrean people who have emerged most victorious.”

According to the Ethiopian government, territory awarded to Ethiopia includes Zalambessa, Aiga, Alitena, Yona Shihak, Kolobirda, Adi-Kutu (central), Badme, Bada and Bure. Some land west of Badme had been awarded to Eritrea as this had not been previously under Ethiopian administration, the government said.

Currently, some 4,200 United Nations peacekeepers are on high alert in the region. They are patrolling a 25 km buffer zone between both countries.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday welcomed the ruling and called for its immediate implementation. Noting that the two countries had maintained a ceasefire since June 2000, he stated that "this accomplishment, which deserves to be commended, must now be built upon by working expeditiously to implement the Boundary Commission's decision".

“The peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia who have suffered greatly deserve no less,” he said.

The border now has to be physically demarcated by erecting stone pillars. But before that happens tens of thousands of mines which were laid by both forces have to be removed.