Asmara rejects "shock and confusion" accusations

Ethiopia on Thursday accused the government of Eritrea of being in “utter shock, embarrassment and confusion” following this month's border ruling, a statement rejected by Eritrea as "ridiculous".

In the statement, the Ethiopian information ministry said the Eritrean government was "pretending to be the champion of peace", following the decision announced on 13 April by an independent Boundary Commission in The Hague.

The Commission was set up as a result of the December 2000 Algiers peace accord, signed by both sides after a bitter two-year border war. Each country has claimed victory after the new border was announced.

“Ethiopia's victory both in the military field and before the international court of justice left the regime in Asmara in utter shock, embarrassment and confusion," the Ethiopian statement said.

“The Asmara government is trumpeting about its border demarcation agenda in the hope of avoiding burning issues that are being raised by Eritrean citizens," it went on. “As if the government in Asmara had not arrogantly rejected peaceful alternatives, it is now pretending to be the champion of peace, further deceiving and confusing its own citizens.”

Eritrea, for its part, said the border ruling was "crystal clear". "The [Ethiopian] statement is ridiculous," Eritrea's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, told IRIN.

"The border ruling is there for all to see and we have wholeheartedly accepted it," he said. "We saw nothing shocking about it, we found nothing to be embarrassed about and we see nothing confusing in the ruling."

"We find it to be crystal clear, replete with precise geographical coordinates from modern satellite systems which the five learned judges in The Hague deemed accurate," Teweldemedhin added.

In its statement, the Ethiopian government also rounded on opposition parties which have been calling for access to the sea.

“It was not expected that the opposition parties would hail the victory attained at the international court of arbitration in The Hague,” the statement said. “Like the government of Eritrea, the opposition too could not accept the supremacy of the law. Their wish is either to invade the sovereign state of Eritrea, short of that to capture the port of Assab by force, which they claim is vital to the existence of Ethiopia."