Government won't resort to force over Badme, minister says

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin has said his government has the "right to reject unjust decisions" regarding the border with Eritrea, but it will not resort to force, the pro-government Walta Information Centre reported. "We are simply appealing to the [Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary] Commission to reconsider its unjust decisions in some parts of the border," he told reporters in Addis Ababa at the weekend. Last month, the EEBC announced categorically that the disputed village of Badme, where the two countries' border conflict flared up in 1998, was in Eritrean territory. Ethiopia has expressed unhappiness with the announcement and indicated it may not accept the EEBC's border ruling of 13 April 2002. Seyoum said Ethiopia had submitted "killer evidence" to support its claim to Badme, but the EEBC had made a "disappointing and outrageous observation" by stating that the village was in Eritrea. "We, therefore, doubt that the commission has seriously examined the resourceful evidence we have submitted," he added. He stressed that Ethiopia accepted the final and binding nature of the commission's ruling, but said border demarcation - due to start in July - should be based on an "intensive reassessment" of the evidence supplied by both parties.