Annan urges quick demarcation of disputed border

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed the participation of both Ethiopia and Eritrea in a meeting of the commission mandated to demarcate the disputed border between the two countries and expressed hope that the issue would be resolved expeditiously. The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EECB), which delineated the border in April 2002, met in London on Friday and Saturday with representatives from the two countries. "The Secretary-General firmly believes that full and prompt demarcation of the border is a central element in the overall peace process and can be a key to its early and successful conclusion," said Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in a statement on Monday. Ethiopia said on Tuesday that it would continue to take part in future meetings with the commission as long as it followed Ethiopia’s five-point peace proposal adopted in November 2004. Addis Ababa also would resume participation in the marking out of the boundary as long as it was consistent with the country’s roadmap for peace, a foreign ministry statement said. "We are convinced that Ethiopia's peace proposal is the most realistic roadmap for peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the sole approach for success, both with respect to the successful demarcation of the boundary and for the normalisation of relations between the two countries," said a statement published by Ethiopia’s official news agency. Legal experts from the two Horn of Africa neighbours attended last week's gathering in London - the first meeting of the international boundary commission in three years. Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war over the border between 1998 and 2000. To end the war, both parties had agreed to abide by the ruling of an independent border commission, which was reached in April 2002. Ethiopia's rejection of the decision stalled the physical marking out of the border in 2003. In November 2004, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi finally accepted "in principle" the demarcation of the boundary in a five-point peace proposal calling for a meeting with Eritrea to work out adjustments to the demarcation on both sides. Eritrea, however, has repeatedly rejected calls for fresh talks on the border issue and warned of renewed conflict. Apparently angry at the lack of progress in resolving the dispute, Asmara slapped the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in October 2005 with a ban of its helicopter flights over Eritrean territory and expelled the peacekeeping mission's North American and European personnel.