Second round of border talks postponed

A second round of talks to resolve the standoff over the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been postponed, according to United Nations and diplomatic sources. The meeting of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, which would include representatives from both countries as well as members of the diplomatic community, was scheduled on Friday and Saturday in London, England, but has been delayed until late May or early June, diplomatic sources said. "The talks have been cancelled, apparently because the head of the boundary commission is sick," said an official with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), which monitors the border and was invited to the meeting. The talks would have been a follow-up to a meeting in March between legal representatives from the two Horn of Africa nations. The March meeting, which was part of a diplomatic initiative to resolve the dispute, was the first meeting between the parties since the boundary commission concluded it had reached an impasse in November 2003. On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi reaffirmed his commitment to participating in the talks. "We in Ethiopia think this is a very important initiative. I will most certainly attend the upcoming London meetings ... with an open mind," he told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "We think that the fact that there is a forum for discussion is in itself an achievement. "I very much hope that the other side [Eritrea] will recognise that the only sane option is to sit together and discuss the issues and resolve them through dialogue by peaceful means," he added. Officials from the Eritrean government were not immediately available for comment. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody war over their common border from 1998 until 2000, in which at least 70,000 people were killed. To end the conflict, both parties agreed to abide by the ruling of an independent border commission, which was reached in April 2002. However, Ethiopia's rejection of the decision stalled the physical demarcation of the border in 2003. In November 2004, Meles finally accepted "in principle" the demarcation of the boundary in a five-point peace proposal that called for a meeting with Eritrea to work out adjustments to the border on both sides. Eritrea, however, has repeatedly rejected calls for fresh talks on the border issue and warned of renewed conflict. In the past year, there have been increased tensions and a build up of troops along both sides of the frontier between the two countries, which is patrolled by the UN peacekeepers. Frustrated at the lack of progress in resolving the dispute, Eritrea banned UNMEE flights over its territory in October 2005 and expelled the peacekeeping mission's North American and European personnel. UNMEE's mandate will expire on 15 May.