From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Aug 02 2008 - 06:00:41 EDT
FACTBOX-Key facts on Ethiopia and Eritrea
Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:30am
July 31 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Thursday it wanted to resolve a
border impasse with Eritrea by dialogue, but might defend itself if its
Red Sea neighbour violated its territory.
A 1998-2000 border conflict between the two nations had claimed some
70,000 lives but the dispute over the frontier has never been resolved.
Here are some key facts:
WHAT HAS HAPPENED:
1952 - Eritrea, a former Italian colony and U.N. mandated territory
since World War Two, is federated with Ethiopia under Emperor Haile
Selassie.
1962 - Eritrea becomes a province of Ethiopia, fuelling Eritrea's
independence struggle.
1993 - Eritrea gains independence after a referendum. Eritrea enjoys
initially good relations with Ethiopia.
May 6, 1998 - The start of the border war. Eritrean and Ethiopian forces
clash in the western border region of Badme.
June 18, 2000 - Peace agreement brokered by the Organisation of African
Unity.
Nov 25, 2003 - Ethiopia accepts "in principle" the 2002 Hague-based
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ruling that the border village of
Badme belongs to Eritrea but wants more discussions.
Nov 29, 2006 - Boundary commission says it has given Ethiopia and
Eritrea a year to demarcate their 620-mile (1,000-km) border.
Nov 30, 2007 - Boundary commission dissolves itself leaving the two
states to work it out alone.
February 2008 - The U.N. said Eritrea had cut off fuel and food and
prevented it moving to the Ethiopian side of the border. Eritrea denied
this. Most of the U.N. peacekeepers then moved to Eritrea's capital
Asmara.
July 2008 - The U.N. Security Council votes to disband its peacekeeping
mission after Eritrea forced out most of the U.N. troops.
ERITREA:
* Eritrea has rejected any diplomatic efforts that do not proceed
directly to the enforcement of the border ruling.
* It has blamed the international community, and the United Nations in
particular, for failing to force Ethiopia to accept their shared border.
* It dismissed the threat of U.N sanctions and at the end of 2005
ordered U.N. peacekeepers from Western countries to leave.
* In January Eritrea said it had accepted a "virtual demarcation" of its
border with Ethiopia and wanted Addis Ababa to remove its troops from
Eritrean soil.
ETHIOPIA:
* Ethiopia called for further dialogue in 2002 after Badme was given to
Eritrea.
* Ethiopia said in December 2004 that it would accept the ruling after
negotiations with Eritrea on the mechanics of how the border demarcation
will take place.
* In November 2005 tensions along the frontier rose sharply as both
countries moved up troops. By January 2006, Ethiopia had complied with a
U.N. demand to withdraw troops.
* At a commission meeting in Sept. 2007, Ethiopia and Eritrea again
accused each other of violating the 2000 agreement.
* Ethiopia in Jan. 2008 rejected a "virtual demarcation" of its disputed
border, a proposal that was accepted by Asmara just a day earlier.
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