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EU official urges Ethiopia to accept
border ruling Richelle Koos, European Union's director-general for development,
restated EU's position that Ethiopia should abide by the decision of the
Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission (EEBC) and warned that the country will
stand the risk of losing its development partners if it keeps disputing the
decision. In an exclusive interview he gave to The Reporter, the director-
general said that "if Ethiopia wants to keep its developing partners, it
should be operating very carefully and listening to the position that have
been taken." Otherwise, according to him, "there is always the
danger that you lose your developing partners." Asked how long the EU would wait for Ethiopia to make the right
decisions, Mr Koos said that he would not make any forecasts because
"that is not feasible in international relations. "But," said
he, "we have been consistent and firm in our opinion and that means that
every time we meet Ethiopian officials, we will put this on the agenda and
push for it". As to the governance situation, Mr Koos said that it is positive in
principle. "That's why we moved into budget support, and that is why
[we] are interested also in making the money available as quickly as
possible," he said, "but we have to be partners that listen to each
other and dialogue". Publication date: 2003-12-20 |