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Ethiopia: British ambassador hints
possibility of building another Badme The UN Security Council has rejected Ethiopia's call, through Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi, pertaining to the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
[Passage omitted] Meanwhile, regarding Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's call on the UN
Security Council for an alternative mechanism [to rule on the border
dispute], the British ambassador to Ethiopia, Myles Wickstead, has stated his
government's position by saying: "We should never look for an
alternative to the decision by the [Ethiopia-Eritrea] Boundary Commission."
He said: We are not ready to accept and do anything that will jeopardize the
decision by the boundary commission. He indicated that the commission's
decision could only be amended if the two parties agreed to do so. In an interview with our newspaper, Ambassador Myles Wickstead said
what made the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea unique was the
absence of dialogue between the two sides. He said it was possible to find
alternative solutions when two countries experiencing the same problem talked
directly or through mediators, and "we believe this kind of talks should
immediately start" between the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He
said the two sides would benefit if they resorted to political dialogue, and
that would contribute to a durable peace and stability in the region. He said
"we also want to encourage the chairman of the African Union, [Alpha
Oumar] Konare, to intervene". "We know Badme is symbolically important, but it should be more
important for Ethiopia to be determined for peace and stability." Saying
there was no reason there should not be Ethiopian Badme and Eritrean Badme on
both sides of the border, the ambassador affirmed that his government and the
international community would provide aid if residents of the current Badme
opted to go to Ethiopia. He noted that the international community was ready
to construct a new Badme, and if that was the solution, "we will start
the work next week". He added that he was happy to announce that. It was evident from the ambassador's explanation that the two
countries have been informed of this idea. He said the people residing on
both sides of the border thought the border demarcation would worsen their
situation, the ambassador said "I would like to affirm that will never
happen". He reiterated that since there was an international
willingness, there would be no financial problem to solve problems that may
be caused by the demarcation of the border. He said it was sometimes a must to lose something small in order to
get something big, adding that boundary decisions had never satisfied two
countries in a dispute. He said the Ethiopian government should acknowledge
that it had gained additional land in the boundary ruling. The ambassador
said Ethiopia was a country under a democratic process and it was a must to
listen to what the people and the opposition said about the issue, and the
fact that Prime Minister Meles, unlike [Eritrean] President Isayas Afewerki,
was unable to decide alone differentiated him from the later. Regarding acceptance or rejection of the decision by the boundary
commission, the ambassador said sometimes governments should take measures
the people did not support, giving the example of similar measures taken by
the US and British government. He noted that such measures were taken in the
interest of sustainable peace in the country. [Passage omitted] Asked about acceptance of the commission's decision and securing of
foreign aid, he replied that "we have not said Ethiopia will get aid if
it accepts the commission's decision". "What we say is that
development aid works only in a peaceful and stable country". [Passage
omitted] Publication date: 2003-10-06 |