Eritrea again rebuffs involvement in Ethiopia bomb blasts

28 March, 2006, ADDIS ABABA - As expected, Ethiopia's prime minister on Tuesday accused rival Eritrea of backing insurgents to destabilize his country and vowed that soldiers would guard against any attack over their disputed border.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Eritrea was aiding ex-soldiers from the Derg military dictatorship he toppled as a guerrilla leader in 1991, rebels from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and others to create havoc.

"The wish of the Eritrean government is to see a divided or at least much-weakened Ethiopia. To achieve this goal, it is coordinating and mobilizing remnants of the Derg regime, the OLF and the like," Meles said in a speech to parliament.

The two Horn of Africa neighbors fought a 1998-2000 war that killed 70,000 people over their 1,000 km (620 mile) border, where there have been fears of renewed combat in the past year.

Ethiopia has blamed various dissidents for a series of blasts in the capital Addis Ababa since January. The first fatal attack came on Monday as five separate explosions killed one and injured at least 14.

Eritrea rebuffs the accusations

"This is the philosophy of somebody with an inferiority complex who really believes his existence will depend on the weakness of others in the neighborhood," Eritrea Information Minister told Reuters. "We believe in a safe neighborhood."

Meles warned that Ethiopia would keep its forces on guard "to deter the government of Eritrea from initiating armed conflict and to ensure a lasting resolution of the dispute".

Tensions have risen in the past year as Eritrea has grown angrier that a 2002 independent ruling awarding it disputed areas has not been carried out.

Although both sides agreed to abide by the boundary panel's decision as part of a peace deal, Ethiopia later balked and insisted on further talks, a condition Eritrea refuses.

Meles said Eritrea's attitude had kept talks to break the impasse, held in London on March 10-11, from succeeding.

"Progress that could have been made through this initiative has been frustrated due to insistence of the Eritrean government on the mechanical implementation of the decision without any dialogue," Meles said.

Abdu, the Eritrean information minister, said no matter what Ethiopia said or wanted, "the border will be fully demarcated according to the ruling".

The United Nations, which has a peacekeeping mission monitoring the border, had said the talks had made progress on marking the frontier.

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Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of meddling after deadly blasts