Claims body rules Eritrea started 1998 border war

Claims body rules Eritrea started 1998 border war

21 Dec 2005 09:14:52 GMT

Source: Reuters

AMSTERDAM, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Eritrea violated international law with an attack on Ethiopia on May 12, 1998 that triggered a border war, a claims commission in The Hague ruled this week. "Given the absence of an armed attack against Eritrea, the attack that began on May 12 cannot be justified as lawful self-defence under the U.N. charter," the commission based in The Hague said in a document published on its Web site. Tensions along the unmarked Ethiopia-Eritrea border have grown in recent months with military manoeuvres on both sides of the 1,000 km (620 mile) frontier fuelling fears of a repeat of a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

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