ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE, SAYS ITALY'S MANTICA

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: US HOLDS KEY TO PEACE, SAYS ITALY'S MANTICA


Rome, 13 Jan. (AKI) - The current border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia is "wholly political" and any solution must "preserve the national dignity" of both sides, according to Italian foreign affairs undersecretary Alfredo Mantica. "To end the current standoff we need an approach which is both political and pscychological," Mantica told Adnkronos International (AKI). He said only the United States "has the credentials" to broker a deal between the two East African neighbours, but Italy, a fomer regional colonial power still active in both countries, can also play a role.Last year Italy delivered some 50 million euros of development aid to Eritrea, and Italian entrepreneurs are seeking investment opportunities in the country, he said. While Italy does not envisage intervening diplomatically in the present crisis, Mantica said that he has held meetings with top Washington officials including assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer.Frazer, together with Washington's ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, is leading a US delegation which will attempt to negotiate an agreement between Addis Abeba and Asmara this month."If Bolton's mission fails, then the [military] standoff will continue, and this will extract a high price: military conscription, an increase in military spending (which already stands at 20 pecent of the national budget) and economic hardship for the population."I don't see war as an alternative even if I can't exclude it entirely," Mantica concluded.Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year fight. In 1997 a territorial dispute between the two countries erupted into a bloody three year-long war that killed some 70,000 people on both sides.The war ended in 2000 when the two countries agreed to accept the border drawn by an international commission, but Ethiopia has since refused to withdraw from Badme, a town awarded to Eritrea.Late last year, Eritrea ordered UN peacekeepers to leave the buffer zone along the border as tensions intensified, raising fears of a renewed outbreak of fighting.
Source http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.249126864&par=0