"Ethiopia will not start war" says Meles

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Ethiopia will not start war - Meles
17 May 2006 Source: IRIN

ADDIS ABABA, 17 May (IRIN) - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has reiterated that Ethiopia would not re-ignite its border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea, despite prevailing tensions over determining the boundary between the two Horn of Africa neighbours.
"I confirm to you that Ethiopia will not be the first to fire a bullet. Our peace agenda is 'no more war with Eritrea'," Meles told his nation's parliament on Tuesday. "I believe the Eritreans understand this."
The prime minister's comments came ahead of a meeting in London on Wednesday of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, which includes representatives from both countries as well as international mediators. The group is part of a United States-sponsored initiative to find a peaceful, lasting resolution to the border standoff.
Officials in Addis Ababa, however, said Ethiopian representatives at the London talks were not optimistic of a major breakthrough. "Ethiopia is going to the meeting with an open mind, because we believe in peace," said Salomon Abebe, the foreign ministry's spokesman. "Ethiopia is not very optimistic that the result of the meeting will be fruitful because of the behaviour of the Eritrean government: They don't want peace."
Thousands of people were killed in the Ethiopia-Eritrea border war from 1998 until 2000. To end the conflict, both parties agreed to abide by the ruling of an independent border commission, which was reached in April 2002. However, Ethiopia's rejection of the decision stalled the physical demarcation of the border in 2003. In November 2004, Meles finally accepted "in principle" the boundary demarcation in a five-point peace proposal that called for a meeting with Eritrea to work out adjustments to the border on both sides.
Eritrea, however, has rejected calls for fresh talks on the border issue. In the past year, there have been increased tensions and a buildup of troops along both sides of the frontier, which is patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers. Frustrated at the lack of progress in resolving the dispute, Eritrea banned UN Mission in Ethiopian and Eritrea (UNMEE) flights over its territory in October 2005 and expelled the peacekeeping mission's North American and European personnel.
In New York on Monday, the United Nations Security Council postponed by two weeks a decision on whether to downgrade UNMEE pending the outcome of the London meeting.