Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin Returns from OAU Talks

Ethiopian Embassy, Washington DC
Tuesday 4 August 1998

Ethiopia's Foreign Minister, Ato Seyoum Mesfin, returned to Addis Ababa late Monday 3 August 1998, from Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, where talks had been held with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Mission at Ministerial level, composed of Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Zimbabwe and the OAU Secretary General, Salim Ahmed Salim.

The purpose of the talks was to discuss with the Ethiopian and Eritrean sides the report of the fact finding Committee of Ambassadors constituted by the OAU High Level Delegation on helping resolve the crisis between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Mission of the Committee of Ambassadors had been:-

• to collect information from the two parties on the development of the crisis;
  
  
• to collect, from the two parties or any other appropriate international organization and agency, information which would make it possible to determine the authority which was administering Badme before 12 May 1998.

Foreign Minister Seyoum said when he returned from the talks in Ouagadougou that the OAU Mission at Ministerial level had made available to the two parties the report of the Committee of Ambassadors which concluded in its findings that:-

• Ethiopia was administering Badme town and its environs before 12 May 1998;
  
  
• What happened in Badme between 6 and 12 May 1998 constitutes a fundamental element of the crisis.

Foreign Minister Seyoum further noted that the conclusion of the fact finding Committee of Ambassadors has exposed the fact that all the assertions to the contrary made by the Eritrean regime were blatant lies.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report heard on the BBC on 4 August 1998 that Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin had ordered a "neutral zone held by UN and OAU soldiers as an act of goodwill" was incorrect. This is a result of misinformation spread once again by the Eritrean Foreign Minister to confuse the international community, the Ministry added.