Ethiopia Accepts Africa Unity Plan
Associated Press; Nov. 9, 1998
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Ethiopia said Monday it has accepted an OAU proposal to break the impasse in the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict, but Eritrean officials said no real progress was made at a weekend summit in Burkina Faso.
Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said Ethiopia had accepted the proposal that calls on Eritrea to deploy its troops outside two contested border areas.
Both Ethiopia's premier and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki -- former comrades in the fight to oust Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam -- attended the summit in Ouagadougou convened by the Organization of African Unity chief, Burkina President Blaise Campaore.
The presidents of Zimbabwe and Djibouti, Robert Mugabe and Hassan Gouled Aptidon, served as mediators with Campaore.
``We were hoping the OAU would come out with something realistic, but unfortunately it was a non-starter,'' Eritrean presidential adviser Yemane Gebremeskel told reporters in Eritrea's capital, Asmara.
Seyoum said Ethiopia had accepted the key proposal on troop redeployment after the OAU called on Eritrea to withdraw to positions it held before May 12, when Ethiopian militia shot Eritrean soldiers they claimed had occupied Ethiopian territory.
Eritrea, however, wants an international monitoring force in place before any troop withdrawal from the contested Badme and Shiraro areas.
The OAU gave Eritrea until the end of December to respond to the proposals.
Serious fighting broke out in June with hundreds of deaths on both sides. Since then a de facto cease-fire has been in effect, although there have been sporadic artillery exchanges.
Clinton Sending Envoy to Ethiopia
Associated Press; Nov. 9, 1998
WASHINGTON (AP) - -- President Clinton is sending his former national security adviser, Anthony Lake, to Ethiopia and Eritrea to resume efforts to resolve their tense border conflict.
In a brief statement Monday, presidential press secretary Joe Lockhart said Lake is due to arrive in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Wednesday. He also will hold talks in the Eritrean capital of Asmara.
Last month, Lake and four other negotiators held separate meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. No details on the U.S. peace initiative have been released.
Although fighting between the two Horn of Africa nations has subsided, both sides have steadily massed troops and weapons along their border, bracing for battles that erode stability throughout northeast Africa.
The United States and Rwanda advanced a peace proposal in June, which required both sides to withdraw to positions held before hostilities broke out in May. Eritrea rejected that approach.
Eritrea, a former Italian colony, became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year war for independence.