JEDDAH, 15 December 2003 — Eritrea’s foreign minister said in remarks published yesterday that Ethiopia’s rejection of a new border between the two states was tantamount to a declaration of war and called for international action to avoid an escalation.
Ethiopia is particularly reluctant to accept the Hague-based Boundary Commission’s decision to award Eritrea the village of Badme, a flashpoint of the 1998-2000 war between the two Horn of Africa countries.
“When (Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles) Zenawi says that the commission’s decision is not binding and not official, we consider this a declaration of war,” Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Said Abdella told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, a sister publication of Arab News. “We call on the international community to strongly intervene before the situation escalates,” he said.
