Ethiopia/Eritrea: Another war?
Tigrai Online
April. 14 2011
Ethiopia is beating the war drums again. After a lull of more than a decade, the Horn of Africa giant is now threatening to attack its neighbour and foe Eritrea over claims it is working to destabilise the country.
When Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country would no longer take a passive stance towards Eritrea, it marked an escalation in the bitter war of words that has ensued since a devastating border spat ended in 2000.
When Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country would no longer take a passive stance towards Eritrea, it marked an escalation in the bitter war of words that has ensued since a devastating border spat ended in 2000.
Addis Ababa should “either work towards changing Eritrea’s policies or its government,” he told local media last month.
“This could be done diplomatically, politically or through other means.”
The two countries have a long history of animosity since a vicious conflict was sparked in 1961 when rebels in Eritrea (then an Ethiopian state) took up arms to win independence.
A rebel group led by Meles and others joined the Eritreans, led by current president Isaias Afewerki, in 1975 and finally ousted dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
Despite fighting tooth-and-nail alongside each other since they were barely out of their teens , the rebels-turned-statesmen have always had an uneasy relationship.
Just seven years after defeating Mengistu, the two famously stubborn men went to war over disputed border territory.
That conflict ended two years later with a U.N.-backed commission awarding the flashpoint town of Badme to Asmara. Ethiopia initially dismissed the ruling, before changing tack and accepting the finding.
Addis Ababa, however, is still calling for talks on its implementation, a stance rejected by Asmara.
Since then, the harsh rhetoric has come thick and fast over a stalemate wedged between two irreconcilable positions. Both sides have amassed large numbers of troops along their border, but there has been no flare up so far.