EEBC is authorized by Ethiopia & Eritrea to demarcate & delinate, the Ethio-Eritrean borderders.

By Bogonko Bosire Sat Dec 1, 4:52 PM ET

NAIROBI (AFP) - A UN-backed panel assigned to physically demarcate the Ethiopia-Eritrean border dissolved Saturday, leaving the frontier delineated only on maps amid escalating tension between the two African foes.

After their 1998-2000 border war which left 70,000 people dead, the two Horn of Africa countries agreed The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration should demarcate the border both on maps and on the ground.

But the court's Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) was set to end its activities after the two countries failed to agree to its April 2002 ruling or request it to stay on by an end-of-November deadline.

The EEBC in its "final and irreversible" ruling on the disputed border granted Eritrea the border town of Badme, which Ethiopia has refused to accept, saying it split families between the countries.

"Until such time as the boundary is finally demarcated, the delimitation decision of 13 April, 2002 continues as the only valid legal description of the boundary," the EEBC said in a brief statement Saturday.

Briefing on Sec Rice's Upcoming Travel to Ethiopia Sunday, 2 December 2007, 8:28 am Press Release: US State Department

Special Briefing Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC November 30, 2007

QUESTION: Can I ask you about a subject that you didn't mention, which I think is very likely to come up, and that's Ethiopia-Eritrea. As you know, today the Boundary Commission's mandate expired with no demarcation on the ground and tensions high despite what Meles and others seem to be saying, things are just as fragile as they were when perhaps when the war ended. How much is that going to be a part of the agenda? And also, how much of just plain Eritrean -- the Eritrea issue on its own, the state sponsor designation, how much is that going to play into her (inaudible)?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: I would imagine that, obviously, in her consultations with Prime Minister Meles and Foreign Minister Seyoum, one of their biggest challenges is dealing with the Boundary Commission, so I would imagine that that would be a topic of discussion bilaterally between the Secretary and the leaders of Ethiopia.

QUESTION: Can I just ask one more very briefly on the Boundary Commission thing? Former Ambassador Bolton has written in his book that you in February of 2006 told him that you wanted to reopen the Boundary Commission's 2002 decision and to give the area or parts of the area around (inaudible), to award that which had been already granted to Eritrea to Ethiopia. Is that correct?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER: No. Thank you for asking the question. I actually haven't read the book, so I am surprised that I even feature in it. But I can assure you unequivocally that I've never advocated for reopening the boundary decision, the EEBC decision on the -- you know, the land, the delimitation line. In fact, we've been very clear that we accept the delimitation line. The issue was how do you move from delimitation to demarcation. And I've always advocated that that has to involve dialogue between the countries because, clearly, territory that was Eritrea's has been given to Ethiopia, territory that's Ethiopian has been given to Eritrea. That's what drawing straight lines typically does. And so not to reopen the decision, but rather to have a dialogue about the demarcation, including options of open borders so that the people on the borders can move back and forth. And that really is, I think, just a matter of how do you implement the decision, not reopening or questioning decisions. So I could say without -- unequivocally that I've never advocated for changing the delimitation decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission.

Eritrea: Asmara, the magnet for opponents! A small country with big ambitions, Eritrea has become the headquarters of opponents from all over the Horn of Africa. Asmara uses them against Ethiopia or as bargaining counters to make its presence felt on the regional diplomatic scene. But its aid is not without obligations, as many of its “guests” have found out to their cost. (...)

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