Maintaining its stance to resolve the nine-year border dispute with neighbouring Eritrea through dialogue, Ethiopia late Thursday said Eritrea would bear the responsibility for any fresh outbreak of war.
Following recent reports that war could break out between Ethiopia and Eritrea within the next few weeks, as a result of mounting tension along the border, the Ethiopian government said the Eritrean government would be the cause of the problem and should take the responsibility.
Besides intensifying its diplomatic struggle, a statement issued by the Information Ministry here said, “Ethiopia has not taken any form of military action against Eritrea owing to its firm conviction for a peaceful resolution.”
“Had there been the wish and the idea for Ethiopia to combat Eritrea, it would have made it so long ago for there were more than adequate compelling conditions created by Eritrea,” the Ministry pointed out.
In the view of the Ethiopian government, the boarder dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea could be permanently settled only through dialogue and negotiation.
In 2000, the two countries silenced their guns after a two-year war over the border that has since remained closed.
International efforts to help them resolve the dispute have stalled.
In the statement, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of embarking on destructive activities that could harm peace and security, including positioning a huge army and armaments within the demilitarized zone along the 1,000-km border and blocking activities of the UN peacekeeping mission in the area.
“On top of that Eritrea has been tirelessly working to bring together, train and arm anti-Ethiopia forces and infiltrate them into Ethiopia for terrorist attacks,” the statement charged.
“Indeed, an international influence should be put on the Eritrean government more than ever before to make it restrain from its anti-peace practices in the surrounding with the supposition to get a way out from its own deadlock,” the statement added.
