Ethiopia says Eritrea 'incapable' of another war

Ethiopia has said neighbour and foe Eritrea is “incapable” of launching a war across its border, as regional diplomats fear the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers has heightened that possibility.

“Eritrea could not risk another war with Ethiopia, because its troops do not match the power of Ethiopian armed forces. They are not capable,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Thursday night in the latest rhetoric between the two.

At the end of July, the UN Security Council disbanded its peacekeeping mission on the volatile border where Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 1998 to 2000 war that killed 70 000 people.

The two governments intensely dislike each other and still do not agree on their frontier, despite its “virtual demarcation” on maps by an independent boundary commission.

Both say they do not want another war, but keep their militaries on alert and accuse each other of fomenting tensions.

“Eritrea also knows the consequences of igniting another conflict with Ethiopia,” added Meles in a statement on state TV.

Because it knew it could not win on the battleground, Eritrea was trying to destabilise Ethiopia by “sending armed terrorists” into its neighbour and round the region, Meles said.

“As the whole world knows, Eritrea is now engaged in training, arming and dispatching armed terrorists to destabilise countries of the Horn [of Africa],” he said.

Eritrea backs, but denies concretely aiding, Islamist insurgents fighting Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed government.

It also denies backing rebel groups inside Ethiopia.

Asmara accuses Ethiopia of “occupying” Somalia, and scoffs at claims against it in the constant toing-and-froing of accusations between the two nations.—Reuters