OWN CORRESPONDENT, Asmara | Sunday 3.45pm.
EFFORTS to bring peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea failed because negotiators focussed solely on the border dispute and ignored Ethiopia’s aim to destroy Eritrea’s government and army, Eritrea charged on Saturday.
“The whole peace process is based on the assumption that this is a border war, but Ethiopia’s invasion shows their objective is destruction of the Eritrean army, destruction of the Eritrean government,” said Yemane Gebreab, a leading negotiator and top party official with the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).
“Ethiopia cannot achieve its objectives through peace. The problem with peace is not a lack of initiatives. It is Ethiopia’s determination to impose a military solution,” Yemane said.
“Ethiopia succeeded in pretending to be interested in the peace process, but they never were interested since day one,” Yemane said.
He said said Ethiopia has stymied peace negotiations in a variety of ways.
Yemane said that Eritrea agreed to the three-part Organisation of African Unity peace plan last July, but Ethiopia did not.
Ethiopia also asked the OAU for 39 clarifications on a technical implementation plan, an agreement that had been presented as non-amendable, he maintained.
The OAU’s peace initiative, enshrined in three texts, has met with bickering at almost every stage and is currently bogged down in arguments over the plan’s technical arrangements and the timing of signatures. — AFP