Ethiopia decides to accept border deal with Eritrea

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - Ethiopia on Tuesday decided to fully implement the so-called Algiers agreement and the decisions of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission.

This decision was made by the executive committee of the ruling party -- the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front, according to the FANA broadcasting service, a government-affiliated media house.

The Algiers agreement was signed on Dec. 12, 2000 following the 1998-2000 war between the two countries.

As part of the deal, the international Boundary Commission had decided to give a chunk of the territory called Badme to Eritrea.

The executive committee called on Eritrea to implement the agreement without any precondition to reinstate good neighborly ties and peace between the peoples of the two countries, FANA said.

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993.

After fighting the bloody war, the two countries maintained what political experts dub as “a no-war, no-peace situation”.

According to the Algiers agreement, Eritrea would compensate Ethiopia for a huge amount of shipments it confiscated after the liberation of Eritrea at the Ports of Asab and Massawa, which had served as the sole sea outlets of Ethiopia back then.