Ethiopia, Eritrea Sign Pact to End 2-Year War
Ethiopia and Eritrea formally ended their two-year war Tuesday, signing a peace agreement that halts a deadly conflict over a barren patch of land.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed the accord before a crowd of diplomats, many of whom participated in the peace process.
The signing outside Algiers, the Algerian capital, was attended by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The agreement establishes commissions to mark the African nations’ 620-mile border, exchange prisoners, return displaced people and hear claims on compensation for war damages. About 4,200 U.N. peacekeepers will monitor the cease-fire.
No timetable has been set for the peace process and demarcation of the border, but Annan has said that he did not expect U.N. troops to be stationed in the Horn of Africa for more than a year.
Getting the two impoverished nations to sign an agreement took months of diplomatic pressure from the United States, the United Nations and the Organization for African Unity. Although he lauded the agreement, Annan said that a cessation of fighting is not enough and that the two nations must learn to live with each other.
The fighting erupted in May 1998, when Eritrea--which won independence from Ethiopia in 1993--invaded what Ethiopia considered its territory.
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