No Winners in This ‘Victory’

After two years of brutal fighting, Ethiopia has declared victory in its war with Eritrea, but the Eritreans disagree and the fighting continues, both sides driving civilians from their homes in a hapless conflict in the Horn of Africa.

Both capitals are demanding guarantees that neither can provide or would honor. There can be no winners in this struggle over a few patches of barren land. The Ethiopian military has been spending $1 million a day in the war while millions starve in the desperately poor nation. Now a flood of refugees driven from Eritrea into Sudan is threatening to turn the conflict into a fully regional catastrophe.

Pressing the war are Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki, once comrades in a struggle against Ethiopian Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam but now intransigent enemies.

Isaias is forging alliances with Libya’s Moammar Kadafi and movements such as the Ogaden National Liberation Front that are pledged to overthrow Meles. In turn, Meles is stoking dissent against Isaias’ government in Eritrea.

The Organization of African Unity brokered a peace agreement that proved too vague and was never implemented. Now the OAU, despite its earlier missteps, is trying to mediate a cease-fire and a new peace deal. The OAU, new to activist diplomacy in Africa, deserves support in its effort.

The international community, including the U.S. government, was slow to react to the buildup of hostilities. By the time the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on the two countries, tens of thousands had been killed and the warring governments had accumulated enough arms to carry on for another year. The World Bank said there would be no new loans until there was peace, but it continues to pour millions out of the nearly $1 billion it had approved earlier.

What’s needed is a cease-fire and a negotiated settlement that clearly demarcates the disputed territory and spells out the obligations of both governments toward a peace. Developed countries need to move promptly and to provide aid at war’s end. Those starving in both countries are the true victims of the conflict.