Ethiopia Accepts Peace Accord With Eritrea

Ethiopia said Wednesday that it has accepted an accord ending its two-year war with neighboring Eritrea.

The announcement over state-run radio came hours after the government claimed Ethiopian forces had retaken a key western Eritrean town and two weeks after it declared the war with Eritrea over.

Ethiopia’s Cabinet approved the agreement, drafted by the Organization of African Unity, during a meeting Tuesday afternoon, the report quoted a statement from the prime minister’s office as saying.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi informed Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the current OAU chairman, of the decision Wednesday, the statement said.

The OAU proposal, which Eritrea accepted Friday, calls for a cease-fire, international demarcation of the disputed 620-mile border and U.N. peacekeepers to monitor the frontier.

Representatives of the OAU, together with envoys from the United States and the European Union, cobbled together the agreement during two weeks of indirect talks in Algiers with delegations from both warring countries.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians are believed to have been killed and wounded since war broke out between the two Horn of Africa countries in May 1998.

Earlier Wednesday, Ethiopia said its forces had captured the western town of Tessenei, 67 miles into Eritrean territory and far beyond the disputed border zone.