OAU, Congo's Kabila Pursue Ethiopia-Eritrea Mediation
June 28, 1998 - 0:0
ADDIS ABABA The Organization of African Unity (OAU) continued its efforts Saturday to bring peace to the troubled Ethiopia-Eritrea border zone after a lightning visit by DR Congo President Laurent Kabila. Eritrean President Issayas Afeworki confirmed support for the OAU effort in an interview with the Lebanese daily Al-Hayat. Ambassadors from Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Rwanda and Zimbabwe continued the OAU mission to resolve the conflict, in which Ethiopia and Eritrea have massed armies along their ill-defined 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) border.
Kabila meanwhile arrived in Addis Ababa Friday night for talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in a bid to mediate in the border conflict after meeting Afeworki in Asmara, ENA news agency reported. An Ethiopian government spokesman said that Kabila, who left for Kinshasa Saturday, hoped to convince the two sides to implement a U.S.-Rwandan peace initiative. In a telephone interview with the Lebanese daily, however, Afeworki said Eritrea considered the U.S.-Rwandan peace plan, initially accepted on June 15, to be dead, but it has absolutely not rejected OAU mediation.
Eritrea had submitted proposals to an OAU delegation which visited Asmara on June 18, touching on border demarcation, a ceasefire, disarmament in sensitive areas and, eventually, direct negotiations between the two capitals, he said. Addis Ababa has refused to consider direct or indirect negotiations with Asmara until Eritrean forces pull back to the positions they held ahead of May 6 when clashes erupted.
(AFP)
Kabila meanwhile arrived in Addis Ababa Friday night for talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in a bid to mediate in the border conflict after meeting Afeworki in Asmara, ENA news agency reported. An Ethiopian government spokesman said that Kabila, who left for Kinshasa Saturday, hoped to convince the two sides to implement a U.S.-Rwandan peace initiative. In a telephone interview with the Lebanese daily, however, Afeworki said Eritrea considered the U.S.-Rwandan peace plan, initially accepted on June 15, to be dead, but it has absolutely not rejected OAU mediation.
Eritrea had submitted proposals to an OAU delegation which visited Asmara on June 18, touching on border demarcation, a ceasefire, disarmament in sensitive areas and, eventually, direct negotiations between the two capitals, he said. Addis Ababa has refused to consider direct or indirect negotiations with Asmara until Eritrean forces pull back to the positions they held ahead of May 6 when clashes erupted.
(AFP)