Legality of Ethiopia’s Decision to Enforce the Algiers Agreement on Ethio-Eritrea Border Dispute (International Law Perspective)
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2019
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Until its separation from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrea was component part of Ethiopia under international law. For a short while, the newly born state of Eritrea had coexisted with Ethiopia peacefully. Soon after, the short-lived peaceful coexistence was disturbed followed their dispute along their border. The border dispute proved extra ordinarily difficult for diplomatic solution as the overall bilateral relation had already become deteriorated. Consequently, it leads to full-fledged war that claimed thousands of lives on both sides. The two parties agreed to cease hostility and resolve the border dispute through arbitration. Accordingly, the Ethio- Eritrea arbitration commission deployed, under the terms, which were agreed up on, Algiers in 2000. The arbitration commission issued its report, which required Ethiopia to hand over the disputed Badme area to Eritrea. However, the Ethiopian government declined to accept the verdict on the ground that it could not bring sustainable solution to the problem. The Ethiopian parliament endorsed the famous five-point peace plan proposed by the late Prime Minister Ato Meles Zenawi. Apparently, the international community did not consider Ethiopia’s position as a violation of the bilateral Algiers agreement and decision of the arbitration commission.
After several years, the current prime minister of Ethiopia assumed the leadership of the ruling party in Ethiopia EPRDF’s has taken a position, which appears to be significantly different from the official position of Ethiopia so far. The current EPRDF executive committee has reportedly decided to hand over the disputed Badme area without any pre-condition. This newly declared position of the federal government has evoked some issues that need to be addressed from an independent legal perspective. This thesis is intended to do that as a modest contribution to the multi dimension efforts toward finding long lasting solution to the problem
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Legality of Ethiopia’s Decision to Enforce