US embassy cable - 05ADDISABABA4000

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 004000 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AF FOR A/S FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KPKO, MARR, ET, ER, EE BORDER 
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: MELES DISCUSSES BORDER ISSUE WITH DAS 
YAMAMOTO 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Vicki Huddleston for reason 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles told visiting 
DAS Don Yamamoto and Charge Huddleston November 29, that the 
time is not yet ripe to move forward on the boundary dispute 
with Eritrea. The Prime Minister said he would not send a 
team to attend a meeting called by the EEBC, but was not 
opposed to a future meeting. Meles maintained that resolution 
of the border issue was dependent on Eritrean President 
Isaias accepting a dialogue on normalizing relations. In 
reference to the recent UNSC resolution imposing possible 
sanctions should war resume, Meles assured the US delegation 
that Ethiopia would withdraw troops to as far as 140 km away 
from the border.  End Summary. 
 
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Border Dispute Still on Hold 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles told visiting DAS 
Yamamoto and Charge Huddleston that the time was not yet 
appropriate for moving forward on resolving the border 
dispute. Meles insisted that Eritrean President Isaias must 
renounce war as a viable option for resolution of the 
seven-year old border dispute.  Meles noted Ethiopia's 
commitment not to resort to war as a tool for resolving the 
border dispute. The international community should ignore 
Isaias' "temper tantrums".  Isaias' ploy to stop UNMEE 
flights is another pressure point on the international 
community to resolve the border dispute. 
 
3. (C) Referring to the recent UNSC resolution, DAS Yamamoto 
remarked on the requirement for Ethiopia to accept the 
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission decision, which Eritrea 
has accepted and Ethiopia has only accepted "in principal". 
Meles replied that demarcation of the border without 
addressing the fundamental causes for the conflict (i.e. 
taking steps to normalize relations) will not guarantee 
sustainable peace. As a way forward, the DAS asked if Meles 
would send a team to a meeting called by the EEBC, which 
Ethiopia has refused to attend thus far. Meles said no -- not 
until Isaias shows commitment to peacefully resolving the 
border dispute without the use of force and a dialogue to 
improve relations. 
 
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UNSC resolution - Acceptable 
---------------------------- 
 
4. (C) Meles indicated that Ethiopia could live with the 
latest UNSC resolution calling for possible sanctions against 
Eritrea if it did not lift restrictions on UNMEE operations 
and if either Eritrea or Ethiopia returned to conflict.  The 
resolution also demanded Ethiopia accept the EEBC decision, 
but did not threaten sanctions on this point. Meles said 
Ethiopia would not abide by any UN resolution if sanctions 
were tied to Ethiopia's full acceptance of the EEBC decision 
without clearly calling for a dialogue to normalize relations 
and address the root causes of the war. Meles added that the 
head of the EEBC, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, exceeded his mandate 
in making the final adjudication of the border dispute. 
 
5. (C) To meet the current UN resolution demands to ease 
border tensions, Meles said he ordered his commanders to 
withdraw Ethiopia's troops to the December 16, 2004 line. In 
a separate meeting with DAS Yamamoto, Ethiopian Chief of 
Staff General Samora confirmed receipt of this order and 
noted that it would mean withdrawing troops to as much as 140 
km from the border in some areas. The withdrawal process 
would take a week. Meles said he doubted whether Isaias would 
reciprocate.  General Samora demurred in criticizing the 
call, noting that Eritrea had been moving troops to the 
border area.  UNMEE Deputy SRSG Azouz Ennifar told DAS and 
Charge separately that Ethiopia had been particularly helpful 
to UNMEE and that the UN was aware of where Ethiopia's troops 
were positioned. This was not the case with Eritrea. Ennifar 
noted that UNMEE was not able to verify Eritrea's troops and 
there was evidence that two divisions of Eritrean troops may 
have been re-deployed from the Sudan border to other areas. 
 
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Comment: There is Light, But in the Distance 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Meles' stated position remains unchanged. Progress on 
the border can proceed only if Meles is assured of a dialogue 
with Eritrea on normalizing relations and Isaias receives 
equal assurance of demarcation of the border. Potential 
elements for moving both parties proposed by the EEBC 
discussed are "open borders", allowing free movement of 
people without restrictions after demarcation; and giving 
full authority to the EEBC to demarcate the border, including 
areas where there are "anomalies and impracticalities." 
Ultimately, when both sides view the necessity for peaceful 
bilateral discussions, resolution of the border will become a 
greater priority. 
HUDDLESTON