OAU Reiterates Call for End of Ethio-Eritrean ConflictThe Organization of African Unity (OAU) Wednesday reiterated its call for an end to two-year-old border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.In a communique, the OAU asked the two African countries to immediately implement the redeployment of their respective forces to the positions they controlled prior to May 6 of 1998 without prejudging the final status of the territories concerned, which will be determined at the end of the delimitation and demarcation process. The OAU requested Eritrea to announce immediately its decision to carry out this redeployment and to implement it immediately. In the same spirit, the OAU requested Ethiopia to announce at once, after Eritrea, its decision to redeploy its forces, noting the redeployment must concern all the positions taken since February of 1999 and which was not under Ethiopian control before May 6 of 1998. According to the communique, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has invited both Ethiopia and Eritrea to send their delegations to Algiers for the resumption of the proximity talks immediately after they made announcement of the decision of redeployment. Bouteflika, who is also current chairman of the Organization of African Unity, met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi soon after he arrived Wednesday afternoon. |
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