1993 Eritrea, officially independent from Ethiopia, has always been very close to Ethiopia in history. 199 1 year, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front jointly overthrew the mengistu regime. The People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the ruling party in Ethiopia, established the Ethiopian interim government, accepted the referendum held by Eritrea/KLOC-0 in April 1993 under the supervision of the United Nations, and recognized Eritrea's independence. As a result, Ethiopia immediately changed from a coastal East African country to an African "landlocked country" that lost its coastline and seaport.
Ethiopia and Eritrea, both the least developed countries in the world today, when Ethiopia recognized Eritrea's independence, because the leaders of the two countries used to be comrades-in-arms fighting side by side in the same trench, both thought that the two countries were "not divided at that time", so the boundary between the two sides was not clearly defined in many places on the boundary line of 1000 kilometers. Later, when the two sides needed to "clearly demarcate" due to many problems, Eritrea insisted on the 1902 map and Ethiopia insisted on the actual control line; The dispute and bloody conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea caused by the border dispute has quickly aroused widespread concern in the international community. African countries, the Organization of African Unity and the international community have suddenly done a lot of mediation work to resolve the conflicts between the two sides. Until1May, 1998, the border conflict between two African countries plagued by hunger intensified, which led the UN mediator to give up peace efforts and leave there, and finally led to the two countries being dragged into a large-scale war for two years by the border armed conflict.
On the battlefield, the two sides invested about 600 thousand troops. In an unprecedented fierce tug-of-war, thousands of infantry rushed out of their trenches and served as "targets" for the other side's intensive artillery fire. This very cruel border war killed nearly 80,000 people, and millions of people fled their homes and became displaced refugees. It not only caused great economic losses to both sides, but also caused the two countries to lose huge international assistance. Ethiopia and Eritrea, which are already poor, have caused great economic consumption and losses because of the border war. War and famine are increasingly threatening the lives of millions of people in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Under the pressure of public opinion at home and abroad, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to accept the help of the international community and resumed peace talks on May 29, 2000. On the 29th, Ethiopian warplanes fired rockets and dropped bombs at Asmara airport in Riya, Ehrly. Eritrea immediately condemned the Ethiopian fighter jet's first attack on Ehrly's Sherria airport in nearly two years. Ethiopian government spokesman Somon Tedson also condemned Eritrea's aggression and said: "As Eritrea violated our sovereignty and territory on May 6, 1998, we had to wage a two-year war with it." .
On June 3, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Ethiopia launched an all-out attack on the position of the port city of Asabo that morning, and the two sides are currently engaged in fierce fighting in this area. -Asabo is a port city in eastern Eritrea, adjacent to the border between the two countries, and has always been one of the key targets of Ethiopia's crackdown. If Ethiopia occupies this city, it will gain an important exit to the Red Sea. In this statement, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said that Eritrea's front has moved to 37 kilometers west of the city of Asabo.
On June 14, the Ethiopian government issued a statement saying that Ethiopian troops finally recaptured the town of Teseni, an important town in western Eritrea, which was lost a week ago. This was the second recapture after a very successful fierce attack on the western front.
Under the mediation of the international community, especially the Organization of African Unity, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities in Algiers, Algeria, and started negotiations on major issues such as border demarcation and war compensation.
On June 6, 2000, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum met with visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Addis Ababa and announced to the press that the Ethiopian government delegation would go to Algiers, Algeria, on June 65, 438+02 to sign a peace agreement with the Eritrean delegation aimed at completely ending the border conflict between the two countries. He also said that the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace agreement to be reached with the help of the United Nations and the international community involves issues such as border demarcation between the two countries, war compensation, refugees and prisoners of war. The Ethiopian government and people are full of confidence in restoring regional peace and rebuilding the national economy destroyed by war. Annan said at a press conference that the peace agreement to be signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea will be "a positive document" and "a sign of hope for the African continent". He hoped that after Ethiopia and Eritrea, the whole African continent could end regional conflicts so that countries could concentrate on economic development. He expressed his belief that the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea will be successful, and stressed that the United Nations and the international community will work together with Ethiopia and Eritrea to ensure the long-term implementation of the peace agreement.
At the end of 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a comprehensive peace agreement between the two countries in Algiers, Algeria. This agreement was finally produced under the strong mediation of the Organization of African Unity. The agreement allows UN peacekeepers to station in the buffer zone established for both sides, which is about 25 kilometers deep into Eritrea. Eritrean Foreign Minister Haile Waldanse and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin signed the agreement on behalf of the two governments respectively. Algerian President Porter Frigga attended the agreement signed at the People's Palace in Algiers.
From 5 June to 38 February 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Algeria, which stipulated that the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea should be decided by The Hague Boundary Commission. Egypt and Eritrea recognize the decision of The Hague Boundary Commission as the final and binding solution, which not only makes the border dispute between the two countries finally resolved, but also has great significance for the stability of the two countries and regional peace. Of course, we must also see that it takes time to recover the economic losses caused by the war, eliminate mutual hostility and restore peace. In particular, many follow-up problems caused by the border war between the two countries, such as the refugee problem, the specific demarcation of the border, the withdrawal of the troops of the two countries, and the issue of going to sea, still need the good political will of the two governments to be resolved through consultation, and the sustained attention and help of the international community are still needed in this process.
As one of the UN mediators, Richard Holbrooke, the US ambassador to the United Nations, warned Ethiopia and Eritrea that the UN Security Council would consider imposing sanctions on either side that resumed the war. Holbrooke warned that "although there are disputes between the two sides, they are unreasonable and can be resolved through diplomatic means." "Another solution is through war, but this will lead to thousands of deaths, and thousands of people will die of famine caused by war." ...
United Nations relief agencies say that these two countries, especially Ethiopia, have been plagued by drought for a long time, and millions of people are threatened by hunger. Continuing the war will only aggravate the economic difficulties of these two countries and make the poor poorer. ...