Meeting with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea on the Badme War
Dr. Salim leads a delegation to Asmara, Eritrea to meet with President Isaias Afwerki to discuss the ongoing conflict with Ethiopia.
President Afwerki: The concerns are serious. I was talking to Vice President Kagame and he told me that Ordinary Rwandese were very disappointed by the current crisis and that they were praying that war should not take place. I told him that the citizens of Eritrea and, I am sure, those of Ethiopia were very concerned and do not desire war. There is a clear desire on the part of everyone to see peaceful solution to the current problems [...]
Dr. Salim: Thank you listening to you, there are areas of convergence between you and Prime Minister Meles.
-Preference for a peaceful solution
-Acceptance of the relevant OAU/UN Declarations on international boundaries inherited from colonial times and commitment to OAU and UN Charters
-Commitment to respect the outcome of a boundary delineation exercise
-Demarcation of boundaries with the assistance of a third party,
-Demilitarization - the difficulty does not lie in the concept of itself. The Ethiopians are saying that, you through military force, charged the situation on the ground and this has created a dangerous precedent, which has to be resolved before any other action is taken.
