The Post-war Border Dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Abebe Zegeye and Melakou Tegegn
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Abebe Zegeye: Abebe Zegeye is Professor and Primedia chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Graduate School, University of South Africa. E-mail: zegeya@unisa.ac.za
Melakou Tegegn: Melakou Tegegn has a PhD from the University of South Africa and is a recognized scholar on Ethiopian politics and the power politics of North Africa. [email: melakoutegegn@yahoo.com]

Journal of Developing Societies, 2008, vol. 24, issue 2, 245-272

Abstract: The claims and counter-claims over the troubled border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, at the root of the crisis between the two governments, were by no means resolved by the war of 1998–2000. Indeed, when the jointly-formed post-war commission delivered its ruling on the boundaries, its terms were rejected out of hand by Ethiopia. Eritrean border claims rest largely upon the maps drawn up by Italy in 1934, while Ethiopia's claims largely rests on the treaty that Emperor Menelik entered with the Italians in 1908. And this is only to touch upon the ramifications of the tangled dispute. This article provides a critical observation of the claims made by the two governments; it assesses the validity of these claims, explores their strengths and points out their weaknesses. It also shows why the impasse continues to fester, pushing the crisis dangerously close to renewed war, and offers some tentative suggestions on how a lasting solution to the Ethio-Eritrean crisis might be found.

Keywords: Algiers Treaty; Assab; Badme; Ethiopian/Eritrean border dispute; ethnic movements; Italian imperialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:24:y:2008:i:2:p:245-272

DOI: 10.1177/0169796X0802400207

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