"Intelligence Brief: Eritrea"

In September 13, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1622 (2005), calling on Eritrea and Ethiopia to move toward peacefully resolving their longstanding border dispute. The Security Council was clear in its insistence that Ethiopia "accept fully" the demarcation of the border determined by the independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (E.E.B.C.) in 2002, but it also urged the two countries to engage in detente and diplomacy, and did not contemplate sanctions or other pressures on Addis Ababa to comply with the Commission's decision.

Asmara responded to the resolution defiantly, threatening that it would consider taking military action to protect its sovereign interests if the international community did not press Addis Ababa to accept the E.E.B.C.'s demarcation. Following Asmara's threat, the U.N. secretary general's special representative on the border dispute, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, warned that the two sides were at an "impasse" and were heading toward war, and called on the Security Council to send a mission to the region to restart negotiations, which Asmara had broken off after Addis Ababa refused to abide by the E.E.B.C.'s ruling. Legwaila assured Asmara that if it entered talks with Addis Ababa, the 2002 demarcation would remain final. Asmara remained distrustful.

The Border Dispute

The origins of the border dispute go back to the U.N.'s decision after World War II to compromise the divisions in Eritrea over whether the country should become independent or be integrated into Ethiopia, by opting for a federal solution in which Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration within Ethiopia. Eritrea had previously been a British protectorate and before that an Italian colony, and had never enjoyed independence in its modern history.

The federal solution broke down in 1960, when Ethiopia annexed Eritrea, resulting in an armed rebellion by pro-independence forces who were later joined by pro-federationists dissatisfied with Addis Ababa's rule. The conflict escalated in 1974 after a coup in Ethiopia by a Marxist military junta which then initiated an offensive against the Eritrean insurgency. In 1991, the Eritrean independence movement defeated the Ethiopian army and Eritrea gained independence after a 1993 referendum.

Eritrea's independence left its border with Ethiopia undemarcated, creating a point of tension between the two countries that broke into open hostilities in 1998; when Ethiopian soldiers entered the disputed Badme region, Asmara responded by invading the region with a substantial force and Addis Ababa followed by declaring "total war."