unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/12/89)
Ethiopia, Eritrean Rebels Open Talks at Carter Center
(Associated Press, September 7, 524 words, DATELINE: ATLANTA)
Representatives of the Ethiopian government and an Eritrean rebel
group shook hands and began preliminary talks Thursday aimed
ending their 28-year-old war.
Former President Jimmy Carter is acting as a neutral observer for
the private talks at The Carter Center. The talks are expected
to last three days, though no time limit has been set; the goal,
Carter said, is to pave the way for more substantive
negotiations later.
Ethiopia and the rebels are warring over the independence of
Eritrea, a province that holds Ethiopia's only direct access to
the Red Sea. An estimated 1 million people have died in the
conflict and its related famine.
Officials of the two delegations said Thursday they are eager
for peace, but made it clear that profound differences exist.
"The Eritrean case cannot be resolved by running away from the
truth or by playing some tricks," said Alamin Mohamed Saiyed,
head of the Eritrean delegation.
"The search for peace ... should not be viewed as a subterfuge to
buy time, or, still worse, as part of military maneuvers and
tactics of war," said Alamin, a member of the Politburo of the
Eritrean People's Liberation Front.
Ashegre Yigletu, head of the government delegation, said Ethiopia
has tried repeatedly during the past 15 years to end the
conflict peacefully.
"It is our view that these peace talks should start off in an
atmosphere that avoids polemics and recrimination and
constructively lead to the restoration of peace in the northern
part of our country," said Ashegre, head of the government
Central Committee's Foreign Relations Department.
Meeting with reporters, Alamin and Ashegre each sat stone-faced
as the other delivered his opening statement in Arabic, followed
by an English interpretation. But, prodded by Carter, they rose
at the end of the meeting and shook hands.
No public statement on the talks will be issued until they end,
as both sides agreed that issuing progress reports would be
counterproductive, Carter said.
"With the success and building of confidence here in Atlanta,
the possibility of a cease-fire and unimpeded delivery of relief
supplies would be facilitated," he said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday quoted unidentified
diplomats as saying Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would
mediate further talks if the preliminary sessions succeed.
A U.N. agreement federated Eritrea, a former Italian colony,
with Ethiopia in 1952. Rebel groups began forming in the early
1960s when they did not get self-rule and Ethiopia unilaterally
annexed the area.
Ethiopia considers the conflict a war of secession.
The Atlanta talks are under the auspices of an informal group
called the International Negotiating Network, which includes
scholars and former diplomats and operates out of The Carter
Center. The meeting is the network's first effort.
Carter is acting as a private citizen in the talks, though the
Bush administration has wished him well and Carter has said he
will keep the administration informed.
As president, Carter withdrew U.S. assistance to Ethiopia, but
Bush has indicated a desire to thaw the relationship between the
two nations.
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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