Ethiopia will seek millions of dollars for Eritrea war

Published on Thursday 22 December 2005 00:50

ETHIOPIA yesterday said it would seek "hundreds of millions of dollars" in compensation after an international commission ruled Eritrea started a war between the two countries.

A series of rulings earlier this week by the Netherlands-based Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission held Eritrea responsible for igniting the 1998-2000 war by invading the town of Badme.

However, it also found Ethiopian troops liable for abusing civilians and looting or destroying property in subsequent military actions and during its occupation of Eritrean territory. Both sides were held liable for damages for their actions.

The rulings came amid fears of renewed fighting, with both nations massing armies along their 620-mile frontier and Eritrea restricting the work of United Nations' peacekeepers.

Ibrahim Idris, the director general of the Ethiopian government's legal department, said: "We are currently preparing our damages claim, but it will run into hundreds of millions of dollars."

An official of the Permanent Court of Arbitration said yesterday the decisions published two days ago concluded the first phase of the commission's work - determining responsibility - and it now moves into the second phase, in which the amount of damages will be set.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but their border was never settled and new fighting broke out in 1998, chiefly over rival claims to Badme.

The second war claimed tens of thousands of lives and cost both countries - two of the world's poorest - an estimated 600,000 a day.

An international commission set up under a 2000 peace agreement ruled that Badme belonged to Eritrea. But Ethiopia held Badme at the end of the fighting and has yet to retreat.