Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace agreement yesterday and pledged to respect its terms for ending their two-year border war.
The Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Mr Seyoum Mesfin, and his Eritrean counterpart, Mr Haile Woldensae, shook hands after signing the accord brokered by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The two ministers had not talked to each other during weeks of indirect negotiations in the Algerian capital, forcing international mediators to shuttle between them as they tried to narrow their differences.
They promised to work for a lasting settlement of the conflict, in which tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides have been killed. "We will remain faithful and loyal to the full implementation of this agreement on the cessation of hostilities signed between us and Eritrea," Mr Seyoum said in a speech.
"We are now certain after two years of senseless fighting that there can be no military solution to this conflict," Mr Haile declared.
The OAU peace plan is backed by the United States and the European Union, which sent envoys to attend the signing ceremony.
President Clinton welcomed the plan and said his special envoy, former national security adviser Mr Anthony Lake, would return to Algiers for more talks to finalise the deal.
"I urge (Eritrea and Ethiopia) to use the next round of talks to produce a final, comprehensive lasting agreement, so they can get on with the work of pursuing democracy and development for their people," Mr Clinton said.
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, welcomed it as a key move towards stability in the Horn of Africa. "The two sides have made an important step, forming a base to put the settling of territorial disagreements on to a peaceful track," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The agreement calls for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in a 25-km buffer zone inside Eritrea until the disputed 1,000-km border is demarcated. The two sides would start work swiftly to implement the deal, with the help of international mediators.
"This signing completes the first phase of the process with the cessation of hostilities. There is no longer any killing. Now we start work immediately on the remaining issues, including the most important one which is the demarcation of the border," Mr Lake commented. "There will be more hard work to get the peace agreement implemented."
News of the deal was not broadcast in either Ethiopia and Eritrea. When told of the deal, people in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, were cautious. With some half a million soldiers still positioned along the disputed border, Eritreans fear the slightest provocation could set off a new round of fighting.
Analysts say the deployment of UN peacekeepers could take months, and aid workers say it will be a long time before all the displaced Eritreans have the confidence to return home.
"This is the beginning and not the end of the process. The road ahead towards a durable peace is fraught with dangers and complications," Eritrea's Mr Haile said, "But we are hopeful."