[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2152]]
       REDUCING THE POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 20, 2005

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, five years ago a border 
war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that killed approximately 100,000 
people seemed to have ended. Hope for peace emerged as both countries 
agreed to resolve their dispute through international arbitration. 
After two years of debate and discussion, the Ethiopia-Eritrea Border 
Commission, EEBC, issued its final and binding decision in 2002 to 
resolve the long-standing border dispute.
  Ethiopia did not agree with the EEBC's decision, which was meant to 
be final and binding on both countries. For the past three years since 
arbitration ended, Ethiopia has refused to implement the EEBC decision, 
and the border between the two countries has not been demarcated.
  Both countries should abide by the decision. I believe our new 
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Jendayi Frazer, 
can assist Ethiopia and Eritrea in working together toward implementing 
the EEBC decision.
  The time to address this issue is now, and not after hostilities 
begin again. The EEBC decision needs to be fully implemented without 
any precondition. Eritrea is ready to implement it, and Ethiopia must 
be urged to do so.
  As a Member of the Armed Services Committee and the International 
Relations Committee, I see this issue as the kind of challenge that 
America can no longer afford to ignore. The Horn of Africa is a 
strategic location with strong implications to our success in the 
Global War on Terrorism. Another border war in the Horn of Africa would 
undermine the hope for peace in Sudan and weaken American influence 
with other border disputes in Africa.
  American leadership should not pressure both sides to renegotiate the 
final and binding decision. Eritrea is unwilling to renegotiate the 
EEBC findings, while Ethiopia is calling for ``dialogue.'' The EEBC 
articulated the demarcation process and directives needed to determine 
the exact locations on the ground for border markers. Eritrea supports 
full implementation of the EEBC decision and demarcation directives and 
is therefore ready to work out these technical issues of exact 
placement of border markers as stipulated in the EEBC decision. 
Ethiopia's calls for more dialogue are superfluous. The claim that the 
EEBC used a map that was too great a scale to permit clarity of intent 
is unfounded.
  Eritrea is a society almost evenly divided between Muslims and 
Christians. Eritrea has long been a target of al Qaeda and renewed 
fighting in the Horn would produce opportunities for it to further 
undermine America's interests.
  Many of the fundamental political decisions made by the United States 
on resolving the border matter were a product of the previous 
Administration. It is time for our diplomats who agree with President 
Bush when he says that the spread of democracy, respecting the rule of 
law and freedom are key to future security, to focus on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully urge the Administration to convince the 
Ethiopian government to abide by the EEBC's final decision on the 
border to be mutually beneficial for Eritrea and Ethiopia.

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