Eritrea/Ethiopia: War Looms as Washington Watches & Waits

The latest U.S. State Department call for progress in the stalled Ethiopia-Eritrea peace accord - issued this week and coming on the heels of similar expressions of concern by European diplomats last week - is welcome news for those fearing the renewal of war. But it doesn't go nearly far enough. The absence of even the barest suggestion of consequences to either party for blocking the accord renders the statement toothless, charges a briefing from the think-tank Foreign Policy in Focus. Four years ago, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to put the border dispute that triggered what became one of the most costly conflicts in African history to binding arbitration. “Today, with Ethiopia balking at the results, the two states are on the verge of going back to war, as the U.S. twiddles its political thumbs in the hope that the problem will somehow go away,” says the briefing.