Agreement negotiated by the Organisation of African Unity
The foreign ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea have signed a ceasefire agreement to put an end to the border war between the two countries, in which 100,000 people have died. The agreement, which was negotiated by the Organisation of African Unity, calls for the end of hostilities after two years of fighting, and for an observer mission and a UN force to be deployed in the border area. Under the accord, Ethiopia will maintain its army in the disputed territories, while Eritrean forces have to keep 25km back, inside their own territory
The Ethiopian foreign minister, Seyoum Mesfin, and his Eritrean counterpart, Haile Woldensae, shook hands after signing the accord and have vowed to work towards a lasting settlement of the conflict. The two had not talked to each other during weeks of indirect negotiations, forcing international mediators to shuttle between them.
Eritrea was Ethiopia's northernmost province but won independence in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The two nations were close allies at first but economic disputes emerged and rival border claims exploded into a war that has created a humanitarian crisis in two of the world's poorest countries.
Eritrea seized pockets of disputed land along the border after the war began in May 1998, but the gains were wiped out last month as Ethiopia marched deep into its territory. Today's agreement called for an immediate ceasefire between the two countries and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in a 15-mile buffer zone inside Eritrea until the disputed 600-mile border is demarcated.
The peace deal had been welcomed by UNICEF which said it hopes to boost efforts to help the estimated 15 million people across the Horn of Africa, 10 million of them in Ethiopian, who are facing drought and famine.
