Eritrea stresses readiness to sign Libyan initiative to settle conflict with Ethiopia

An official at the Eritrean Foreign Ministry on Monday attributed the failure of the Libyan efforts to settle the conflict between his country and Ethiopia as "due to the obstacles placed by Addis Ababa."

The Eritrean official said his country's government stressed in a message it sent to the Libyan leadership "its readiness to sign a draft agreement, but the Libyan initiative reached a deadlock, due to Ethiopia's non-readiness to sign these proposals."

The Eritrean side was absent from the meeting scheduled to study a settlement plan, a matter which prompted Ethiopia to announce the failure of the initiative because of the Eritrean absence.

The Libyan proposals call for the two sides are to agree to work in line of the plan set by the Organization of African Unity, to approve an immediate cease fire in implementation of the framework agreement, to disengage forces between the two armies and deploy UN forces in the areas under conflict, to put the demarcation marks on the land, and to sign these proposals which contain details asserting its acceptance by them.

The Eritrean official denied accusations addressed against his country accusing it of being responsible for obstructing the Libyan peace efforts.