Eritrea's President Isaias Afeworki has rejected a call from Ethiopia's government to begin talks on a border dispute that sparked a two-year war in 1998.
In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Isaias said Ethiopia's latest offer contains nothing new and would only drag the peace process backward. He also said Eritrea will accept no alternative to a 2002 ruling by an independent commission on the border dispute.
Last month, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his government had accepted the ruling "in principle," after opposing it for more than a year.
In 2000, the two countries agreed to abide by the commission's decision as part of a peace deal ending the war which killed some 70,000 people.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
