MORE POSTURING IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
There's been more chest-puffing in the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. First, Ethiopia refused to accept the ruling of the international commission set up arbitrate the dispute between it and its former ally. Now, Eritrea from the African Union in protest. South Africa's Daily Mail and Guardian reports that Eritrea deplored the AU's "failure" to condemn Ethiopia's "gross violations" of the current peace agreement. The AU, a party to the peace accord, expressed surprise since it has been urging Ethiopia to respect the agreement but has no way of forcing them to do so. After an estimated 70,000 dead during the countries' 1998-2000 border war, let's hope cooler heads prevail in Addis and Asmara.