Addis Ababa, November 27, 2007 (Addis Ababa) - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia will always adhere and gives priority to peaceful options in resolving its problems.
The Premier during the 7th regular session of the House of Peoples' Representatives (HPR) held on Tuesday gave replies to questions raised by members of the house.
Meles during the session underlined that since Ethiopia lost a number of its citizens due to external aggressions and internal conflicts that erupted over the past 100 years, the incumbent government of Ethiopia firmly believes that peaceful options are best to overcome problems.
The government of Ethiopia has fundamental principles that it employs to deal with issues concerning peace and war, Meles said and added that the country has been moving on the right track to tackle poverty and backwardness.
Ethiopia will be forced to wage war only if it faces an enemy that tries to disrupt its development and hamper its efforts launched to overcome poverty, he added.
Meles said that the Eritrean government is trying to materialize its destructive attempts by arming the OLF, ONLF, Al Itihad and other anti-peace elements by aggravating conflict in Somalia.
The Ethiopian defense force should be pulled out of Somalia if it fully attained its mission, he said, however, it should not come out of Somalia in an irresponsible way that creates a security vacuum in that country.
Political efforts being made to resolve the Somali problem is bearing fruits, Meles said and underlined that more should be done towards building capacity of the Somali people to resolve their problems by themselves.
Concerning the Ethio-Eritrea conflict, Meles said that Ethiopia has the desire of resolving the problems through peaceful means, and recalled that various attempts have been made in this regard with the support of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC).
Answering a question raised with regard to the HR2003 bill, Meles said there is no reason for the US congress to design a law that governs Ethiopia.
Since the issue is in contrast with the common interests of Ethiopia and the US, Meles expressed hope that the bill would be rejected by the US President.
Concerning the situation in Ogaden region of the Somali State, the Premier said that the government is making efforts to ensure durable peace in the area by wiping out activities of terrorist forces.
Meles also nullified the accusation of some elements that there exist humanitarian crisis in the area.
Concerned UN agencies that visited the area have proved that no such crisis has occurred in the region and agreed on ways through which they will closely work with the government in the future, he said.
Meanwhile, the house on the session discussed and referred the bills providing for the endorsement of bilateral trade relation agreements for Trade and Industry as well as Foreign, Defense and Security Affairs Standing committees for further scrutiny.
R-2:12-3:04 Pm
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