Law and politics in the Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute, 2002–2019

In this chapter, included in a comprehensive legal-historical (re-edited) volume on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict that erupted in 1998, J. Abbink explores the current state of the border issue between these two Horn of Africa countries, and considers the interplay of international law norms and politics. The nearly two decades-long border stand-off between Ethiopia and Eritrea following the 2002 legal decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration now seems resolved due to a political decision by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, despite legal doubts and contestation on the nature and line of the border and on the intrinsic merits of the PCA decision. This political solution normalized the relationship between the two countries, despite objections from the leadership of the northern Tigray Region against this decision of the Ethiopian federal government. This aspect may have played a role (although secondary) in the eruption of conflict on 4 November 2020 between Tigray Region and the federal government, showing that northern Ethiopia remains a volatile area.