Late last month, former national security adviser Anthony Lake made his fourth trip in one year to the capitals of both nations. Both sides took a small step toward settling the border issue in late July, by agreeing in principle to pull back to positions held prior to May 6, 1998. US officials say this round of diplomacy represents the best chance for peace, which they hope will result in the deployment of international peacekeepers and a negotiated settlement on the border demarcation. American officials are especially eager to seal an agreement not only to stop the killing, but also to prevent the conflict from spreading. Some 5 million Ethiopians are at risk, say officials.
Analysts say the war bears the attributes of a family feud with a poisonous past.
In the mid-1970s, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, led by Isaias, and Ethiopia's Tigray People's Liberation Front, led by Meles, tried to overlook border and ideological concerns in joining to overthrow the Menguistu regime in Ethiopia in 1991. But along the way, they often had political difficulties, especially when one side began critiquing the other's vision of a state. Still, Ethiopia's new leader, Meles, granted Eritrea independence. In 1993, Isaias became president of the new Eritrean nation, which had endured rule by Italy, Britain, and then Ethiopia over the past century. Relations soured not long after Meles and Isaias took power.