Let us spell out the facts for a second: 1) there is no doubt that Ethiopia won the war. 2) There is no any question that badme was under Ethiopian administration before the war. 3) Both countries agreed to go to court to resolve the border (including Badme) issue after Ethiopia had won the war decisively. 4) Both countries agreed to stick to the final verdict (i.e. final and binding). 5) Both countries accepted the verdict on April 13th, 2002 (first Ethiopia followed by Eritrea). 6) Ethiopia rejected the EEBC's decision n after learning that it had lost Badme. 7) Ethiopia then sent a letter to the UN asking for dialog with Eritrea. 8)Eritrea insisted on no dialog before full demarcation of the border with respect to the EEBC's decision. 9) Ethiopia then decides to accept the EEBC's decision "in principle." .10)Eritrea wishes not to accept Ethiopia's offer calling it a PR move.

So, now I think I have listed some of the basic facts about the issue. However, please do correct me if I have my facts incorrect.

Then, in order to really understand the issue here, we need to ask the following questions regarding Ethiopia: 1) Why Ethiopia went to court after wining the war? 2) Why enter a final and binding legal process after wining the war and sign a legal document? 2) Why include Badme as part of the contested areas if Ethiopia new Badme was uncontested area from the get go? 3) Why accept the verdict then reject the same verdict? 4) Why reject a verdict, which was known to be final and binding from the start?

I really don't have answers to the above questions. I have tried to answer the questions, but I have always come up short (please help). However, I have come to realize that Ethiopia has made many errors, and it keeps making more errors. I personally believe that the errors that Ethiopia has committed have cost Ethiopia a lot. It has cornered itself in a room where there is no exit.

Anyhow, to sum up, the issue is about Ethiopia making errors and trying to fix the errors, but at the same time it keeps making more errors.