By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 11, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian Prime Minister on Thursday said his country hasn’t made any change of policy towards its long-time rival Eritrea.

Ethiopian prime minister Haile Mariam Desalegn (Photo: Getty Images)

Hailemariam Desalegn made the remarks today at a parliamentary session while presenting a semi-annual report to Ethiopian MPs’.

The premier told the lawmakers that Ethiopia will remain firm and won’t drop the “Five Point Peace Plan” position it issued in November 2004 as a way forward to resolve the deadlock.

Ethiopia’s long-standing policy calls on arch-rival Eritrea to engage in dialogue without conditions although it occasionally loosens that position.

However, Eritrea insists Ethiopia must accept in principle the international border commission’s ruling which favoured Eritrea’s position.

The Ethiopia-Eritrea border commission ruling then awarded the flash point, Badme town to the Red Sea nation. But Ethiopia refused to withdraw its forces from the town demanding for more bilateral dialogue to resolve the standoff.

Hailemariam said Ethiopia will continue to work on normalising relations with Eritrea.

He however accused the regime in Asmara of hijacking the efforts of normalizing ties between the peoples of the two countries.

The Ethiopian premier on Thursday once again threatened that his country would continue to take “proportionate” military actions against Eritrea if Asmara continuous the acts of provocation and destabilization of Ethiopia.

But, he reaffirmed that any retaliatory action will be in accordance with international rules and laws.

The Premier has also responded to query from an MP with regard to the recent cross border mass kidnappings carried out by Eritrean soldiers against dozens of Ethiopian miners near the shared border.

With that regard, Hailemariam hinted Ethiopia was considering retaliatory action to rescue the captives had Eritrea failed to free them.

“They [Eritrean authorities] have immediately freed the captives. Should they fail to do so they well know what consequences would have followed” Hailemariam told the parliament.

“Our policy is crystal clear and we will firmly continue it” He added.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister has also responded to a number of questions raised by MPs.

Questions covered a range of areas including the recent unrest in parts of the country, transport problems, good governance, on mega projects under construction such as hydro power, sugar, and railway.