International media have increasingly been drawing much-needed attention to the senseless war and resulting disaster that is unfolding in the Horn of Africa. In addition to the seemingly perpetual inter- and intra-state armed conflicts, the region is also suffering from drought and imminent famine, with urgent delivery of food aid made difficult due to the unresolved border conflict between Eritrea & Ethiopia. USAID recently estimated that 15 million African lives are at risk, with over 8 million in Ethiopia alone.

Instead of accepting and implementing a UN- and US-backed African plan for peaceful and legal resolution of the border dispute, the Ethiopian Government continues to blackmail the peace process by demanding endless clarifications, as well as amendments to a peace plan it had previously agreed was non-amendable. The mediators are being asked to acquiesce to Ethiopia's exorbitant ransom demands, or else... Africa's Horn goes ablaze, with millions of human beings serving as de facto hostages. Precious lives will continue to be lost to unnecessary war and preventable hunger, while the region's meager resources are wasted on sophisticated military hardware, instead of investment on development and pressing social priorities.

The time has come for the US Government, UN Security Council, EU, OAU and others to stand up for what is right, and not do what is politically expedient. There are too many innocent lives at stake. The international community must live up to its professed commitment to peace and security in Africa, and pressure Ethiopia to choose peace immediately. The Ethiopian Government must not be allowed to hold as hostage the region's impoverished population and derail much-needed development by subjecting the Horn of Africa to a protracted war, full of destruction, misery and death.

History will harshly judge those of power and influence for their lack of moral courage and leadership, if they stand by and allow the coming of an impending, but avoidable catastrophe for the peoples of Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.