Disputes - international:
Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002 independent boundary
commission delimitation decision, but demarcation, scheduled to
begin in 2003, has been hampered by technical delays and Ethiopian
concerns that the decision ignored "human geography" and awarded
Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000 war, to Eritrea, demarcation of
the boundary has been postponed indefinately; Ethiopia maintains
only an administrative line and no international border with the
Oromo region of southern Somalia and maintains alliances with local
clans in opposition to the Transitional National Government in
Mogadishu; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities and
trade ties to land-locked Ethiopia; efforts to demarcate the porous
boundary with Sudan have been delayed by civil war there
Illicit drugs:
transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia
and destined for Europe and North America as well as cocaine
destined for markets in southern Africa; cultivates qat (khat) for
local use and regional export, principally to Djibouti and Somalia
(legal in all three countries); the lack of a well-developed
financial system limits the country's utility as a money-laundering
center