_Begin Quote: Ethiopia was afraid it would become a pool of cheap labour for Eritrean industry and that its own industries would be vulnerable to cheap Eritrean exports. The government began to impose tariffs. Eritrea increasingly found that the two countries' common currency, the Ethiopian birr, was overvalued for its exports. Looking back, Mr Issaias and Mr Meles both say "We were too kind." Each seems to think his country's generosity was being exploited by the other.
In 1997, Eritrea introduced its own currency, the nacfa. It expected, at launch, a one-to-one exchange rate with the birr, but Ethiopia refused to touch the new currency, insisting that all large transactions should be in dollars. That wrecked commerce between the countries and deepened the gulf between them. Ethiopia also accused the Eritrean oil refinery at Assab of overcharging for its products, and said that Eritrean traders were smuggling coffee across the border and re-exporting it. _End Quote
How can both leaders say 'we were too kind'?
BTW: For those ones who are interested in the conflict. This site is quite interesting: http://www.visafric.com/news.htm It is operated by Eritreans so it is somewhat biased.
Regards Johannes