Security Council to extend UN Eritrea-Ethiopia mission
Sept 26, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The Security Council on Tuesday weighed a UN report recommending a six-month extension of the UN mission monitoring the tense Eritrea-Ethiopia border.
The 15-member body met behind closed doors to hear a briefing by Azouz Ennifar, the acting special envoy dealing with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, on UN chief Kofi Annan’s report on the border dispute.
In his just-released report, Annan recommended extending UNMEE’s mandate, which expires Saturday, for six months and warned of a potential disaster if the “untenable” stalemate is not resolved.
UNMEE is tasked with monitoring the tense border between the rival Horn of Africa neighbors, which fought a two-year war over the frontier, but has had an increasingly testy relationship with Asmara.
Expressing deep concern about the four-year stalemate, the UN chief said: “This is an untenable situation, which, if allowed to fester, could lead intentionally or unintentionally to events with disastrous consequences for the two countries and the whole region.”
“The situation in the Horn of Africa remains politically tense and fragile. The continuing conflict in Somalia and the unresolved crisis affecting Darfur contribute to the instability affecting the region,” he added.
Meanwhile UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that UNMEE has asked Eritrean authorities to cooperate in its probe of the arrest and detention last month of a staff member for “allegedly trying to smuggle Eritrean nationals out of the country,” and of new allegations against other personnel.
The detained staff member, a non-Eritrean whose identity has not been released, was arrested on August 28, allegedly for attempting to smuggle several young Eritreans out of the country in an official vehicle.
The Annan report said the various arrests, detentions and expulsions of UNMEE international and locally recruited staff in recent months was “particularly troubling” and renewed his call for their release and for all restrictions on the mission to be lifted.
Monday, Eritrean Health Minister Saleh Meky blamed the Security Council for Ethiopia’s rejection of the binding decision on the demarcation of its border with Eritrea following the 2000 Algiers agreement that ended their border war.
He told the UN General Assembly that Ethiopia would not have been able to breach the agreement “with impunity” if its conduct had not been “encouraged and supported by certain powers in the UN Security Council.”
“When the chips are down, major powers, and especially the United States, continue to pursue their perceived narrow interests at the expense of regional peace and security, and the sovereign rights of nations and peoples,” he added.
UN-Eritrean ties have long been strained but worsened when Asmara imposed restrictions on UNMEE patrols last year to protest the failure of the world body to press Ethiopia to accept a new border delineation.
(AFP/ST)