Eritrea accuses the United Nations of supporting Ethiopia

March 4, 2008 (NAIROBI) — Eritrea on Tuesday accused the United Nations of siding with its arch-enemy Ethiopia, as UN peacekeepers finalise their pullout of border zones due to a fuel blockade imposed by Asmara.

Eritrea demanded that the world body force Ethiopia to remove its troops from land ruled to belong to Eritrea by a UN-selected commission set up as part of a peace deal following their bloody 1998-2000 war.

“It is astonishing however why the UN Secretariat is abandoning its neutrality and serving the wishes of Ethiopia and its cohorts,” said a foreign ministry statement posted Tuesday on a government website.

“This whole episode is a manufactured crisis.”

“Washington and Addis Ababa are behind this negative campaign mainly in order to shift the attention from the core issue: Ethiopia’s occupation of Eritrean territories,” the statement went on.

“The government therefore reiterates its call on the Security Council to shoulder its legal responsibility and act decisively to end the occupation,” it added.

Eritrea believes Washington, a close ally of Ethiopia, is using its sway in the UN to back Ethiopia’s rejection of the border decision.

On February 22, the UN Security Council condemned Asmara “systematic violations” of its resolutions.

Asmara blocked fuel supplies to the peacekeepers in December, forcing the mission to re-locate to the other side of the Ethiopian side of the disputed border.

The Eritrean government has since claimed that it is due to nationwide shortages, however it has also rebuffed offers by the UN mission to import its own fuel.

All Eritrean-based peacekeepers have now re-grouped to Asmara, apart from 112 who are waiting for orders in the southern port of Assab.

(AFP)