UN forces to stay on Eritrean-Ethiopian border until Sept 15

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 14, 2005 (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Monday to keep a peacekeeping force along the Eritrean-Ethiopian border for six more months, until Sept. 15.

Two unidentified UN observers of the UNMEE (UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea) patrol the border. (AFP).

The 4,000-strong force monitors a buffer zone along the 1,000-kilometer border separating the two armies. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 2 1/2-year border war at the end of the 1990s that ended with a cease-fire in 2000.

The two nations are deadlocked over the decision of an international boundary commission to award the town of Badme to Eritrea , which was the source of their war. The fighting left nearly 70,000 people dead.

Ethiopia has refused to accept the ruling the commission made on where the frontier should run, and the world body says Ethiopia has prevented the border panel from doing its work.

The council resolution adopted Monday expressed concern about recent military movements in Ethiopia and about the high number of Ethiopian troops in the area. It urged Ethiopia to accept the panel’s decision, and let experts demarcate the frontier.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 in a referendum after a 30-year guerrilla war.