Troop movements continue on Ethiopia-Eritean border – UN
Nov 10, 2005 (ASMARA) — Movement of troops along the disputed border between arch-rival Horn of Africa neighbours Ethiopia and Eritrea aere continuing, the United Nations said Thursday.
“The military situation … remained tense and potentially volatile during the past week, with troop movements continuing to be reported on both Ethiopian and Eritrean sides,” UN spokeswoman Gail Bindley-Taylor-Sainte told a press conference.
Earlier this month, the UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) reported a massing of tanks and troops along the increasingly tense frontier, alarming peacekeepers whose operations have been hampered.
On Wednesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi confirmed the deployment by Addis Ababa and insisted it was a move to defend the country’s sovereignty should Eritrea make good on its threat to start a new war.
Tensions between the two Horn of Africa nations have escalated in recent months over a border demarcation, which was fixed by an international panel in 2002 after a bloody-two year war ended with 80,000 dead.
Ethiopia has never fully accepted the ruling, saying it wants the new border adjusted to avoid the splitting up of families.
Eritrea has stepped up sabre-rattling rhetoric in recent months, warning Ethiopia of war unless it ends its “illegal occupation” of Eritrean territory.
Diplomats here say Asmara’s move is in response to a failure by the international community to pressure Addis Ababa to accept the ruling, though Eritrea says its soldiers are helping local farmers in the area with the harvest.
Last month Asmara froze the UN mission’s helicopter flights and restricted its ground patrols to main roads, significantly reducing its effectiveness to monitor the border.
“Restrictions on the movement of UNMEE personnel and vehicles inside TSZ (Temporary Security Zone) have increased considerably,” Bindley-Taylor-Sainte said Thursday.
UNMEE has called for the UN Security Council to intervene before new fighting breaks out.
(AFP/ST)