Ethiopia says disappointed by UNSC statement on Eritrea
By Tefa-alem Tekle
May 3, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia has expressed ‘deep disappointment’ at the latest Presidential Statement of the UN Security Council (UNSC) issued on 30 April 2008, on Eritrea hindrance of peacekeeping mission.
In a statement issued on Wednesday May 1, the U.N. Security Council said Eritrea’s continued “obstructions” of the U.N. peacekeeping force have reached a level that undermines the basis for the U.N. mission, known as UNMEE.
The foreign ministry said that Ethiopia is deeply regretted that the statement of the Security Council condemning Eritrea only for humiliating UNMEE and driving it out of Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) instead of addressing Eritrea’s flagrant violations of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June 2000.
Addis Ababa denounced the Eritrean response to the UNSC Presidential statement saying that Eritrea claims of good cooperation with the peacekeeping force are “misleading, and downright shameless misrepresentation of the situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as between Eritrea and UNMEE/UN”.
In a statement approved late Wednesday by consensus, the council said it stands ready “to assist the parties to overcome the current stalemate, taking into account the interests and concerns of both parties.”
Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war.
Ethiopia slammed the position of the Security Council urging it to realise that Eritrea has violated the Algiers Agreement by ending unilaterally the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission.
“Appeasing Eritrea has never worked. Ethiopia and the peoples of our region expect more from the Security Council if it is to be taken seriously as a bulwark for international peace and security,” the statement added.
A 1,700-strong U.N. force has been monitoring a 15-mile (24-kilometer) wide, 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) long buffer zone between the Horn of Africa neighbors under a December 2000 peace agreement that ended a 2 1/2-year border war.
Tensions between the two countries remain high because of Ethiopia’s refusal to accept the boundary commission’s 2002 ruling on the border demarcation which awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea.
(ST)