UN denies border clashes between Ethiopia, Eritrea

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 30, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) on Thursday said it did not find or observe new clashes between Ethiopian and Eritrean troops along the border.

The UNMEE made the remarks in a telephone interview with Xinhuafollowing some reports stating that over the weekend, Eritrean troops killed and wounded several Ethiopian inhabitants of Hadish Adi near Badme area along the border.

However, the UNMEE said that the mission did not get any reliable facts on the reported issue.

“The two countries should seek peaceful means to end their differences on any issue that they may have,” said the UNMEE.

The UNMEE indicated that troop movements at the front line of the two countries have been observed during the last few days.

However, the UNMEE said “it is difficult to say that they are going for war. Sometimes, the two countries move their troops for their own purposes.”

Eritrea has recently urged Ethiopia to pull out its troops fromall areas in accordance with the ruling by the Ethio-Eritrea Boundary Commission made on April 13, 2003 in the Hague.

But Ethiopia still demands Eritrea to sit for dialogue over theimplementation of the boundary decision, which awarded Ethiopian claimed territory Badme to Eritrea.

A five-point peace initiative and a normalization program proposed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi three weeks ago as a gesture of reconciliation has been repeatedly rejected by Eritrea, who also refused any dialogue with Ethiopia, saying “no talk before physical border demarcation.”

International efforts are underway to bring peaceful solution to the Ethio-Eritrea border issue.