U.N. says Ethiopia not preparing for war

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Recent Ethiopian troop redeployments do not indicate any preparations for a new round of war with its neighbour Eritrea, the commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force said on Thursday.

Tensions between the Horn of Africa neighbours have risen in the past year due to a failure to dermarcate a new frontier set out by a boundary commission under a peace deal to end their 1998-2000 border war.

“The disposition of troops by Ethiopia until now do not indicate any offensive intent and is not provocative as it stands now,” Major-General Rajender Singh, Commander of the U.N. force in Ethiopia and Eritrea, said at a weekly news conference.

He said apart from some strengthening of defences in the Badme and Zalambessa sectors there had been no intrusion of troops into areas adjacent to the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone between the neighbours.

Singh said Ethiopian military officials told him the redeployment was part of the reorganisation of their forces.

“We observed no unusual movements of troops on the Eritrean side whatsoever,” Singh said.

Eritrea insists Ethiopia accept in full a 2002 ruling by an independent boundary commission set up under a peace treaty both countries signed in Algiers on Dec. 12, 2000.

Under the treaty both countries agreed in advance to be bound by the ruling of the commission.

When the commission issued its findings in 2002 Eritrea quickly accepted its decision, which said the prized town of Badme lay in Eritrea, not in Ethiopia which currently holds it.

Ethiopia initially rejected the decision but in November finally accepted the ruling in principle.

Ethiopia’s surprise announcement added, however, that Addis Ababa wanted dialogue with Asmara on how to implement the ruling in the estimated 15 percent of the border that is contentious.

Major powers are unanimous in saying reopening negotiations would go against the promise both countries made to be bound by the ruling. The European Union in December echoed Eritrea’s call for Ethiopia to respect the border ruling in full.