UN unfazed by troop movements along Ethiopian-Eritrean border

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 14 (AFP) — The United Nations does not believe that recent Ethiopian troop movements along the border with Eritrea indicate a build-up of Addis Ababa’s forces for a new war with its neighbor.

The commander of the United Nations force in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said he had sought an explanation of the movements, which have been observed by UN peacekeepers, from the Ethopian defense ministry, which said they were part of a routine redeployment.

“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 told reporters late Thursday.

UNMEE has reported Ethiopian troops moving in the border sectors of Badme and Zala Anbessa in the past few days but “the Ethiopian ministry of defense says (they) are part of the reorganisation of their armed forces,” he said.

“I am saying that they are only enhancing the defense protection and that there are no plans of any offensive intent,” Singh said, adding that the troops were well outside the 25-kilometer (15-mile) UN-monitored security zone.

UNMEE troops, deployed in the wake of a 1998-2000 war fought over the border, are mostly stationed in the buffer corridor that hugs the length of the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) border between the two states.

In 2000, the two parties signed a peace accord under which they promised to respect a ruling on the path of the frontier which was decided by an independent Boundary Commission in 2002.

Addis Ababa subsequently rejected the commission’s decision, a position it maintained until November, when it said it had accepted the “principle” of the Boundary Commission’s ruling but wanted “adjustments.”

Eritrea has said the Ethiopian position contains nothing new and in December border tensions once again flared after Asmara accused Ethiopian troops of invading its territory.