As tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea escalate, United Nations urges Restraint by UN News / SBS News 2:34pm 3rd Nov, 2005   3 January, 2006    The situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea has reached a dangerous stalemate, warns Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a new report to the Security Council, holding out the possibility of withdrawing the United Nations mission (UNMEE) deployed to keep a five-year truce between the two countries.    Ethiopia has failed to comply with a border demarcation decision while Eritrea is restricting the mission deployed in the two Horn of Africa countries.    “As a result of the restrictions imposed on UNMEE,” Mr. Annan says in a report released today, “the present position of the Mission is becoming increasingly untenable.”    The Secretary-General says UNMEE could maintain its present configuration “albeit with a much degraded monitoring capacity” and, despite a reduced presence, “buy time for diplomatic initiatives to unblock the current dangerous stalemate.”    It could also opt for relocation, moving most staff out of the Eritrean capital of Asmara to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Other options outlined in the report include transforming UNMEE into an observer mission or a political liaison mission. An additional option would create a preventive force deployed in strength entirely south of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) currently held by Ethiopia.    Or, Mr. Annan says, “UNMEE could be withdrawn entirely.” If the parties do not fully commit and cooperate, he warns, not only the future of the mission, but also the continuation of the peace process between the two countries – which fought a bitter border war between 1998 and 2000 – could be called into question.    He says that the worsening situation is being caused by a “protracted stalemate” due to Ethiopia’s refusal to accept the binding Boundary Commission’s decision as required by the accord that ended the fighting, as well as Eritrea’s ban on UNMEE flights and its demand to remove UNMEE staff of certain nationalities.    A lack of dialogue between the two countries and a dangerous forward movement of their troops is also fueling friction, according to the report.    To ease tensions, he says both parties must comply with a 23 November Council resolution which threatened actions, possibly including sanctions against Eritrea if it does not immediately rescind its flight ban, and against both parties if they do not reverse their military build up.    “Obviously,” he adds, “dialogue between the two parties should resume without any pre-condition and in good faith.”    2 November 2005 (UN News)    Expressing deep concern about reports of military movements by Ethiopia and Eritrea, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the two Horn of Africa countries to show maximum restraint and called on the Security Council, as well as individual Member States, "to take decisive steps to defuse the escalating tension."    The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) reported movements of military personnel on both sides of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) and irregular activities inside the Zone, according to a statement released by Mr. Annan"s spokesman. "Reported troop movements involve small and large military and paramilitary formations, and movement of armour, as well as aerial defence assets."    The Secretary-General strongly urged the parties to "exercise maximum restraint and to put an immediate halt to any actions that may be misinterpreted by the other side or jeopardize the security arrangements which they agreed to in the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June 2000," the statement said.    At a press briefing, the head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guéhenno, said peacekeeping operations could not substitute for a process, which, under the agreement that ended the two-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, included the demarcation of their common border.    UNMEE had a limited capacity to report on developments because of Eritrea"s unexplained grounding of the mission"s helicopters, he said, confirming that the UN had subsequently vacated 18 positions. "It is essential at this stage, at a very fragile moment, that neither Eritrea nor Ethiopia make any movement that could be misunderstood by the other side and could lead to a very dangerous situation. This is a time to really bring the tension down," he said. Asked what else the UN could do beside watch developments, he said, "The United Nations is as strong as its Member States want it to be."    3.11.2005.    “Close to War”. (SBS News)    There is growing concern Eritrea and Ethiopia are on the verge of war after reports of troop movements along the tense border between the two Horn of Africa neighbors.    United Nations chief Kofi Annan said in a statement that he was "extremely concerned about reports from the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) concerning movements of military personnel on both sides of the temporary security zone as well as irregular activities inside the zone."    He added that the troop movements involved small and large military and paramilitary formations and movement of armor as well as air defense weapons.    The secretary general called on arch-rival neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea to show restraint and put "an immediate halt to any actions that may be misinterpreted by the other side or jeopardize the security arrangements which they agreed to" in a 2000 agreement.    Mr Annan urged the UN Security Council and individual member states to "take decisive steps to defuse the escalating tension" between the two countries and offered UN help.    "The information that we have is that there seems to have been (military) movements in the adjacent areas north of the security zone and on the Ethiopian side south of the security zone," said Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of UN peacekeeping operations.    Russia"s UN envoy Andrei Denisov, the incoming president of the Security Council for this month, said he shared Mr Annan"s concerns. "The news coming from the ground is pessimistic, unfortunately," he added.    The UN Security Council last week started discussing a draft resolution that calls on the two neighbours to implement a decision by an international commission on their border dispute. The draft, circulated among the council"s 15 members, calls on both parties to implement completely and without delay the decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia boundary commission and to create the necessary conditions for demarcation to proceed quickly.    Asked about the status of the draft resolution, Denisov told a press briefing here: "We cannot wait until our experts draft a text. We should act expeditiously. I am not ready to disclose specific details but I think that we will accelerate the discussions and maybe take some action in order to try to calm down the situation because it is very grave," he added.    South Africa also voiced alarm Wednesday and called for urgent steps to prevent a new war between the two countries. "Basically, the United Nations" position now is that the situation is deteriorating and urgent action must be taken to prevent a new war between Ethiopia and Eritrea," South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in Cape Town.    Over the past three weeks, since Asmara restricted UN patrols in a buffer zone in Eritrean territory, both Eritrea and Ethiopia have re-positioned soldiers and armaments on the frontier, raising the risk of a new war, according to the UN. The situation along the border has deteriorated from "stable" to "tense" and "potentially volatile," a UNMEE official told reporters in the Eritrean capital.    Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a bloody two-year war over their 1,000-kilometer mostly barren border from 1998 to 2000 in which an estimated 80,000 people were killed.    Under international pressure, the two neighbors signed a peace deal in Algiers in 2000 that required them to accept a new border drawn by an international panel.    The panel"s 2002 decision awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, but has never been fully accepted by Ethiopia which says it wants adjustments to avoid splitting up families on the border.    In early October, over UN objections, Eritrea banned helicopter flights and imposed other restrictions on UNMEE troops monitoring the frontier, forcing them to abandon nearly half their observation posts.    "It is important that both sides make the right moves. Our peacekeeping operation needs to be allowed to function but the peacekeeping operation cannot substitute for a process," Guehenno, a former French diplomat, said, referring to the Algiers agreement.
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