I agree that NSU isn't one that should NOT be at the top of ones portfolio. Their main property is in Eritrea. Do I need to get into it? The political situation there is extremely fragile.
UN threatens to pull out of Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute
Category: africa Dated: 05/01/2006
Ethiopia and Eritrea have been told that the United Nations may have to withdraw its peacekeeping mission from the region following their volatile stalemate over their disputed border.
Staff Writer : Email Newsdesk
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the present position of the Mission is becoming increasingly untenable... The time may be fast approaching to take difficult decisions on the future of the Mission.
Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, United Nations
Ethiopia and Eritrea have been told that the United Nations may have to withdraw its peacekeeping mission from the region following their volatile stalemate over their disputed border.
In recent months, the tension between the two countries has heightened with more troops mobilising at the border, as an outbreak of another bloody conflict threatens.
From 1997 to 2000, the neighbours, situated in the Horn of Africa, were locked in a war over the border, which left around 80,000 people dead.
The war finally ended after a peace agreement was signed.
Kofi Annan, the UN's Secretary-General said due to the restrictions imposed on the UN’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), “the present position of the Mission is becoming increasingly untenable.”
He said in a report presented to the Security Council on Tuesday: “The time may be fast approaching to take difficult decisions on the future of the Mission.”
In December the Security Council criticised Eritrea for the increasingly stringent restrictions placed on the peacekeeping mission, which has been present in the region since the war finished.
Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, pointed the finger and said the Security Council’s failure to ensure Ethiopia adhered to the agreement and accept the borders was an “inexcusable abdication of responsibility.”
UN staff were ordered to leave the country, which could damage the mission’s future there.
Annan threatened that both countries will face sanctions if their forces are not removed and if restrictions on the peacekeeping mission are not lifted.
The international commission in the Hague also ruled that Eritrea had caused the 1998 war with its neighbour, as it had not been attacked by Ethiopia and consequently could not be classified as self-defence.
As a result, the country is now liable to give compensation to its neighbour.
Despite Eritrea being given the town of Badame in the peace agreement, Ethiopian troops had not been withdrawn for that part of the 25km border, causing friction between the two countries.
Although there have been reports of Ethiopian troops are beginning to move back from the volatile border, Eritrean forces have allegedly stayed put in their positions.
In his report, Annan said although the peacekeeping mission could continue, it would have to function with a “much degraded monitoring capacity”.
By accepting this, he said, it would create some time to initiate diplomatic discourse and “unblock the current dangerous stalemate.”
The Secretary-General also suggested that the UN’s staff could be transferred from Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Or alternatively the Council could restrict its peacekeeping mission to the Ethiopian side of the border or be transformed to an observer or political liaison mission. |
