Ethiopia, Eritrea worry UN
2004-01-02 21:00
New York - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday emphasised that the situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea "remains difficult, even precarious" and expressed concern the neighbours' discord could escalate.
"I am concerned that a minor miscalculation by either side could have serious consequences," Annan wrote in a report to the security council and released on Friday.
"While there are no evident signs of preparations for hostilities on either side of the temporary security zone, recent inflammatory rhetoric, in particular in Eritrea, has done nothing to advance the peace process," he added.
A border conflict between 1998 and 2000 pitted the two Horn of Africa nations against one another, leaving at least 80 000 people dead.
The conflict was brought to an end with the signing on December 12 2000 in Algiers of a global peace accord in which Addis Ababa and Asmara agreed to accept as final and binding the ruling of a boundary commission on the delineation of their shared border.
But, in September, the Ethiopian government rejected the commission's ruling, mainly because it attributed the highly symbolic border village of Badme to Eritrea.
In recent months, incidents involving gunfire, landmines and troop movements near the border have exacerbated friction between the two countries.
The United Nations created the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) in September 2000, with more than 4 000 soldiers deployed in a 25km buffer zone between the two nations.