Ethiopia-Eritrea: War looms

2005-09-23 09:36

Addis Ababa - The chief of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) on Thursday called for the Security Council to "do more" to avert a new war between the two countries.

"I hope that the Security Council will do more than it has done until now to ensure that we resolve this problem as quickly as possible," said UNMEE chief Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, saying the two sides were at an "impasse".

"I have warned the international community several times that if we don't find a way out of this impasse there would be a new war between the two countries," he said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace pact in 2000 to end a bloody two-year border war, but tensions have flared again over unresolved border issues.

The Security Council voted unanimously last week to extend UNMEE until March 15 and urged the nations to implement a 2002 boundary ruling emanating from the peace deal, but Ethiopia continues to contest the frontier agreement.

Legwaila said UNMEE had cost about $1bn but had nothing to show for its work. "What have we achieved to justify these expenses? Nothing but an impasse," he said.

Since the beginning of the year, tensions along the 1km border have steadily risen with reports of new troop deployments and security incidents raising fears of renewed conflict.

Eritrea has repeatedly complained that the international community, particularly the UN, has not done enough to pressure Ethiopia to accept the border ruling.

Yemane Gebremeskel, the director of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's office, condemned last week's Security Council vote as "toothless, meaningless, pathetic and extremely disappointing".

- AFP