UN may leave Eritrea

2005-10-18 11:19

New York - The United Nations (UN) may have to reconsider whether to keep its mission monitoring the tense border between Ethiopia and Eritrea if Asmara maintains its ban on helicopter overflights, warned UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday.

"Our operations have been impeded," he said. "If this continues we will have to take some very hard and critical decisions as to the usefulness of staying there if we cannot operate."

"The (Eritrean government) has not been co-operating and has limited the movement of our troops," Annan said.

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) said a review of the ban on UN helicopter overflights had led it to conclude that it could no longer staff 18 of the smallest and most isolated of its 40 observation posts as well as one larger base it runs in Eritrea.

On Friday, Unmee officials said the restrictions had reduced their monitoring capability by 55% and they were no longer able to verify with certainty troop levels on the Eritrean side of the border.

No explanations provided

Annan said Asmara still had not provided any explanation for imposing the ban earlier this month or for new restrictions slapped on Unmee ground patrols that limit the mission's night operations.

"Our relationship with the Eritrean government has not been an easy one," the UN chief said, noting he had not spoken directly to Eritrean leaders.

Unmee has 3 293 military personnel in the border area monitoring the frontier and implementation of a 2000 peace deal that ended a bloody two-year war between the arch-rival neighbours.

Diplomats in Asmara believe Eritrea may have imposed the helicopter ban to put more pressure on the international community to force Ethiopia to accept the boundary decision.

Eritrea has repeatedly said the current situation is not sustainable and warned it held the right to forcibly recover Eritrean territory currently occupied by Ethiopia.

Since the beginning of the year, tensions along the 1 000km frontier have steadily risen, with reports of new troop deployments and security incidents raising fears of renewed conflict.

- AFP