Eritrea, Ethiopia 'more tense'

2003-11-28 08:48

Asmara - The situation between former warring neighbours Eritrea and Ethiopia is more tense than in the past, the UN peacekeeping force deployed in the Horn of Africa countries warned on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the force known as UNMEE that patrols a buffer corridor along the Eritrean side of the border, described the situation as "more tense than it has been before".

"We are watching the situation very carefully because we are very aware that the situation right now is politically tense," Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte told reporters.

While stressing that the situation remained militarily stable, she said that UNMEE had monitored the movement of Eritrean Defence Forces from the central sector of the border region and other areas towards the western sector.

Eritrean authorities had told UNMEE that the extra troops were present for harvesting and agricultural and construction purposes, the spokeswoman said.

"At the moment we are just observing," she added.

"We will wait to see what happens at the end of the harvest season whether they will return.

"This is not unusual because it did happen last year," she said.

Harvesting is due to finish at the end of December.

Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace agreement in 2000 after a two-year war sparked by a border dispute.

- AFP