Eritrea denies breach of truce

2006-10-17 09:49

Nairobi - Eritrea on Tuesday denied the United Nations charges that its deployment of troops and tanks to a demilitarised buffer zone between it and arch-rival Ethiopia was a "major breach" of a six-year-old truce, saying its forces were there to harvest crops.

Instead, information minister Ali Abdu said the real violation of the 2000 accord that ended Eritrea and Ethiopia's bloody two-year border war was Addis Ababa's refusal to accept a binding new frontier delineation.

He said: "This time is harvest time after the summer and the army is there to engage in the harvest. This is part of a government development project.

"The only reason they are there is for the harvest. If the harvest is not taken, it will be lost and that would have severe consequences for our food security programme."

Deployment 'not provocative'

Ali Abdu didn't dispute UN chief Kofi Annan's claim that Asmara had sent the 1 500 troops and 14 tanks sent to the so-called Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), but insisted that Monday's deployment was not "provocative".

He said: "These are soldiers and if they are going to move from point A to point B, they have to take their equipment."

Ali Abdu blamed Ethiopia, which had thus far rejected the 2002 border delineation, for the situation, maintaining that if Addis Ababa had accepted it, civilian farmers and not soldiers would be harvesting the wheat, buckwheat and vegetables on the land in question.

On Monday, Annan had said through a spokesperson that the movement "constitutes a major breach of the cease-fire and the integrity of the TSZ" that "could seriously jeopardise the peace process".

Ali Abdu dismisses Annan's concerns

The UN chief said such actions could also have "potential consequences for the wider region" and urged Eritrea to immediately withdraw its forces from the zone.

But, Ali Abdu dismissed Annan's concerns and claim of a "major breach".

He said: "To the contrary, the major breach is the refusal of the Ethiopian regime to accept the final and binding agreement."

Eritrea had long complained that Ethiopia was violating the 2000 peace deal by refusing to accept the new delineation and accused the UN of failing to put enough pressure on Addis Ababa to accept it.

To show its displeasure, Asmara last year slapped restrictions on patrols by the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE)in its territory along the 1 000km border.

Eritrea also expelled all European and North American UNMEE staff.

- AFP