Concern for Ethiopia, Eritrea

2003-09-10 22:04

Asmara - A recent rise in the number of incidents along the tense temporary security zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea is a "source of concern", UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday.

In a report delivered by UNMEE, the UN peacekeeping mission for the two Horn of Africa countries, to the Asmara government, Annan said: "Incidents at the local level in and around the Temporary Security Zone have become more frequent ... which is a source of concern."

"If repeated, incidents of this type could lead to further tension and potential conflict among the people in the border area," said the report, dated Monday.

The report recommended the renewal of UNMEE's mandate for another six months until March 15, 2004, while pressing Addis Ababa and Asmara to normalize ties three years after the end of a bloody border war in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.

Annan cited incidents in August in which "Ethiopian militia pointed their weapons at UNMEE patrols in response to advice not to enter the zone" and Ethiopian soldiers entered the zone and refused to leave "despite repeated protests by UNMEE."

UNMEE was deployed in September 2000, and currently totals some 4 000 men including more than 200 military observers deployed in a buffer zone at the border on the Eritrean side.

Its annual budget is just under $200m.

Despite the recent tensions, Annan said the zone and adjacent areas were "generally calm and secure, and the military postures of the two parties indicate that they have no intention of resuming hostilities."

Annan said that "even more important" than curbing incidents such as those described was that the two sides "proceed with the expeditious demarcation of the border."

The physical setting out of border demarcations, initially scheduled for May, was postponed once to July, and again to October, according to the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission.

The independent commission sitting in The Hague, charged with arbitrating and delimiting the new border, delivered its "final and obligatory" decision in April 2002.

Since then Ethiopia has repeatedly raised objections to various points of the decision, notably the status of Badme, the town at the center of the two-year war which the commission denoted as Eritrean.

Annan said: "Ethiopia and Eritrea will have to come to terms with the fact that they are destined by geography to remain neighbours, and that normalization of relations, while difficult, will be to the great benefit of both countries and their peoples."

- SAPA