'UN lying to conceal failure'

2005-10-28 12:25

Asmara - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has accused United Nations chief Kofi Annan of lying about humanitarian conditions in his country to "cover up" the UN's failure to deal with soaring border tensions with Ethiopia.

In a letter to Annan released in Asmara on Friday, Isaias said the world body was exaggerating food shortages and misrepresenting Asmara's decision to sharply curtail aid distribution.

"We are watching with sadness the unacceptable and false campaign that you seem determined to set in motion to portray a humanitarian crisis in Eritrea," Isaias said in the letter sent to Annan on Thursday.

"This campaign is apparently designed to cover up the failure of the United Nations to shoulder its legal responsibilities in the border conflict and to wrongly shift the blame to Eritrea," he said.

Plummeting relations

The letter, which was released by the information ministry, is the latest sign of plummeting relations between the UN and Asmara centred on the border over which Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a bloody 1998 to 2000 war.

In recent months, Eritrea has stepped up sabre-rattling rhetoric over Ethiopia's refusal to accept a border demarcation ruling that is meant to be binding under the terms of a 2000 peace deal.

Asmara, which has warned of new conflict with its much larger neighbour, has made no secret of its displeasure with the UN.

In early October, over UN objections, Eritrea banned helicopter flights and imposed other restrictions on UN peacekeepers monitoring the 1 000km frontier, forcing them to abandon nearly half their observation posts.

Bid to implement peace deal

Annan this week warned that the situation on the border was "seriously deteriorating" and called for pressure to be stepped up on both nations to implement the peace deal and on Eritrea to rescind the restrictions.

Amid the controversy, diplomats and aid workers said last week that Eritrea had halted 80% of food aid distribution in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation in an apparent bid to boost self-reliance.

UN officials say two-thirds of Eritrea's 3.5 million population will need such assistance this year and they and others have expressed concern about the move.

In his letter, Isaias said food aid distribution was part of a plot of keep Eritrea dependent on outsiders and silent about the border issue.

"We were acutely aware of the deleterious consequences that would be entailed by the misguided approach of mitigating the hostage situation through nominal and unsustainable relief assistance," he said.

Isaias also said Eritrea's harvests in 2005 were much better than reported and the "overall food situation this year is not as bleak as you might have expected it to be".

- AFP