Ethiopia-Eritrea: Yemen to help

2005-12-29 17:16

Aden - Yemen on Thursday offered to mediate in a mounting crisis between Horn of Africa rivals, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as regional leaders prepared to wrap up a two-day summit in the southern port city of Aden.

According to reports, President Ali Abdullah Saleh "announced Yemen's readiness to mediate between the two countries, or play any role that might help to ease tension and serve regional stability".

He called upon Eritrea and Ethiopia to use dialogue to settle their disputes "in order to avoid wasting their energy and capabilities", at the summit's opening session on Wednesday.

The UN had threatened Ethiopia and Eritrea with sanctions if they didn't withdraw troops - recently deployed along the tense frontier, amid fears of a repetition of the bloody 1998-2000 war the countries fought over the border.

Post-war border demarcation

Diplomats had said they believed there were at least 100 000 soldiers on either side, although the UN said last week that Ethiopia was withdrawing some of its troops.

Eritrea had warned repeatedly that new conflict was looming as Ethiopia refused to accept a binding post-war border demarcation and had angrily accused world powers of ignoring Addis Ababa's non-compliance with the 2002 peace deal that ended the hostilities.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that "maintaining stability in the region would provide more time to focus on development efforts in each member state".

The reports said the leaders of the Sanaa Forum were expected to discuss regional security and other issues.

Saleh said: "Yemen is following with great interest developments of events in our region, notably in Sudan and Somalia."

Common security role

He called on the international community to "support peace efforts in the region as well as efforts in the fight against terrorism."

He said Saleh and Zenawi, as well as Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and Somalia's transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed were also expected to "put in place a durable structure for the 'Sanaa Forum'".

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi said member states should play a "common security role in the region's waters to prevent all kinds of sabotage and maritime piracy and enhance stability."

The Sanaa Forum was set up in October 2002 by Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia. Somalia joined the group in December last year.

The meeting in the southern Yemeni port came at a time of escalating tension between Sudan and its western neighbour, Chad, after accusations by Ndjamena that Khartoum was harbouring and supporting Chadian rebels.

- AFP