Eritrean leader denies standoff

2008-05-19 10:49

Nairobi - Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki denied on Monday there is a frontier standoff with neighbouring Djibouti even though tensions between the two have grown in recent weeks.

Djibouti has accused Eritrean military forces of digging trenches on their common border and infiltrating Djiboutian territory.

Issaias said the "matter is a wild invention with backing from behind," according to a statement posted on the information ministry website.

"Eritrea is conducting an investigation to identify the motives, details and the backing from behind," said the statement, which added that "Eritrea is not inclined to get engaged in public relations propaganda gimmick."

"We are not willing to accept an invitation to get involved in a new problem or regional crisis," Issaias said.

Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh said this month that his army was in a dangerous stand-off with Eritrea's military.

Eritrea denied the accusation, but the Arab League's Peace and Security Council held an emergency session, at Djibouti's request, and demanded that a fact-finding mission be sent to the border.

Guelleh warned that should international arbitration fail to settle the issue, Djibouti would take firm action.

Djibouti and Eritrea have clashed twice over the border area at the southern end of the Red Sea. In April 1996 they almost went to war after a Djibouti official accused Eritrea of shelling the town of Ras Doumeira.

In 1999, Eritrea accused Djibouti of siding with Asmara's arch-foe Ethiopia while Djibouti accused its neighbour of supporting Djiboutian rebels and having designs on the Ras Doumeira region. Eritrea has denied this.

- AFP