ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Security Council warns over border situation

ADDIS ABABA, 16 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - The military build-up on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea could "aggravate" simmering tensions, the president of the UN Security Council said.

Ambassador Joel W. Adechi of Benin said the 15-member body was considering asking UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send either an envoy or a mission to defuse pressure, UN News reported on Tuesday. The envoy or mission would help push forward the "political dialogue" between the two Horn of Africa neighbours.

His comments came as the European Union said they were "particularly concerned" by the military build-up along the 1,000-km border that separates the two countries.

The UN peacekeeping mission for Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) also confirmed that it had been asked by Ethiopia to investigate a new clash between armed men on the border.

According to spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte, the Ethiopian army informed the peacekeepers that they killed two men and captured five on the border, who they believed to be Eritrean soldiers.

UNMEE interviewed the five men who were captured, she added, but the UN force was unable to confirm whether they were Eritrean Defence Forces.

"We sent our investigation results to both parties and are waiting to see if there would be any further clarification on the situation," she told IRIN.

The Eritrean government has issued a statement rejecting the allegations that the men involved in the 1 February incident were from its army.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two and half-year border war between May 1998 and December 2000 in which tens of thousands of people were killed. Although a peace deal was agreed tensions remain over their still disputed common frontier.

In its statement, Asmara accused Ethiopia of "futile attempts to defame Eritrea", adding, "those who were alleged to be captured or dead were found to have nothing that would identify them as Eritreans".

Meanwhile, speaking in Addis Ababa, British cabinet minister Baroness Valerie Amos said both countries should engage in "dialogue and discussions" to overcome their current stalemate.

"There is a long standing dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea," she
said. "We and others have been working with both countries trying to get them to a point where it can be resolved."

Amos, the leader of the UK's higher legislative body, the House of Lords, said an April 2003 boundary ruling - which formed part of Ethiopia and Eritrea's peace deal after their two and a half year border war - must be implemented.

"We think the conclusions of the boundary commission report have to be put into effect and that we have to find a way that enables both countries to do that," she added at the end of a visit to Ethiopia as part of the Make Poverty History campaign.

[ENDS]