ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UNMEE warns over troop build-up on disputed border

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ADDIS ABABA, 18 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Large numbers of troops currently massed on the disputed border between Ethiopia and Eritrea could threaten the fragile peace in the area, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) warned on Thursday.

Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte, UNMEE spokesperson, urged both countries to remain calm and show restraint.

"Our concern is that if there are troops close to the border, anything that threatens the stability of the temporary security zone is of concern to UNMEE," she said. "Large numbers of troops on both sides of the border is of concern to UNMEE because of its potential to [threaten stability]."

Talking to reporters via video-link from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, Sainte added: "We are monitoring the situation very closely, but at the moment the situation remains militarily stable."

Ethiopia has built up its troop numbers between 20 and 40 km south of the frontier with Eritrea, but has insisted the troop deployment is purely defensive, which the UN has accepted.

"We have asked both sides for restraint bearing in mind the potential for problems," Sainte said, adding that there had been no corresponding build-up in Eritrea. "The Eritrean troops remain in a defensive position."

"What we are, however, making sure of, is that we are vigilant and we make sure that things do not escalate," she added. "That is what we are making sure of as a peacekeeping force here."

According to UNMEE, they carried out 580 ground and 13 air reconnaissance patrols around the temporary security zone and its force commander, Maj-Gen Rajender Singh, has visited the Ethiopian positions.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought between May 1998 and December 2000. Tens of thousands of people were killed. Although a peace deal was agreed, tensions remain over their still disputed common frontier because of the "protracted stalemate" over a border ruling that was aimed to end the dispute.

An independent boundary commission ruled that the areas, including the village of Badme where the hostilities first flared up, were Eritrean, which
Ethiopia rejected. More recently, Ethiopia said it would accept the ruling "in principle".

The 3,800-strong UN peacekeeping force patrols a 25-km wide demilitarised zone that separates the two countries. Both the European Union and the president of the UN Security Council expressed concern earlier this week about the recent military build-up.

[ENDS]