[dehai-news] UN ends Eritrea-Ethiopia peacekeeping mission


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From: Ghezae Hagos (gdavid6@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 30 2008 - 13:08:24 EDT


By JOHN HEILPRIN UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council voted Wednesday to end its 8-year-long peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia, a failure the U.N. chief has warned could lead to a new war between the Horn of Africa neighbors. Council members voted unanimously to withdraw the remaining peacekeepers from what was once a 1,700-strong force monitoring a 620-mile long buffer zone between the Horn of Africa neighbors. Belgian Ambassador Jan Grauls told the council that the mission, known as UNMEE, "had become impossible to implement" because Eritreans progressively limited peacekeepers' movements — including restricting night patrols, supply routes and diesel fuel — and Ethiopians refused to accept an independent boundary commission's ruling in 2002 to award the key town of Badme to Eritrea. "The border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea remains total, and the United Nations is withdrawing without having been able to assist the two countries in finding a common ground, in spite of having tried all to achieve it," Grauls said. Most of the peacekeeping personnel has already left the Eritrean side; fewer than 200 U.N. staff had remained there — most of them Eritreans tasked with guarding U.N. equipment until it could be evacuated. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in April that a new war could break out if peacekeepers were to withdraw entirely from along the disputed border, and urged Eritrea to restore the U.N.'s ability to patrol its side of the border. Troops from both countries have exchanged gunfire several times in recent months, according to Ban. Wednesday's resolution demands that Ethiopia and Eritrea comply with their previous agreement "to show maximum restrain and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other, and to avoid provocative military activities." The vote means the $113 million annual mission will be terminated on Thursday, said Vietnam's ambassador, Le Luong Minh, whose nation holds the Security Council's rotating presidency this month. Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The U.N. entered under a 2000 peace agreement that ended the 2 1/2-year border war

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