UNITED NATIONS, April 23, 2008 (AP) -
Security Council members agree that Eritrea's treatment
of U.N. peacekeepers on its disputed border with
Ethiopia is "unacceptable," but the council needs more
time to deliberate, its president said.
The Eritreans have obstructed U.N. peacekeeping efforts
for the past 1 1/2 years with its military occupation of
part of a buffer zone and restrictions on U.N. night
patrols, supply routes and diesel fuel, according to
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, council
president for April, spoke to reporters Tuesday after
closed-door council discussions on Ban's recent report
outlining four possible options for the peacekeeping
mission.
Calling the decision on the mission's future "difficult
and complicated," he said the council needs more time to
deliberate.
Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border
since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa
government in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war.
A 1,700-strong U.N. force has been monitoring a 15-mile
wide, 620-mile long buffer zone between the Horn of
Africa neighbors under a December 2000 peace agreement
that ended a 2 1/2-year border war.
In an April 16 letter to the Security Council, Eritrea's
U.N. Ambassador Araya Desta said the U.N. simply needs
to ensure Ethiopia complies with treaty obligations
already in place.
"Eritrea cannot understand or accept this academic game
of contemplating various scenarios and options in the
abstract," he said.
Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, in a March 31
letter, accused Eritrea of trying to "humiliate" U.N.
peacekeepers and urged the Security Council to impose
sanctions on Eritrea to ensure that it fulfills all
provisions of the 2000 agreement.
Ban's report warned that a new war could break out
between Eritrea and Ethiopia if the U.N. peacekeeping
mission withdraws entirely.
