Security Council slams Eritrea for obstructing UN mission
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The Security Council has slammed Eritrea's continued "obstructions" which have forced the UN mission monitoring the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute (UNMEE) to temporarily relocate.
UNMEE has temporarily taken its military personnel and equipment out of Eritrea after the government in Asmara cut off diesel fuel supplies to the mission, crippling its monitoring activities.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted a non-binding statement on Wednesday that also reiterated that "the primary responsibility for achieving a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the border dispute and normalizing their relations rests with the parties themselves."
The statement condemned Asmara's "obstructions", saying they had reached such a level "as to undermine the basis of the mission's mandate and compelled UNMEE to temporarily relocate."
It called on the two Horn of Africa rivals "to show maximum restraint and to refrain from any threat or use of force against each other."
It also urged them to address as soon as possible "the unresolved issues in accordance with the commitments made in the Algiers agreement."
Under a 2000 Algiers peace deal which ended their two-year border war, Eritrea and Ethiopia had pledged to accept as "final and binding" a verdict by the panel on their dispute.
The commission granted the border town of Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to recognize it.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has laid out several options to deal with the impasse, including the full withdrawal of the UN mission from the border area or a less drastic option of deploying a "small observer mission", which would try to defuse tensions and serve as "the eyes and ears of the international community."
