Some UN troops in Eritrea being sent home for now: UN report
UNITED NATI0NS (AFP) — UN troops regrouping in Eritrea over Asmara's refusal to provide fuel and food are being temporarily sent back to their home countries, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border crisis.
Ban said he directed the UN mission monitoring the border dispute (UNMEE) to relocate "the military personnel that have regrouped in Asmara and Assab to their home countries, pending a final decision by the Security Council on the future of UNMEE."
Earlier this week, the first batch of UNMEE peacekeepers, comprising 50 Jordanian troops, flew out of Asmara to Amman.
"Once the relocation outlined in this report is complete, I intend to submit to the (Security) Council a further report providing options and recommendations for any future UN peacekeeping presence in the area," Ban said.
He noted that "the necessary personnel from the Indian, Jordanian and Kenyan contingents would remain in Asmara as a rear party to secure the contingent-owned equipment and facilitate its transportation by road and sea as and when a decision has been taken."
Ban reiterated that restrictions imposed by Asmara on UNMEE were "unacceptable and in breach of the fundamental principles of peacekeeping."
UNMEE made the decision to relocate the staff to Ethiopia after Eritrea cut off diesel fuel supplies to the mission, paralyzing its monitoring activities.
Asmara's move was apparently in protest against the world body's stance on the border dispute with Ethiopia.
But in a letter entitled "Ethiopia's occupation must end" addressed to the Security Council this week, Eritrean ambassador Araya Desta insisted that there was no threat to the security and safety of UN troops in Eritrea.
"It is sad that the issue of fuel has been deliberately blown out of proportion," he complained.
Desta said the stories about food supply cutoffs and the seizure of troops' equipment "were disseminated to divert the attention and responsibility of the Security Council from addressing the occupation of Eritrean territory by Ethiopia."
Meanwhile Ban's report pointed out that the current crisis was taking place at a time when several political and legal issues in the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict remain unresolved, including the implementation of the final and binding decision by a UN-backed boundary panel.
"If left unresolved, these issues will remain a source of tension in the border area and will continue to pose an inherent danger of potential escalation," he said.
Under the 2000 Algiers peace deal which ended their two-year border war, Eritrea and Ethiopia pledged to accept as "final and binding" a verdict by the boundary commission on their dispute.
But the panel dissolved early in December, leaving the frontier delineated only on maps. In its final ruling, it granted Eritrea the border town of Badme, which Ethiopia has refused to accept, saying it split families between the countries.
Eritrea has repeatedly accused its bigger and more powerful neighbor of gearing up for a new war, a claim dismissed by Addis Ababa as a bid by Asmara to divert attention from its internal problems.
