Ethiopia, Eritrea military build-up worries Annan

Ethiopia, Eritrea military build-up worries Annan
Dakar, Senegal, 11/04 - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed concern over reports from the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) "concerning movements of military personnel on both sides of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ)" and "irregular activities" inside the Zone. The reported troop movements involve small and large military and paramilitary formations, and movement of armour as well as aerial defence assets. "The Secretary General strongly urges the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put an immediate halt to any actions that may be misinterpreted by the other side or jeopardize the security arrangements which they agreed to in the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June 2000," a UN statement said. Annan also urged the Security Council and individual Member States "to take decisive steps to defuse the escalating tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia," saying he "stands ready to assist in this regard." The two countries fought a two-year bloody border war which ended in 2000 with a agreement to abide by the decisions of an International Boundary Commission, which paved the way for deployment of UN troops to help monitor the security zones. But Ethiopia has rejected the decisions of the Commission, while Eritrea recently announced restrictions on UN patrols and helicopter flights on the dispute zones. Last week, Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki in a letter, accused the Security Council of failing to force Ethiopia out of the disputed border town of Badme, awarded to Eritrea by the Boundary Commission. The tension from the military build-up raises fear of possible resumption of hostilities by the two countries. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 after rebel movements from both sides had joined to topple the Addis Ababa regime in 1991.
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