Ethiopia, Eritrea exchange accusations

By LES NEUHAUS
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia and Eritrea traded accusations of peace-deal violations Tuesday, a day after the U.N. said Eritrea was moving troops and tanks into a buffer zone established after the Horn of Africa rivals went to war over their still-disputed border.
Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been strained since the peace pact ended their war six years ago, with tensions on the rise because of unrest in Somalia, with Eritrea and Ethiopia supporting opposing factions.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that the Eritrean troop movement, which the United Nations said constituted of 1,500 soldiers, was a violation of a cease-fire between the two countries, but that Ethiopia would not make similar moves.
"I don't think it changes things fundamentally, but this is a clear violation," of the peace agreement, Meles told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an African Union Peace and Security Council meeting. "We are not going to respond to minor provocations militarily."
Eritrea said its soldiers were in the strip, which it claims at its own territory, to do development work and that the tanks were there to protect them.
"An army is an army and needs protection," said Yemani Ghebremeskel, director of Eritrean President Isaias Aferwerki's office.
"This is not a provocative act," Yemani told The Associated Press by telephone from the Eritrean capital, Asmara.
"This is sovereign Eritrean territory, so how can this be a breach of a cease-fire agreement? This statement is rubbish because it has no sense of balance and does not talk about the 1,001 times that Ethiopia has violated the agreement by forcefully occupying our territory," Yemani said.
He accused Ethiopia of violating the peace pact by failing to accept an international ruling to demarcate their common border.
The United Nations accused Eritrea on Monday of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into the buffer zone established after the 2 1/2-year border war, calling it "a major breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.
Eritrean troops took over one U.N. checkpoint and forced a platoon of Jordanian peacekeepers to leave, said U.N. officials.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Eritrean government to withdraw its troops from the buffer zone immediately, and to cooperate with the United Nations in restoring the cease-fire arrangements, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Eritrea's move may be part of a regional strategy to place military pressure on Ethiopia. The United Nations reported earlier this year that Eritrea has sent weapons to a radical Islamic group that has been increasing its power in Somalia and that opposes Ethiopia's moves to prop up Somalia's internationally backed government.
By moving troops closer to the border, Eritrea could be aiming to keep Ethiopian troops tied up there so that they cannot move into Somalia. Ethiopia would presumably want to avoid trouble on two fronts, but Eritrea's action raised the threat of renewed war between the feuding neighbors.
Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been strained since Eritrea gained its independence in 1993 following a 30-year rebel war.
A 3,800-strong U.N. peacekeeping force has been monitoring a 15-mile wide, 620-mile long buffer zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia under a December 2000 peace agreement that ended the border war.
In apparent frustration at Ethiopia's refusal to implement a binding ruling on their disputed border, and the lack of U.N. action to pressure Ethiopia to comply, Eritrea banned U.N. helicopter flights in its airspace in October 2005. Two months later, it banned U.N. night patrols and expelled Western peacekeepers.
Source: www.chron.com