Global Policy Forum

By Tsegaye Tadesse

Ethiopia said on Tuesday it would not respond militarily to what it called a "minor provocation" after Eritrea moved troops into a U.N.-monitored buffer zone on the border. The United Nations on Monday accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 soldiers and 14 tanks closer to Ethiopia in violation of a six-year-old peace agreement ending a border war between the Horn of Africa neighbours. "The U.N. has said all the things which had to be said," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters. "Eritrea's troop movement is a clear violation of the Algiers ceasefire agreement. We are not going to respond to minor provocations militarily."

Eritrea earlier defended its decision to move troops into the U.N.-monitored zone along its border with Ethiopia, citing its sovereign right over the area. Eritrea's presidential advisor, Yemane Ghebremeskel, said the troops were in the area to work on development projects. "We have a broad range of development projects in that area," Yemane told Reuters by telephone from Asmara without elaborating. "What is the fuss about? This is sovereign Eritrean territory and this is perfectly understandable."

In New York, U.N. Security Council members said they were deeply concerned over the reports. "Members ... call on Eritrea to immediately withdraw its troops from the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ)", and to extend its full and unconditional cooperation to the United Nations Mission in Ethiopian and Eritrea, a statement said.

Ethiopia condemned the troop movement as a provocation. "Ethiopia is keenly monitoring the movement of the Eritrean troops in the TSZ," Information Minister Berhan Hailu said.

The 2000 Algiers accord ended the two-year conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea over a border area of dusty villages and scrubby plains. The countries went to war in 1998 and the fighting killed an estimated 70,000 people before it ended in 2000. Under the peace deal, both sides agreed to accept an independent boundary commission's ruling mapping the 1,000-km (600-mile) border as "final and binding". But the peace process ground to a halt after Ethiopia rejected the commission's border and insisted on further talks, prompting Eritrea to restrict peacekeepers' movements, including a ban on helicopter flights over its territory.

A spokesman said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had urged Asmara to withdraw its troops from the buffer zone and cooperate with the United Nations in restoring the ceasefire arrangements. The U.N. peacekeeping force in Ethiopia and Eritrea stands at 2,300 troops and military observers, down from 3,300 in May. The Security Council last month threatened more cutbacks in the force unless the two countries made progress on their border issue.

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