ADDIS ABABA, 12 Dec. (IRIN): Ethiopia will pull back troops from its tense border with Eritrea to comply with a UN-order to avert fresh conflict in the Horn of Africa, the Ethiopian foreign minister said.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Seyoum Mesfin said Ethiopia was ready to reduce its troops to December 2004 levels to help ease tension. The withdrawal would take place despite some risks to the countrys security, a statement said.
The announcement comes as Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched the UNs top peacekeeping and military officials to the region following Eritreas decision to expel 180 UN staff from the country.
The UNs Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea UNMEE) has warned that the expulsion of its staff could cripple the mission, already hampered by serious restrictions on its movement by Eritrea.
The Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, and UN military adviser Gen Randir Kumar Mehta arrived in Ethiopia on Sunday. They are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Monday before flying to Eritrea.
The move comes five years after the signing of the peace deal between the two countries on 12 December 2000. However, since then little headway has been made in resolving the border stalemate.
The UN estimates that since December 2004, Ethiopia has moved around eight divisions – some 50.000 men – as well as tanks, missiles and other military hardware to the border.
Diplomats estimate that around 380.000 troops are entrenched along the 1.000-km frontier – around 130.000 on the Ethiopian side and 250.000 on the Eritrean side – where both countries waged a bloody two-year war that began in May 1998.
Tens of thousands of militia are also armed on both sides, said diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.
No date was given for the withdrawal, but Seyoum said the Council would have to shoulder any responsibility if Eritrea tried to take advantage of the pull out. He added in his letter to the current president of the Security Council, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, that Ethiopia would redeploy its forces in the interests of peace.
On 23 November the Security Council threatened sanctions against both countries and gave them 30 days to pull back forces to positions held in December 2004. It also said Eritrea must lift its ban on helicopter flights.
Seyoum said that implementing the decision of the boundary commission would present no major hurdles to either government.
However, he did not say whether Ethiopia was willing to cede to Eritrea the border town of Badme, where the war first flared up and the source of the stalemate that has dogged the peace process since April 2002.
Badme was awarded to Eritrea by an international boundary commission set up after the conflict to resolve the dispute over territories on the frontier. Ethiopia has refused to implement the ruling, claiming it would not lead to lasting peace.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but the border between the two was never formally demarcated.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
