The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to end its peacekeeping border mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. The UN withdrew most of its 1.700 peacekeepers in February after Eritrea withdrew its support for the mission, BBC online reports Wednesday.
The vote ending the Eritrea-Ethiopia mission is formally recognising the reality on the ground. But there is concern within the UN that a precedent has been set whereby a government has shown it can drive out peacekeepers.
The war between the two neighbours that erupted in 1998 was the largest conventional conflict to have been fought on the African continent since the end of the Second World War. Tanks, heavy artillery and modern aircraft were thrown into the fray and tens of thousands of people died in two-and-a-half years of bitter trench warfare.
The forces of the two nations are now separated by a few hundred metres.
The UN withdrew most of its peacekeepers after Eritrea cut off fuel and food to the UN mission last year. It was angered by Ethiopias refusal to comply with a binding ruling from international arbitrators that awarded disputed territory to Eritrea.
Ethiopian troops are stationed deep within the territory given to her northern neighbour.
