Africa: Security Council Ends UN Mission Monitoring Eritrea-Ethiopia Border
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
UN News Service (New York)
30 July 2008
Posted to the web 30 July 2008
The Security Council today voted unanimously to terminate the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), after restrictions placed on the peacekeeping operation by the latter country undermined its ability to carry out its mandate.
The 15-member body emphasized that the termination of UNMEE, effective tomorrow, is without prejudice to the obligations of the two countries under the Algiers Agreement, the 2000 accord which ended their border war.
The UN decided in February to temporarily move its personnel and equipment out of Eritrea after the country cut off fuel supplies to UNMEE, paralyzing the operation on that side of the border with Ethiopia.
In the resolution adopted today, the Council demanded that the two Horn of Africa neighbours "comply fully with their obligations under the Algiers Agreements, show maximum restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other, while avoiding provocative military activities."
The Council requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to further explore with Ethiopia and Eritrea the possibility of a UN presence in those two countries, in the context of the maintenance of international peace and security.
"The Council has taken this decision after both parties rejected options for a possible follow-on presence put forward before them by the Secretary-General at the request of the Security Council," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a statement issued following the Council's action.
While the Secretary-General regrets this decision by the parties, he hopes that they "would be able break the current stalemate and create conditions necessary for the normalization of their relations, which is key to peace and stability in the region," the statement added.
The options presented to the parties were a small military observer mission in Ethiopia, a small political and military liaison office in Ethiopia, or a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General based in New York, as noted by Mr. Ban in a letter to the Council that was made public today.
Mr. Ban intends to continue working closely with both parties through his good offices, which remain available.
Relevant Links
Read comments. Write your own.
je suis entierement d accord avec l auteur de l article sur Eritrea-Ethiopia. Je trouve scandaleux qu a notre epoque ou nous avons de grands moyens pour imposer une decision de l ONU nous n avons toujours pas trouve de solution. Evidemment s il y avait de l or ou du petrole les americains aurait deja debarque. Ces deux pays ont deja assez souffert ces dernières annèes et vont continuer a subir le boursicotage des capitalistes et probablement avoir une situation de famine inssuportable et pas tolerable a notre epoque. cp
First of all, I don't understand why this decision has come as a surprise to anyone. The Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict should have been resolved a long time ago. In fact, it should not have been started in the first place. Blaming the UN for the failure of a comprehensive peace deal is fruitless and frankly, immature. In my opinion, the international community has done what was possible for Ethiopia and Eritea regarding the border conflict. Secondly, dumping the burden of responsibility on someone other than the main actors is unrealistic and it disabuses responsibility for the two parties that… [Read Full Text]
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 UN News Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Although the international community has failed to help the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia by failing to bring about peace and security years ago, its decision at this particular time to terminate its mission is the worst. What is surprising about the decision is that it expects both countries to work to bring their conflict to an end. This is a farfetched idea. The UN has been in charge of the issue for almost a decade and it failed to do something to convince the two parties into the table. How on earth it is expecting the parties to work… [Read Full Text]