By Claudia Parsons
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Eritrea must withdraw its troops from a supposedly demilitarized zone on its border with Ethiopia and both countries should show the “utmost restraint,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.
A 1998-2000 war on the border between the two Horn of African neighbors killed 70,000 people and brought untold hardship to two of the world’s poorest countries.
Now analysts are warning of a repeat as troops build up ahead of an end-November deadline by an independent boundary commission for Ethiopia and Eritrea to mark out their border.
“The continued military buildup in the border area is a cause of serious concern, which has already resulted in shooting incidents that underscore the risk of further miscalculation,” Ban said in a report to the Security Council.
The United Nations has a peacekeeping force of 1,700 people charged with monitoring a security buffer zone on Eritrea’s side of the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontier. Under the terms of a June 2000 cease-fire, the zone is supposed to be demilitarized.
Ban said in his report that since early September, Eritrea had moved an estimated 1,000 additional troops and 10 heavy machine guns into a section of the buffer zone called Sector Centre, bringing troops in that sector to more than 2,580.
In a sector labeled Subsector East, Eritrea has around 600 troops, Ban said, while in Sector West, Eritrea moved in some 2,025 troops, tanks and artillery in October, adding to some 2,000 it had already in place.
“I … call on Eritrea to withdraw its forces and military equipment from the zone,” Ban said, adding that Eritrea should also lift restrictions it has imposed on the U.N. force.
Ethiopia, for its part, conducted training exercises and has been adding troops on its side of the border, Ban said.
On Saturday, Eritrea accused Ethiopia for the third time in a week of planning an invasion, an allegation Addis Ababa has termed an “absurd” fabrication.
“Although the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have repeatedly stated that they do not intend to initiate hostilities, the build-up of the forces on both sides of the border area is a cause of serious concern,” Ban said.
WARNINGS OF WAR
Earlier this week, the influential think tank International Crisis Group warned that war could erupt within weeks if there is no major international push to stop it.
Washington sees Ethiopia as its best ally in the region and accuses Eritrea of backing Somali Islamists.
Despite an offensive against insurgents in its east, and a foreign mission in Somalia where it is helping the government fight Islamist rebels, Ethiopia maintains 100,000 troops on its border with Eritrea, the group said, quoting U.S. estimates.
Ban’s report did not give an estimate of troop numbers on the Ethiopian side.
The neighbors have been in dispute since the independent boundary commission awarded Eritrea the town of Badme in a 2002 ruling. Although it now says it accepts the ruling, Ethiopia is still insisting on dialogue over implementation.
The boundary commission brought the two sides together for talks in September aimed at pushing forward measures to physically demarcate the border along the line established in 2002, but Ban said the talks made no progress.
Frustrated by the stalemate, the boundary commission says the countries have until the end of this month to mark the border physically or it will fix the border on maps and let it stand. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)