From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Tue Apr 07 2009 - 21:30:36 EDT
UN insists Eritrea pull back from Djibouti, UN
4/7/2009, 4:19 p.m.
PDTEDITH M. LEDERERThe Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The U.N. Security Council
will insist that Eritrea comply with a resolution demanding that it pull
its troops back from the Djibouti border and resolve the dispute with
its neighbor in an important area overlooking Red Sea shipping lanes,
the council president said Tuesday.
Mexico's U.N. Ambassador Claude Heller, the current council president,
said members are concerned at Eritrea's refusal to comply and authorized
him to speak to Eritrea's U.N. ambassador and insist that the Horn of
Africa nation pull back its troops and settle the dispute peacefully.
The council also urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to pursue his
mediation efforts, he said.
Last June, the Security Council condemned Eritrea for launching an
attack against the tiny port nation of Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the
Horn of Africa, which the U.S. said left 44 Djiboutian soldiers dead and
many more missing.
The council called for a cease-fire and urged the two countries to
withdraw their forces from the border ? which Djibouti did, but Eritrea
did not.
The resolution adopted by the council in January expressed "deep
concern" that Eritrea has not withdrawn its forces and has refused to
engage in dialogue with Djibouti or accept offers from the
secretary-general, the African Union and others to help resolve the
dispute.
The council demanded that Eritrea "engage actively" in dialogue and
diplomatic efforts to defuse tension and find "a mutually acceptable
settlement of the border issue."
It also demanded that Eritrea "comply immediately" with its order to
pull its troops back from the border. It gave Eritrea five weeks to take
action, asked the secretary-general to report on compliance and said it
will review the situation in six weeks.
In a letter to the council circulated Tuesday, Djibouti's U.N.
Ambassador Roble Olhaye noted that 2 1/2 months have passed and said his
government is "very skeptical" about the council's request to give the
secretary-general more time to resolve the dispute "due to Eritrea's
utter intransigence so far."
"Eritrea should not be allowed to disregard the decision of the council
with impunity," he said. "It has already enjoyed a disproportionate
amount of grace period. This must not be open-ended, for the sake of
justice and for the sake of regional peace and security."
More than 1,200 U.S troops are stationed in Djibouti, which hosts the
base for an anti-terrorism task force in the Horn of Africa. France,
also has a base in Djibouti, its former colony.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said the council wants
Eritrea "to try to peacefully resolve this dispute because we consider
there is no military solution to this crisis."
Uncertainty over the Djibouti-Eritrea border led to hostilities between
the two countries twice in the 1990s. Eritrea gained independence from
Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, and their border also is
in dispute.
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