From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Apr 11 2009 - 18:25:37 EDT
Ethiopia urges UN to act against Eritrea
Apr 12th, 2009
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia on Saturday criticised the UN for not taking
strong measures against arch-foe Eritrea over its failure to withdraw troops
from disputed territories along its border with Djibouti.
A UN resolution adopted last January gave Asmara five weeks to pull out, and
the Security Council earlier this week concluded that Eritrea had not
fulfilled its obligations 10 weeks after the request.
"Unless the international community is prepared to hold Eritrea accountable
for such open and reckless defiance of international norms and decisions,
there is the real danger Eritrea will be encouraged to continue its regional
destabilization," the Ethiopian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The UN resolution had welcomed the fact that Djibouti withdrew its forces
from the disputed areas as requested by the council last June and condemned
Eritrea's refusal to do so.
Eritrea is also involved in a bitter border dispute with larger neighbour
Ethiopia, whom it fought in a 1998-2000 war that killed some 70,000 people.
The long-running border row between Djibouti and Eritrea over the disputed
Ras Doumeira promontory on the shores of the Red Sea flared up last June
after previous clashes in 1996 and 1999.
The clashes have assumed a greater strategic significance because both
France and the United States have bases in Djibouti, a former French colony.
The United States has more than 1,200 troops stationed in Djibouti, which
hosts an anti-terrorism task force in the Horn of Africa.
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