afrol News, 27 October - There are many signs on the wall indicating that Ethiopia and Eritrea again are set for war, with the latest border war over the town of Badme still an unresolved issue. A proxy war is developing in Somalia. This obviously has worried the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.

In an interview with Ethiopian press, Mr Zenawi said thousands of Eritrean solders have broken the rules and entered the demilitarised zone at the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, as previously denounced by the UN.

"There are some 10,000 soldiers, including the so-called militiamen," Mr Zenawi said, referring to alleged groups of "armed farmers" that are accompanying the regular Eritrean troops. "We consider this act as a flagrant violation of the ceasefire accord and the most serious such violation so far. Nevertheless, we maintain our conviction not to respond to the provocations," he added.

The Asmara government has admitted deploying its troops in the declared buffer zone, which came after a three-year bloody war ensued between the two neighbouring countries in 2000, but claims this was only done to aid harvesting in the zone. Eritrea claims ownership of the zone, which is why it has deployed its troops to support farmers to harvest their crops.

In 2002, there was a peace accord signed in the Algerian capital Algiers that declared the area a buffer zone but the two countries refused to comply, despite appeals by the UN.

The Italian news agency 'Misnat' reported the killing of an Eritrean civilian by a UN soldier at the disputed border. The Barentu killing was said to have occurred when the peacekeeper soldier fired warning shots when the Eritrean entered the buffer zone.

Ethiopian worries over Eritrean advances however are not only confined to the common, UN-monitored border. Signs are getting clearer that a proxy war is about to become reality in Somalia, where Addis Ababa openly aids the internationally recognised transitional government, based in Baidoa close to the Ethiopian border.

Documentation is accumulating that Eritrea not only is providing Somalia's Islamist militias with arms - thus breaking the UN arms embargo - but also has sent troops and advisers to the Mogadishu-based Islamist movement. Ethiopia fears that Eritrea is planning a two-front war against Addis Ababa.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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