- The UN Security Council today terminated its peacekeeping mission monitoring the disputed border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The mission was seen to have "failed", increasing dangers of a new Ethio-Eritrean war.
Council members voted unanimously today to withdraw its failed 1,700 strong force monitoring a buffer zone between the Horn of Africa neighbours, which ended their border conflict in 2000.
The decision came in response to the crippling restrictions imposed by Eritrea on the operation of mission and Ethiopia's refusal to recognise a binding verdict by an international boundary panel that granted the flashpoint border town of Badme to Eritrea.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in April this year warned that a withdrawal of peacekeepers could spark renewed conflict on frontier as both countries are still at loggerheads despite years of intervention by international bodies.
Eritrea's ambassador to the United Nations, Araya Desta, today told the news agency 'Reuters' that Asmara did not want a military confrontation with Addis Ababa but was fed up with what he described as an illegal occupation of Eritrean territory.
"We have a right to take our land, to do anything possible to take back our territories. We don't envisage at this stage any use of military force to do that," Mr Desta was quoted as saying.
The Asmara government says a November 2007 demarcation of the border by the now-defunct boundary commission ended the issue. Ethiopia says Eritrea is illegally massing troops on the border in a supposedly demilitarised zone and it wants to discuss the border demarcation further.
The Eritrea-Ethiopia dispute is part of a set of regional tensions that extends into Somalia, where Ethiopian troops are supporting an interim government, and into Djibouti, whose forces clashed with Eritrean troops last month.
Eritrea and Ethiopia feuded over their border since Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The border war between the two neighbours is estimated to have killed some 70,000 people.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español