Its purpose was to monitor the border and any border crossings between the two countries, but eight years after the peace accords tensions between the two countries remained. So much so that "it was impossible to carry out the mandate," according to the UN. Now between Ethiopia and Eritrea again the danger of a new confrontation.
The UN Security Council has decided not to extend the peacekeeping mission on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea (Minuee) Resolution 1827, submitted by Belgium and approved unanimously by the 15-member body suspending the mandate of about 1,700 peacekeepers deployed on the border between the two countries, which had the task of monitoring the cease-fire and the situation in the buffer zone, a large 24 square kilometers.
The mission, whose mandate would be terminated on 31 July, was born with the signing of the Algiers Agreements in 2000, which ended the bloody war between Addis Ababa and Asmara to territorial disputes. Tensions between the two countries in 2000, pledged to respect the boundaries set by an independent commission, never become extinct: Ethiopia in fact has never accepted the new boundaries, and has rejected the conclusions of an independent study in 2002 which granted the border town of Badme to Eritrea, for its part, Eritrea has been repeatedly accused of having obstructed the work of the UN mission.
Last February, the Asmara government had decided to cut fuel supplies to the mission, accusing the peacekeepers of not enforcing the international border to Ethiopia. The cutting of fuel had forced the soldiers to decamp. The Security Council has not 'been able to find other sources of supply and the end of June has started to discuss the dissolution of the mission, proposing replace it with an''outpost of observers in Ethiopian territory.'' According to the representative in Brussels, Jan Grauls, "the mission had become impossible to perform." The concern about tensions in the area remain: in recent months has been repeatedly warned of the danger of imminent burst of another war. In the resolution terminating the mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Council calls on both countries to refrain from the use of force''and comply fully with the Algiers Agreements. "
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, before the vote that he had written to the council pointing out "the risk of escalation tension in the border area and a resumption of hostilities "in case of withdrawal of Minuee, said he was dismayed by the resolution, and has appealed to both countries for normalization of relations, serving as a mediator.
Source: www.nigrizia.it
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