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Security Council Threatens Ethiopia, Eritrea With Sanctions

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
November 26, 2005
Posted to the web November 29, 2005

By Kassahun Addis

The Security Council of the United Nations has issued yet another resolution on
Ethiopia and Eritrea and called on the two countries to refrain from military
build up and confrontations or face sanctions.
The resolution asked the Asmara government to lift its ban on helicopters'
flight of the United Nations Missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
Upon the failure of the two countries to comply with demands and calls of the
Security Council, member states of the United Nations may be called to take
measures such as a complete or partial interruption of economic relations.
Ethiopia was urged to cooperate with the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission
so that demarcation would be carried out soon.
The regime in Asmara denounced the resolution saying it was too soft on
Ethiopia while the Ethiopian government welcomed the resolution. (For more
details see the article on page 14)
Meanwhile, Ethiopia violated the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) along the Ethio-
Eritrea border areas "for a while" when some member of the national armed
forces occupied Point-885 in Sector East inside the TSZ.
In a weekly media briefing, UNMEE said, "There was occupation of Point-885 for
a very brief period, which happened over the past weekend. This is the post
that UNMEE vacated because of the difficulties created by Eritrea's ban on
UNMEE helicopters' flight."
The members of Ethiopian troops took control of Point-885 on Friday afternoon
and left the spot on Wednesday morning, UNMEE said.
Ethiopian authorities are concerned that UNMEE vacated the area and that was
the statement forwarded to UNMEE officials as explanation for the brief seizure
of the area.
Point-855 is a peak east of Burre and has military strategic significance. It
is the only real peak in the area.
UNMEE expressed its concern over the incident. "Any violation of the Temporary
Security Zone is of concern to us, it doesn't matter how tiny it may be. Any
violation of the integrity of the Temporary Security Zone is of the utmost
importance to UNMEE because it directly affects our mandate, which is to
monitor and verify the redeployment of the troops of both parties and to
maintain the integrity of the zone," UNMEE said.
The Eritrean government was notified of the incident, UNMEE added.

   

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