UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea extended for 1 month as border talks continue
14 March 2006 – The United Nations Security Council decided this morning to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) for one month, until 15 April 2006, to allow recently revived border talks between the two countries a chance to break a volatile deadlock.
Through resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member body, the Council also reiterated its demands that Eritrea end its restrictions on UNMEE operations and that Ethiopia abide by decisions of the commission designated to demark a permanent border between the two countries.
In his two most recent reports on the issue, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called the situation of UNMEE “untenable” because of the intransigence of the parties in fulfilling those two demands and its creation of a situation dangerous to UN personnel and the region.
For that reason, he had proposed a range of options to reconfigure the mission, ranging from redeployment to total withdrawal.
However, in his most recent report, released last week, the Secretary-General recommended extending UNMEE in its present configuration for two or three months “in order for the forthcoming meeting of the Boundary Commission to bear fruit.”
After that meeting convened on 10 March in London, Mr. Annan said he was pleased by the constructive participation of both parties, and expressed hope that it would allow the Commission’s decision to be implemented without further delay.
A binding decision of the Boundary Commission in 2002 awarded Badme – the town that triggered a bitter, two-year border war that ended in 2000 – to Eritrea, which has become increasingly critical of the UN for not forcing Ethiopia to accept that demarcation.
As a result, Eritrea banned UNMEE flights and peacekeepers of certain nationalities from its territory while restricting the mission’s patrols.
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