ASMARA - The United Nations plans to halve its peacekeeping force on the tense border between Ethiopia and Eritrea after talks this week failed to break a deadlock between the arch-foes, diplomats said on Friday.The move to reduce the number of troops in the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) from 3,000 to 1,500 comes after the two east African countries refused to back down at two days of discussions in London, they said. “The London talks this week failed,” one western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. “So the UN has now decided to reduce UNMEE’s military troops from 3,000 men to 1,500 men.”
| Talks fail, so run away. I guess that makes sense in an international diplomacy sort of way ... |
| I hear ya - but do you really want the UN to impose what it thinks is best all around the world? They're already trying to take away our handguns at the meeting this summer .... |
The council has grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in fully implementing the peace deal in the year 2000 that ended Ethiopia and EritreaÂ’s two-year border war after the loss of some 80,000 lives. It has threatened to downgrade UNMEE unless Addis Ababa and Asmara comply with demands to ease tensions that have sparked fears of a new conflict.
| The notion of upgrading the force and knocking some sense into the two parties apparently wasn't voiced ... |
Asmara blamed the stalemate on Addis Ababa’s refusal to accept the panel’s binding 2002 border demarcation that was part of the peace agreement, saying no progress was achieved. “On the critical matter -- Ethiopia’s rejection of the boundary commission’s decision -- there was no progress,” said Yemane Gebremeskel, director of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s office.
Addis Ababa said it had met its obligations and that Asmara was responsible for the current situation as it is refusing to comply with UN Security Council demands to lift restrictions it has imposed on UNMEE. Ethiopia has repeatedly called for the review of the border ruling, which awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, arguing it unfairly splits families and homes between the two countries. “Ethiopia fulfilled every obligation ... and attended the meeting with an open mind, but there is no flexibility on the Eritrean side,” an Ethiopian foreign ministry official told AFP.