(SomaliNet) Eritrea has denied that it has any problems with Djibouti, which accuses it of amassing troops on their border. Djibouti, earlier this week, appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene in order to prevent a conflict over the border village of Doumeira. Djibouti alleged Eritrea had published new maps showing Doumeira as Eritrean territory.
However, Eritrea's ambassador to the European Union, Grirma Asmerom, said he knew nothing about the letter.
| "Lies! All lies!" |
| You get the sense they just don't get along with anyone ... |
"The sudden growth of troops calls for real intervention by the international community because we see it as a real threat," Djibouti's ambassador to the UN Roble Olhaye told the BBC's Network Africa programme. "We wanted to urge the Security Council to take all necessary measures to prevent any kind of conflagration because the prospect of a real war is there."
But Mr Asmerom said he was bemused by such accusations. "There is no such problem with Djibouti; we have never had a problem with Djibouti," he said.
In 1995, Eritrea clashed with Yemen over the Hanish islands in the Red Sea - one of the world's major shipping lanes. Three years later, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year war over the border town of Badme, in which tens of thousands of people died. Djibouti and Eritrea clashed twice over their mutual border in the 1990s and nearly went to war.