ETHIOPIA on Monday reopened its border with Eritrea to a United Nations peacekeeping forces charged with monitoring a ceasefire in the region, UN officials said.
”Yes, the border is open,” UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) spokeswoman Gail Bindley-Taylor said. An Ethiopian government official confirmed the reopening.
Addis Ababa closed the frontier on April 27 after a UN military commander took journalists through the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to visit the disputed border village of Badme.
Badme is claimed by both countries and was the spark that triggered their two-year war in 1998. An international boundary commission ruled on April 13 where the frontier between the two should lie.
But it did not specifically mention Badme and both countries continue to claim sovereignty over the village, which was seized by the Ethiopian army in February 1999 after fierce battles.
Ethiopia claimed that by taking the journalists to Badme from Eritrean territory, the UN military commander in question implied the village belonged to Eritrea. – Sapa-AFP