The United Nations Security Council has approved the extension of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) for another six months, but expressed concern over the lack of progress in efforts to resolve the dispute on the demarcation of the border between the two countries.
The council, which met to discuss Unmee on Tuesday, also approved Secretary General Kofi Annan’s recommendation that the mission be scaled down. The peacekeeping force is currently made up of 3 800 civilian and military staff, and costs $16,8-million a month to maintain.
In a report to the council, Annan had recommended an approach that would see headquarters staff scaled down by almost a third. On the military side, Kenyan troops that patrol the eastern sector of the border would be pulled out, with more helicopter patrols being introduced. The three border sectors would be consolidated into two, covering the 1 000km-long frontier.
A commercial demining team has already replaced a Slovak military group, resulting in a $6-million cut in costs. A further $20-million could be saved by troop reductions.
The council called on Ethiopia and Eritrea “to fully and promptly” cooperate with the international boundary commission and to create conditions that would allow the demarcation of the border to proceed quickly, including payment of Ethiopia’s dues to the commission and the appointment of field liaison officers.
The peace process stalled after Ethiopia rejected an April 2002 ruling by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. The countries had initially agreed to accept the ruling.
Although the commission drew up and published details of the new border in 2002, the physical demarcation of the frontier has been suspended as a result of the dispute that erupted after Ethiopia’s rejection of the ruling.
The council urged Ethiopia to show the political will to reaffirm its acceptance of the commission’s decision, and called on Eritrea to enter dialogue with the secretary general’s Special Envoy for Ethiopia and Eritrea, Lloyd Axworthy.
While Ethiopia remains opposed to parts of the border commission ruling, Eritrea has insisted that dialogue is not possible before the completion of the demarcation process and has so far refused to meet Axworthy. — Irin