Eritrea stepped up criticism of the United Nations in its bitter border row with Ethiopia late on Monday, even as the United States moved to ease soaring tensions between the arch-rival neighbours.
In a statement released as the US said it would send a high-level delegation to both countries in a bid to defuse fears of a new war between the two, Eritrea accused the world body of showing ”ingrained bias” against it.
Echoing a complaint it has long made, Eritrea’s foreign ministry said the UN’s refusal to force Ethiopia to accept a binding four-year-old border demarcation was ”appalling” and a ”parody of international justice”.
It said UN chief Kofi Annan’s recent report to the Security Council had again ignored Ethiopia’s rejection of the border ruling that came out of the peace pact that ended the bloody 1998-2000 war.
”It’s ingrained bias against Eritrea and an avid desire to dwell on relatively secondary and inconsequential issues while glossing over Ethiopia’s grave violations of international law that precipitated the current crisis,” the ministry said.
It complained that Ethiopia’s withdrawal of some troops from the border was irrelevant and should be not counted in Addis Ababa’s favour when the Security Council considers consequences for its demands on the matter.
The Security Council in November threatened both Ethiopia and Eritrea with sanctions if they went back to war and did not draw down troops, and warned Asmara of punitive measures if it did not ease restrictions on UN peacekeepers.
While Ethiopia has pulled back some troops from the border, Eritrea has not met a single council demand and insists the only violation of the peace deal is Ethiopia’s refusal to accept the new border.
”The sad truth is all this commotion could have been avoided and prevented had Ethiopia honoured its treaty obligations and had the UN Security Council shouldered its responsibilities,” the ministry said.
”The least one can say is this is a parody of international justice that cries for remedy,” it said.
Earlier on Monday, the US said it was sending a high-level team to the two countries to try to resolve the dispute with a key aim of how to resolve the ”demarcation process”.
The dispute escalated last month when Eritrea expelled Western peacekeepers of the UN mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia. — Sapa-AFP