The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday that reduces the UN's peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea from 2,300 to 1,700 troops.

The 15-member council also extended the mandate of the mission, called the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), for six months, until July 31.

The council demanded that Ethiopia accept the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission and complete demarcation of the border between the two countries.

It also demanded that Eritrea immediately withdraw its troops and equipment from the UN buffer zone and end all restrictions on UNMEE operations.

The council called on the two countries to "show maximum restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other."

From 1998 to 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war, in which 70,000 people were killed. Since July 2001, a UN peacekeeping force has been patrolling a buffer zone separating the two countries' militaries.

The UNMEE, which had a original force of 3,300, was cut to 2,300 by the council last May.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)