The United States will send a mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia to
help break an impasse in demarcating the border between the two
Horn of African countries, US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said
on Monday.
Bolton told reporters that he had informed the Security Council
of the mediation plan and the council agreed not to change the
status quo of the UN peacekeeping mission on the Eritrean-Ethiopian
border for 30 days.
"In order to give some space for this diplomatic initiative and
in order not to send any signal politically and otherwise which
might complicate (the situation), I asked that we freeze the status
quo for 30 days," he said.
The team, to be headed by US Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, would try to help Eritrea and
Ethiopia to reach agreement on "how to begin implementation of the
demarcation process," he noted.
Bolton spoke to the press after the Security Council concluded a
closed consultation on options for the future of the UN
peacekeeping mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE).
The Eritrean-Ethiopian border has been tense since October when
Eritrea started to impose a series of restrictions on the UNMEE's
movement. Last month, Eritrea expelled all peacekeepers from
Western countries, in spite of appeals from the Security Council to
rescind the expulsion decision.
Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war between 1998 and
2000,which left tens of thousands of people dead. The war ended
after the two countries signed a peace deal in December 2000, under
which they promised to accept rulings to be given by an independent
boundary commission on the demarcation of their disputed
border.
But Ethiopia later refused to accept the commission's decisions
made in April 2002, leaving the demarcation process in a
standstill.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)
