Another troop build-up accusation

The Ethiopian foreign ministry has for the second time in two weeks accused Eritrea of a troop build-up in the demilitarised zone that skirts their disputed border, and has called on the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), to take "these early warnings seriously".

In a statement, issued on Monday afternoon, the ministry claimed that, "Ethiopia knows, as does UNMEE, that Eritrea has begun lately issuing ultimatums to UNMEE to vacate some of its observation posts within the Temporary Security Zone [TSZ] in areas where there are no Eritrean civilians, but which are provocatively close to Ethiopian army positions."

But UNMEE, whose task it is to police the TSZ and the uneasy peace prevailing between the two countries since they signed the Algiers peace agreement in December 2000, maintains that its 4,000-plus peacekeeping force has not observed any such violation by Eritrean forces. Angela Walker, UNMEE's deputy spokeswoman, told IRIN that "the UNMEE Force Commander [Patrick Cammaert] has said categorically that UNMEE is not going to vacate any of its observation posts in the TSZ".

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on 15 November, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said Eritrea was assembling its forces along the common border, an accusation which the Eritrean foreign minister labelled "baseless". "Every time that UNMEE receives any such claims, they are thoroughly investigated, and each time no evidence of troop build-ups has been found," Walker told IRIN.