Isayas dismisses troops build-up accusations

Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki has expressed grave concern about recent statements by senior Ethiopian officials alleging an Eritrean troop build-up, Shaebia, the web site of the Eritrean ruling party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, reported on Tuesday. In a letter to the president of the UN Security Council, Afewerki warned that these latest statements were aimed at derailing the demarcation process. "Ethiopia's motivation at this juncture, as we approach the final phase of the delimitation by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, is not difficult to discern," Shaebia quoted the letter as saying. It added that Ethiopia wanted "to derail or influence the delimitation process through bluffs and intimidations". The president's letter called on the international community not to allow Ethiopia to violate the international agreements it had signed, and thereby "endanger regional peace and stability". 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". On Monday, the Ethiopian foreign ministry, for the second time in two weeks, accused Eritrea of a troop build-up in the demilitarised zone that skirts their disputed border, and called on the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), to take "these early warnings seriously". "Every time that UNMEE receives any such claims, they are thoroughly investigated, and each time no evidence of troop build-ups has been found," Angela Walker, the UNMEE deputy spokeswoman, told IRIN.