Border standoff could cause mission pullout - Annan

Ethiopia and Eritrea's dangerous stalemate over their disputed border, could force the United Nations to withdraw its peacekeeping mission, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said. "As a result of the restrictions imposed on UNMEE [the UN's Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea], the present position of the Mission is becoming increasingly untenable," Annan said in a report to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. "The time may be fast approaching to take difficult decisions on the future of the Mission." Annan's report comes amidst increasing fears of renewed conflict along the border, the scene of a devastating two-year war that ended with the signing of a peace deal in December 2000. The border standoff results from Ethiopia's continued disagreement with the ruling of an independent border commission on which parts of the border belong to its smaller neighbour. Eritrea in turn has restricted UNMEE's operations along the frontier of the two nations. In his outline of the options now available to the UN mission, the Secretary-General said that UNMEE could maintain its present configuration "albeit with a much degraded monitoring capacity." Despite a reduced presence, this measure would "buy time for diplomatic initiatives to unblock the current dangerous stalemate." The Security Council could also opt for relocating its staff from the Eritrean capital of Asmara, to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, he said in his report. Other options included transforming UNMEE into an observer or political liaison mission. Yet another possibility would be to restrict its operations to the Ethiopian side of the border. He also said UNMEE "could be withdrawn entirely". Annan reiterated that both parties should comply with a 23 November 2005 Security Council resolution, threatening sanctions against both countries if they did not reverse their military build-up, and against Eritrea if it did not lift its restrictions on UN patrols. Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the Security Council of an "inexcusable abdication of responsibility" for allegedly failing to force Ethiopia to accept the boundary demarcation, as it had agreed to do when it agreed to make peace with Eritrea in 2000. Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.