The UN Security Council late on Tuesday warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter flights by UN peacekeepers.
In a tough statement approved by all 15 council members and read at a formal meeting, the council called on both countries "to show maximum restraint and to refrain from any threat of use of force against each other."
Council members expressed "grave concern" at Eritrea's decision to restrict helicopter flights by UN peacekeepers in Eritrean airspace which came into effect yesterday. The ban violates Security Council resolutions calling on the country to provide access so the UN mission can perform its duties, the statement said.
Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, head of the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, has warned recently that the border dispute could lead to a new war. He urged the Security Council and African Union to take urgent steps toward a resolution.
The Horn of Africa nations fought a two-and-a-half-year border war that ended after a December 2000 peace agreement. The deal provided for an independent commission to rule on the position of their disputed 1,000km-long border.
But Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision issued in April three years ago by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission -- part of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands. Ethiopia objects to the awarding of the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.
The Security Council underlined the need to implement the boundary commission's decision "without further delay," which it said would allow the UN mission to fulfill its mandate.
The 3,200-strong UN peacekeeping force monitors a buffer zone along the border separating the two armies.
UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said that freedom of movement is essential for the effective operation of the UN force, and he expressed gratitude that the council responded with "a very unambiguous and strong statement" on the same day the Eritreans announced the ban on helicopter flights.
He said it was very difficult to tell how serious the threat of renewed conflict is.
"What I can say is if we are not able to move around effectively with our helicopters we will have much less visibility on what's going on on the ground, which can in turn create suspicion and more instability," Guehenno said.
"It's not a good situation if the peacekeeping mission cannot have a full view of what's going on," he said. "We hope that the government of Eritrea will reverse its decision and that our operation can operate for peace in the region."
Guehenno said most flights by UN peacekeepers are helicopter flights, though fixed-wing aircraft are used to travel between the capitals of Ethiopia and Eritrea, via third countries.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS