UN envoy to meet peacekeepers and officials

The United Nations Security Council envoy, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday as tensions between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea over an unresolved border dispute continued to be reported.

During the Security Council-sanctioned visit, Oshima will meet UN peacekeeping officials and government representatives. He will also assess troop movements along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea and consider the danger of an escalation into war.

On Friday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country was watching events on the Eritrean side of the border.

"We will wait patiently," Meles was quoted as saying by state-run media. "The Ethiopian forces are ready to take all the necessary measures to defend the country's sovereignty."

The African Union (AU) urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to exercise restraint following military movements near their disputed boundary.

In a statement issued on Friday, the AU said developments on the common border could "escalate into a military confrontation, with far-reaching implications for the two countries and the region as a whole."

AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare urged both sides to "exercise restraint and to refrain from any action that could have the effect of further aggravating the situation."

UN peacekeepers patrol a 1,000-km Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that was set up at the end of a two-and-half-year border war that ended in 2000.

An estimated 70,000 people from both countries died in the conflict. The common border has not yet been demarcated, despite an international agreement signed by both parties.

Last month, Eritrea banned UN helicopter flights in its airspace and placed further restrictions on ground patrols. The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea said it was now able to monitor only 40 percent of the border.

There are currently 3,300 UN peacekeepers patrolling the TSZ, at a cost of some US $186 million a year.

On 28 October, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki wrote to the Council, listing agreements between Eritrea and Ethiopia since 2000 and accusing the UN of failing to do enough to maintain regional peace and security.

"[The UN's] unwillingness to enforce the rule of law and to ensure respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a UN member state has compromised its credibility as well as its legal and moral authority," he said in the letter.

The correspondence followed an earlier communication to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in which Isaias said the UN was engaged in an "unacceptable" campaign to portray "a humanitarian crisis" in Eritrea.

"This campaign is apparently designed to cover up the failure of the United Nations to shoulder its legal responsibilities in the border conflict and to wrongly shift the blame to Eritrea," Isaias said.