Posted on 12/08/2005 2:56:54 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is sending two senior peacekeeping officials to Eritrea and Ethiopia to assess the situation in the wake of Eritrea's decision to expel Western peacekeepers from the area, his spokesman said today.
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Mr Annan decided to send the head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, and military adviser General Randir Kumar Mehta to the two countries "as soon as practicable". Their mission will be to "assess the situation on the ground and to see what steps can be taken to improve the situation" after Asmara gave North American and European peacekeepers from the UN mission monitoring its tense border with Ethiopia 10 days to leave, Mr Dujarric said.
Yesterday, the UN Security Council and Mr Annan demanded that Eritrea immediately rescind its decision.
But a senior Eritrean official said today that Asmara had no intention of complying with the UN demand.
"We are a sovereign country, we have every right to expel some personnel within the law," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) is here at the invitation of both parties under Chapter Six of the UN charter," the official said, referring to provisions that make the hosting of such operations voluntary.
UNMEE has 3794 peacekeepers and support staff on both sides of the 1000km border, many of whom are based in Eritrea.
The expulsion order will not affect the vast majority of troops - who are mainly from India, Jordan and Kenya - but will hit about 70 of UNMEE's 190 civilian staff and about 90 of 208 military observers, diplomats said.
Britain's UN envoy Emyr Jones Parry, the Security Council president for December, said today that the 15-member council was "covering all the contingencies we should cover".
He said a formal council on the crisis was not being planned today.
But Greece's UN envoy Adamantios Vassilakis said an informal meeting of countries contributing troops to UNMEE would be held later in the day.
"We will try to see how to defuse the tension and how to make the Eritrean president (Isaias Afwerki) feel that not everybody is against him," the Greek envoy said.
"My view is that he has a feeling that we are against him. He has to understand things are a little different."
There seems little appetite for sanctions among council members.
"We don't like sanctions, we believe sanctions could come at a last resort," said Algeria's UN envoy Abdallah Baali.
Diplomats said Eritrea's move appeared to be a response to last month's UN Security Council threat to impose sanctions on Asmara unless it eases restrictions on the mission.
The Security Council voted unanimously on November 23 to threaten both Ethiopia and Eritrea with economic and diplomatic sanctions should they return to war over the border.
But it also warned Eritrea alone of punitive actions unless it drops restrictions it imposed on UNMEE peacekeepers in its territory in October when it banned helicopter flights by the mission.
The expulsions were ordered amid soaring tensions along the Ethiopian-Eritrean border and rising fears of a resumption in hostilities between the arch-rival Horn of Africa neighbours.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody 1998-2000 war over the border that claimed some 80,000 lives, and Asmara says new conflict is looming because Addis Ababa has rejected a binding frontier demarcation emanating from a peace deal.
THe UNs version of a war party.
***** Mr Annan decided to send the head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, and military adviser General Randir Kumar Mehta to the two countries "as soon as practicable". *****
And how many wars have these two clowns stopped?
I dont know much about wars and things in Eritrea, but I do like the way this King told the UN his was a sovereign state and they could do as they liked.
What is Koffi's exit plan? If there is no exit plan, shouldn't these peacekeepers be moved "over the horizon" to a neutral country to ensure their safety?
</sarc>
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is sending two senior peacekeeping officials to Eritrea and Ethiopia to assess the situation in the wake of Eritrea's decision to expel Western peacekeepers from the area, his spokesman said today.
This means that 100,000 people will die there. it's what the UN does best!
At one point, back when Eritrea was still part of Ethiopia, we actually provided aid to anti Communists there who wanted to kick out the Reds who'd offed Haile Sellassie. Our proxies eventually were closing in on Addis Ababba when the first truce was set up on the condition that Ethiopia gave Eritrea autonomy leading to independence. Things went well for a while but later soured, hence the late 90s conflict. From what I understand, Ethiopia, although less Communistic than is used to be, is still in bed with the PRC and the Ruskis. So I say, get the UN out of the way and let them have at it!
You can rest assured that if the crap hits the rotating device, the UN will definitely get out of the way --fast.
They are lovers (Rapists?) not fighters.
You do realise that US military and observers serve under the UN mandate. Some of those are deployed in UNMEE.
We need to get the US out of the UN. We do all their dirty work for them then they turn on us like rabid dogs.
Just ain't gonna happen. President Bush still supports the UN and under his authority still deploys US military observers. On Bush's watch USAF U-2s were flying over Iraq with UN markings.
Kofi should be humiliated when a Banana Republic like Eritrea gives the U.N. the diplomatic equivelant of The Middle Finger!
So much for the "moral authority" of the worthless U.N.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.