U.N. Will Send Observers to Horn of Africa
The U.N. Security Council voted Monday to send as many as 100 military observers to Ethiopia and Eritrea as a first step toward a full-fledged peacekeeping operation in the rival Horn of Africa countries.
Fighting broke out May 12 when Ethiopia launched an offensive into Eritrean territory. In Algiers in June, officials of the two governments agreed to a cease-fire.
Under a resolution adopted unanimously, the observers will establish liaisons with the two sides, put into operation the mechanism for verifying the cease-fire and assist in the planning for a future peacekeeping operation.
The plan calls for creation of a 15-mile buffer zone inside Eritrea while independent experts demarcate the disputed 620-mile border with Ethiopia. Eritrea, which gained its independence from Ethiopia seven years ago, lies along the Red Sea and borders Ethiopia to the south and Sudan to the north and west.
Poverty-racked Ethiopia and Eritrea have spent about $1 billion in the last two years on their border conflict, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
The mandate of the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, as the operation is called, will end Jan. 31. The Security Council is expected to meet again after that to discuss the issue.
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