The UN Security Council has strongly condemned Eritrea's lack of cooperation with the UN peacekeeping mission monitoring the border with Ethiopia and demanded that it resume providing diesel fuel and food and allow troops to move freely.
Council members said on Friday they would consider "further appropriate steps" -- which they didn't specify -- for the safety and protection of the peacekeepers.
The council met in emergency session after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office said the peacekeeping mission has been trapped in a dangerous situation inside Eritrea, denied enough food or fuel to keep operating for much longer.
"The government of Eritrea has created a situation in which a temporary relocation of personnel and equipment from Eritrea has been rendered inevitable," the council said in a statement read by its president, Panama's UN Ambassador Ricardo Arias.
"The Security Council strongly condemns the lack of cooperation from the government of Eritrea," the statement said. "The Security Council holds Eritrea responsible for the safety and security of the mission and its personnel. The Security Council demands that the government of Eritrea resume full cooperation."
Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been consistently strained since Eritrea gained its independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war. The border between the countries was never officially demarcated, which led to a two-and-a-half-year war that ended in 2000.
Under the ceasefire agreement that ended the fighting, both sides agreed to allow an international boundary commission rule on the disputed border. The commission ruling in April 2002 awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea -- but Ethiopia has refused to hand over any territory.
In apparent frustration at Ethiopia's refusal to implement the ruling, and the lack of UN action to press Ethiopia to comply, Eritrea banned UN helicopter flights in its airspace in October 2005. Two months later, it banned UN night patrols and expelled Western peacekeepers -- and recently it started restricting fuel supplies.
Last Monday, Ban ordered UN peacekeepers to leave Eritrea temporarily and move to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa -- but Eritrean authorities allowed no more than six UN vehicles to cross the increasingly militarized border, UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
She said there had been one incident in which UN personnel were threatened and their equipment seized. Other vehicles were stopped by Eritrean defense forces and prevented from entering Ethiopia, Okabe said.
Okabe also said an Eritrean company that was supplying food to the peacekeepers had told the UN mission that it could no longer fulfill that contract.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS