Eritrea- Ethiopia Close to War

[muriel_volestrangler]

There is growing concern Eritrea and Ethiopia are on the verge of war after reports of troop movements along the tense border between the two Horn of Africa neighbors.

United Nations chief Kofi Annan said in a statement that he was "extremely concerned about reports from the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) concerning movements of military personnel on both sides of the temporary security zone as well as irregular activities inside the zone."

He added that the troop movements involved small and large military and paramilitary formations and movement of armor as well as air defense weapons.
...
(the reason for the dispute):The panel's 2002 decision awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, but has never been fully accepted by Ethiopia which says it wants adjustments to avoid splitting up families on the border.

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=124424®ion=5

[alfredo]

1. I am very disappointed in the leaders of both countries.

The Ethiopians and Eritreans are wonderful people, they deserve better than that.

If you want to read more on this struggle, look up Michela Wrong. She has written extensively on this issue. Her book, "We Didn't Do It For You." Some of my friends were sources for this book.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4729800

[alfredo]

2. dupe

[bemildred]

3. UN fears new Ethiopia-Eritrea war

A senior UN official monitoring the tense Ethiopian-Eritrean border has said he fears a new war is possible after both sides moved troops and military hardware closer to their shared border in the past 10 days.

"This potentially volatile situation could lead to a renewed outbreak of war," said Major General Rajender Singh, forces commander of UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) on Thursday.

"If not addressed, if we do not take measures, if the international community does not act, maybe the situation may deteriorate to a level where the worst can happen and that is war."

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed deep concern at reports Ethiopia and Eritrea were moving troops and military equipment closer to the buffer zone.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CA4E3A93-0907-481E-A589-4AE7757061EC.htm

[bemildred]

4. Open letter - Bush invited to review US policy towards Ethiopia

At the writing of this letter the EPRDF regime in Ethiopia is responding to a peaceful civil disobedience campaign by indiscriminately murdering, maiming and conducting arbitrary mass arrests of hundreds of people in Addis Ababa and around the country. All leaders of the CUPD, and some editors and journalists as well as civic leaders have been arrested,

From the Economist Intelligence Unit, October 16, 2005

Quote:

"The US officials would do a great service to the triumph of democracy in Ethiopia if they clearly understand the tense situation in the country. Telling the opposition to join parliament entirely controlled by one man heading for his 20 years to power by the sword would be the equivalent of the triumph of tyranny over democracy", " the future of his 14 years old government remains uncertain".

Unquote.

The above commentary is pertinent to the prevailing situation in Ethiopia, coming from a well informed and responsible source, which demonstrates clearly the misunderstanding and indifference with which the donors countries view the crisis in Ethiopia. Even for the most uninterested observer, the negative impact that these anti-democratic happenings have on the proclaimed policies of democratization, is self evident. Neither can this unconcern can be construed as due to faulty intelligence. People have been repeatedly murdered, maimed, beaten and arrested arbitrarily in front of diplomats, officials, reporters, observers and aid workers. Of late, even some of the Western diplomats have suffered physical harm and beatings by the security forces of the regime.

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=12387

[auburngrad82]

5. So I guess Eritrea will have to pull their troop out of Iraq

They were part of the "coalition" that Bush boasted about.