The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on
Tuesday that reduces the UN's peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea from 2,300 to 1,700 troops.
The 15-member council also extended the mandate of the mission,
called the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE),
for six months, until July 31.
The council demanded that Ethiopia accept the final and binding
decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission and complete
demarcation of the border between the two countries.
It also demanded that Eritrea immediately withdraw its troops
and equipment from the UN buffer zone and end all restrictions on
UNMEE operations.
The council called on the two countries to "show maximum
restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each
other."
From 1998 to 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war, in
which 70,000 people were killed. Since July 2001, a UN peacekeeping
force has been patrolling a buffer zone separating the two
countries' militaries.
The UNMEE, which had a original force of 3,300, was cut to 2,300
by the council last May.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)
