Global Policy Forum

Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Eritrea on Monday that if it continues to impede U.N. peacekeeping operations the United Nations may pull its troops out of a buffer zone separating the Eritrean and Ethiopian armies.

Eritrea informed the United Nations that it was banning helicopter flights by U.N. peacekeepers in its airspace in the zone starting October 5. It then banned U.N. patrol vehicles from operating at night on its side of the 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) Temporary Security Zone. The zone was established after a December 2000 peace agreement ending a 2 1/2-year border war between the Horn of Africa neighbors. The deal provided for the formation of an independent commission to rule on the position of the disputed border, but Ethiopia refused to accept the decision issued in April 2002 that awarded the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.

Annan told reporters the United Nations still has not been able to get any explanation from the Eritrean government for the bans on helicopters or night vehicle operations. "Obviously, we need all our tools -- helicopters, trucks, communications to operate," he said. "We are placed in a situation where the government has not been cooperating and has limited the movement of our troops." Annan said the United Nations has begun regrouping U.N. troops who were isolated "and positioning ourselves in a manner that protects the men."

The U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea announced Monday that peacekeepers and military observers were pulling out of 18 isolated posts in the buffer zone and were being sent to strengthen operations at other positions. The U.N. has 22 other posts in the zone. "Obviously, our proceedings and operations have been impeded, and if this continues we will have to take some very hard and critical decisions as to the usefulness of staying there if we cannot operate," Annan warned. The secretary-general said he hasn't spoken to Eritrean leaders but "we've sent messages." You know that our relationship with the Eritrean government has not been an easy one, and we are not the only organization or entity with difficult relations with that government," he said

. Last month, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, the head of the U.N. mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, said the unresolved border dispute could lead to more war if the Security Council and the African Union did not do more to find a solution to the stalemate. The Security Council warned Ethiopia and Eritrea on October 4 against igniting a resumption of the border war and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on helicopter flights. In July, Eritrea asked the U.S. Agency for International Development, a major donor of food aid, to stop its operations without giving any reason.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Saturday that he was ready to hold direct talks with Eritrea's president or other officials on resolving the countries' long-running border dispute. Eritrea insists that the decision by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission -- part of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands -- be implemented before any talks with Ethiopia.

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