Mogelijke oorlog Ethiopië-Eritrea

quote:

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US to send team to try to resolve Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute


*Tue Jan 10, 12:31 AM ET*


The United States is sending a high-level team to Eritrea and Ethiopia to
try to resolve a festering border dispute that threatens to degenerate into
a new war between the Horn of Africa arch-rivals, the US envoy to the United
Nations said.


John Bolton said he informed the UN Security Council that US Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer would lead a team to
the region to try to resolve the underlying political dispute between the
two countries.


A key aim of the mission would be "how to begin implementation of the
(border) demarcation process," Bolton said.


The US ambassador said Frazer would be accompanied by retired Marine General
Carlton Fulford, whom he described as "quite knowledgeable about the border
and the demarcation process."


"We're hoping this is the right moment and the right opportunity," Bolton
said.


"Accordingly, in order to give some space for this diplomatic initiative and
in order not to send any signals, politically or otherwise, that might
complicate it, I asked that we preserve the status quo" regarding the
disposition of the UN mission monitoring the tense border.


At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said the US team would
leave for East Africa "in the coming days" to try to "reenergize progress
towards finding a lasting solution to the border conflict."


"The council is very pleased with the (US) initiative," said Tanzania's UN
envoy Augustine Mahiga, the council president for January.


Bolton welcomed the council's positive reaction to the initiative, noting:
"I think there was widespread support for it."


Washington maintains close ties with both Addis Ababa and Asmara.


"It's obviously not an easy undertaking, but we felt we were in the best
position to try and deal with it," Bolton said.


Bolton has consistently argued that the stalled demarcation process was the
crux of the dispute and needed to be addressed head on.


The border dispute escalated last month when Eritrea ordered the expulsion
of Western peacekeepers of the UN mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE).


Bolton and Mahiga spoke after the 15-member council met behind closed doors
Monday to consider options for UNMEE.


Last week UN chief Kofi Annan presented the council with six options ranging
from maintaining the status quo to a full withdrawal of the UN force.


He also recommended the convening of a meeting of the witnesses to the 2000
Algiers accords between Ethiopia and Eritrea in order to focus additional
world attention on the Horn of Africa situation.


Annan made it clear that none of the options was perfect and said that both
Addis Ababa and Asmara would still have to fully implement council
resolution 1640.


That resolution passed in November had given the two countries until
December 23 to reduce troop levels in the volatile border area under threat
of sanctions, warned Eritrea that it would face punitive measures if it did
not lift restrictions it put on the 3,837-strong UNMEE, and urged Ethiopia
to accept the new boundary.


Ethiopia agreed to withdraw some soldiers from the border, but Eritrea has
thus far refused to rescind the October ban on UNMEE helicopter flights and
responded to the council threat by expelling North American and European
peacekeepers from its territory last month.


Bolton said he told the council that "there were no promises, no guarantees
(of success) ... but that we felt that this kind of diplomatic initiative
could bring movement on the underlying political dispute."


The council earlier Monday was briefed on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border crisis
by Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping
operations, who visited the region last month and failed to persuade Asmara
to rescind its decision expelling the Western peacekeepers.


Guehenno welcomed the US initiative but said its was "too early to tell"
whether it would succeed.


Eritrea has repeatedly warned that a new conflict is looming as Ethiopia
refuses to accept the binding post-war border demarcation set by a boundary
commission in 2002 in line with a 2000 peace deal.


Ethiopia in November indicated that it now accepted the "principle" of the
boundary commission's ruling, but called for "adjustments," which Eritrea
has rejected.


The two east African neighbors fought a bloody 1998-2000 war over the border
that claimed some 80,000 lives.

quote:

Op dinsdag 10 januari 2006 18:31 schreef Feyenoorder het volgende:

[..]

ik denk dat het niet tot een conflict gaat komen. Zoals ik al had verwacht grijpen de Amerikanen in. De reden daarvoor is simpel. De Amerikanen willen geen oorlog, omdat beide landen bondgenoten zijn in de strijd tegen het terrorisme. Veel mensen weten het misschien niet maar de Hoorn van Afrika (met landen zoals de bovengenoemde maar ook Somalië, Sudan en Yemen) is een zeer belangrijk gebied als het gaat om de oorlog tegen het terrorisme.
De Amerikanen wouden zelfs een militaire basis openen in Eritrea (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-24-eritrea_x.htm) en beide landen hebben de oorlog in Irak gesteund http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2862343.stm.
Dus ik zou zeggen dank je wel Bolton

quote:

Op dinsdag 10 januari 2006 18:31 schreef Feyenoorder het volgende:

[..]

ik denk dat het niet tot een conflict gaat komen. Zoals ik al had verwacht grijpen de Amerikanen in. De reden daarvoor is simpel. De Amerikanen willen geen oorlog, omdat beide landen bondgenoten zijn in de strijd tegen het terrorisme. Veel mensen weten het misschien niet maar de Hoorn van Afrika (met landen zoals de bovengenoemde maar ook Somalië, Sudan en Yemen) is een zeer belangrijk gebied als het gaat om de oorlog tegen het terrorisme.
De Amerikanen wouden zelfs een militaire basis openen in Eritrea (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-24-eritrea_x.htm) en beide landen hebben de oorlog in Irak gesteund http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2862343.stm.
Dus ik zou zeggen dank je wel Bolton

quote:

Op woensdag 11 februari 2009 00:11 schreef Menelikboy het volgende:

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Oke oke interresant.. dat Eritrea en Ethiopie mededen tegen internationale terrorisme...