March 17,
2008: The recent bomb explosion on an Ethiopian bus, travelling near the
Eritrean border, has been blamed on Eritrea. The Ethiopians are playing up "Eritrean
terrorism" and, in general, trying to get the Ethiopian public in an anti-Eritrean
mood. This is not good, as it is often a prelude to war.
March 15,
2008: Though both Ethiopia and Eritrea have several tens of thousands of troops
along their border (Ethiopia perhaps 100,000), both nations continue to insist
there will not be another war. The US State Department said recently that a new
war is "unlikely" but that the UN needs to maintain observers in Ethiopia to
watch the border. UNMEE has withdrawn most of its peacekeeping force from
Eritrea.
March 13,
2008: Nothing unusual in this. Ethiopia and the ONLF have very different
versions of a series of what's happening in the Ogaden. Ethiopia reported that
its troops had fought a series of battle over a 15 day period (end of February)
and killed numerous rebels in the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The
ONLF claims that Ethiopian troops suffered a series of defeats and that the ONLF
killed over 40 Ethiopian soldiers. Since Ethiopia has barred western
journalists from entering the combat area, no reliable outside sources are
available.
March 11,
2008: The UN has "temporarily relocated" 702 peacekeepers from Eritrea. This is
an interesting phrase; it is supposed to imply that the UNMEE soldiers could
return. Meanwhile, 397 Jordanian soldiers and 305 Indian soldiers have been
sent home. The pullback began in mid-February after Eritrea cut fuel supplies
and began restricting food supplies to peacekeepers in Eritrea.
February
27, 2008: The UN reported that "most" of its peacekeepers in Eritrea had left
the border area (Temporary Security Zones, TSZ) and moved to Eritrea's capital,
Asmara. The UN decided to withdraw its peacekeepers after Eritrea stopped
supplying fuel Eritrea upped the ante by cutting food supplies as well. Eritrea
issued a statement that said the UN had failed to enforce the 2002 ruling of
the Ethiopia Eritrea Boundary Commission, that gave the Badme area to Eritrea.
Ethiopia continues to occupy Badme.
February
21, 2008: The UN Security Council accused Eritrea of repeated violations of
agreements that led to the deployment of UN peacekeepers along the
Ethiopia-Eritrea border. The UN condemned Eritrea's "fuel blockade" of UN
peacekeepers and said that the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was
in the process of pulling back peacekeepers from the Eritrean side of the
border.
