Push Forward Ethiopia And Eritrea Dialogue

Security Council Considers Asking For UN Envoy To Help Push Forward Ethiopia And Eritrea Dialogue

The President of the United Nations Security Council today said the 15-member body was thinking of asking Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send either an envoy or a mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea to help push forward the "political dialogue" between the two Horn of Africa neighbours.

The Council was considering such a request after Ethiopian troops were seen concentrated on the border with Eritrea, which "could result in aggravating the tensions between the two countries," Ambassador Joel W. Adechi of Benin, which holds the Council's rotating presidency for the month, told reporters following a closed-door briefing on the situation.

The UN currently has a peacekeeping operating in the region, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), which was created a month after the two neighbours signed a cessation of hostilities pact, the June 2000 Algiers Agreement, following their two-year border war.

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