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Security Council Puts Off Vote on Ethiopia-Eritrea Arms Ban
The UN Security Council on Wednesday put off a vote on the US-sponsored draft resolution which demands the lifting of an arms embargo against Ethiopia and Eritrea, and diplomats said that the vote is likely to take place next week.
Fred Eckhard, the UN spokesman, told a press conference here that the vote, originally scheduled for Wednesday, "has been postponed."
The spokesman made the announcement after the 15-nation council ended its closed-door session, but failed to narrow differences among its members on whether to lift an arms embargo against the two Horn of Africa nations.
Diplomats said that the draft is on hold for the coming week, and council members are waiting for instructions from their capitals. The United States wants the draft adopted within one week.
The United States demanded an end to the embargo while other council members said that the action is dangerous in view of continued disputes between the two Horn of Africa countries over implementing a disengagement of forces.
The United States argues that a formal December 12 peace accord it brokered to end the two-year border war between the two nations meant the arms embargo could be lifted.
Canada and the Netherlands, with soldiers in the U.N. force, object to the arms ban being lifted so soon, saying that Ethiopia has better uses for its money.
U.N. officials said here Wednesday that the council members are trying to reach an agreement on the issue. Several nations may abstain on the controversial draft resolution, which is likely to be adopted by the Security Council anyway, diplomatic sources here said.
Despite misgivings that the weapons ban would end too soon after fighting, diplomats said this was not an issue members were going to fight Washington over.
The arms ban was imposed on May 17 last year as punishment for renewed fighting in the border war. It was to lapse in May or whenever U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reports that "a peaceful definitive settlement of the conflict" had been reached.
Border skirmishes escalated into full-scale war on May 6, 1998. Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed during the conflict and tens of thousands of others were taken prisoner or displaced from their homes before a cease-fire accord was reached in June 2000.
An estimated 800,000 people fled their homes amid drought and a threatened famine.
Under the peace pact, the United Nations is to monitor the border with 4,200 troops, and Ethiopia is to pull back to positions it held before the war broke out and Eritrea is to withdraw to 25 kilometers from Ethiopian positions.
To date, the two nations have failed to reach agreement on the repositioning of troops, arguing over which areas were under whose administration before the war broke out, reports said.
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