Ethiopian troops crossed into Eritrea to attack the military training camps inside the country.
Reports say the Ethiopian National Defense Force has entered into Eritrea and launched a targeted attacks on two camps along Ethiopia’s northeastern border.
The military posts targeted by the the Ethiopian forces are reportedly used by anti-Ethiopian groups organized, supported, financed and trained by the Eritrean government.
After the deadly encounter, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to avoid any action that could escalate tensions between the Horn of Africa neighbours.
Mr. Ban has urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint.
He calls on Ethiopia and Eritrea to resolve their differences through peaceful means and to avoid any action that could lead to an escalation of tensions.
The Secretary-General urged both parties to respect each other’s territorial integrity.
The two countries fought a deadly two-year war that ended in 2000, with the parties agreeing to abide by the ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission.
UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) monitors the ceasefire along the disputed border over which the two countries fought a war from 1998 to 2000, but its work has been hampered by both sides, in particular by Ethiopia’s refusal to accept the border set by the Boundary Commission and restrictions imposed by Eritrea.
Ethiopia has not accepted the binding border delineated in 2002 by the Boundary Commission which awarded Badme, the town that triggered the fierce fighting, to Eritrea, but in his report, the Secretary-General said he was encouraged by the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s recent statements that his Government has accepted the decisions.
Meanwhile, Eritrea is in serious violation of pacts such as the Algiers Agreements and Security Council resolutions due to the ongoing and restrictions the Government has imposed upon UNMEE.
The Eritrean-Ethiopian’s war took place from 1998 to 2000. The conflict reportedly formed one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa. The two of the world’s poorest countries-spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the war.
According to a ruling by an international commission in The Hague, Eritrea broke international law. Eritrea was said to have triggered the war by invading Ethiopia.
At the end of the war Ethiopia held all of the disputed territory.
