Situation Report: Ethiopia and Eritrea in Turmoil: Implications for Peace and Security in a Troubled Region, Jonathan Ewing

The risk of renewed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea has increased dramatically with the UN Security Council’s termination of it mission (UNMEE) on 31 July 2008. At its height, eight years ago, the mission had included some 3,800 peacekeepers charged with monitoring the demilitarised border that separated the two countries at the end of their disastrous two-year war (1998–2000).

The UN’s decision has created a diplomatic vacuum; the international body has all but abandoned its mediation efforts despite the failure to achieve agreement on the highly contentious issue of the precise location of the shared border. Without peacekeepers to monitor the situation locally, any small misunderstanding or misstep could lead to a return to conflict. Indeed, there has been abundant evidence that both sides have been acquiring new weapons, upgrading supply bases, moving large amounts of military equipment and readying troops along their common border.