Eritrea troops breaking pact, U.N. asserts

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations on Monday accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone established after a 2 1/2 -year border war with Ethiopia in “a major breach” of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Eritrean government to withdraw its troops from the buffer zone immediately, and to cooperate with the United Nations in restoring the cease-fire arrangements, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been consistently strained since Eritrea gained its independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war. Eritrea’s action raised the threat of renewed war between the neighbors. A U.N. peacekeeping force has been monitoring a 620-mile buffer zone between them under the 2000 agreement.