By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border are likely to have their mandate renewed for six months despite a fuel cut-off by Eritrea that has badly hit their operations, diplomats said on Friday.
They said the U.N. Security Council showed little sign in discussions of accepting a proposal by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to extend the mandate for just one month in case troops had to be withdrawn in coming weeks.
In a report presented to the council, Ban said fuel restrictions begun by Eritrea in 2006 and culminating in a total shut-off on December 1 "have severely hampered the mission capacity to effectively implement its mandate."
"I am seriously concerned that, if not resolved immediately, the stoppage ... will completely immobilize the mission operations in the coming few weeks," meaning staff and equipment would have to be pulled back, he said.
Ban therefore recommended what he called a one-month "technical roll-over" of the mandate while he reviewed the situation along the tense, disputed border.
The 1,700-strong United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, or UNMEE, went to the border in 2000 at the end of a two-year war between the two impoverished countries in the Horn of Africa, which killed 70,000 people.
An independent boundary commission charged with marking the border awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea in 2002, but Ethiopia did not implement the decision. Last November, the commission demarcated the border by map coordinates in a ruling that Eritrea accepted but Ethiopia rejected.
Relations between Asmara and UNMEE have become steadily colder and earlier this month Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told the Security Council the force's continued presence on the border would be tantamount to occupation.
But a council diplomat said of Ban's proposal for a one-month extension of UNMEE's mandate, "The trouble with that approach is a) you're prolonging the agony, and b) you're responding to what looks a lot like blackmail.
"The council is much keener to say: 'look, we want UNMEE to stay, let's have it there for six months'," said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified. He said the council would be willing to review that decision later.
The two countries insist they will not restart their war, but both have moved tens of thousands of troops to the 620-mile (1,000-km) border. Ban's report said that "continues to create the risk of igniting hostilities".
The fuel cut-off has forced UNMEE troops on the Eritrean side of the border to drastically reduce patrols and demining activities, according to Ban.
Azouz Ennifar, Ban's top representative in the area, told reporters after briefing the Security Council the Eritrean measure was "paralyzing the mission". The council is expected to renew UNMEE's mandate next week.
