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ASMARA-Distracted by Kenya and Somalia, the U.N. Security Council will make only a cursory effort to heal an Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute on Friday at a vote on whether to extend a peacekeeping mission there, diplomats and analysts say.Despite warnings that the highly militarized border is on a knife-edge, diplomats say the United Nations will extend its mission but will not tackle the impasse that has already seen two of the world's poorest nations fight a war. "The U.N. Security Council will not put pressure (on either side) to solve the issue, but they cannot be seen to disengage by withdrawing either," said an Asmara-based diplomat on condition of anonymity.The United Nations said on Tuesday it may be forced to halt operations within weeks after Eritrea cut fuel supplies in December. The world body says Asmara has been restricting fuel since 2006 as relations between them continue to get frostier.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in a letter to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki that the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) only had enough fuel to last to March 1."Given the gravity of the situation, I have to ... alert the (Security) Council of the imminent need for a decision on the fate of UNMEE if the crisis is not resolved by the end of this month," Ban wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters.The peacekeeping mission's mandate-part of a peace deal ending a 1998-2000 border war-expires at the end of January."The international community ... are worrying about Kenya and Somalia. This Ethiopia-Eritrea border issue is a non-issue for the big players at moment," said a UK-based analyst, who asked not to be to be named.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
