Security Council warns against border war

? The U.N. Security Council late Tuesday warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter flights by U.N. peacekeepers.

In a tough statement approved by all 15 council members and read at a formal meeting, the council called on both countries “to show maximum restraint and to refrain from any threat of use of force against each other.”

Council members expressed “grave concern” at Eritrea’s decision to restrict all helicopter flights by U.N. peacekeepers in Eritrean airspace effective today. The ban violates Security Council resolutions calling on the country to provide access so the U.N. mission can perform its duties, the statement said.

Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, head of the U.N. mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, warned less than two weeks ago that the border dispute could lead to a new war.

The Horn of Africa nations fought a 2 1/2-year border war that ended after a December 2000 peace agreement. The deal provided for an independent commission to rule on the position of their disputed 600-mile border.

But Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision issued in April 2002 by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. Ethiopia objects to the awarding of the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.