UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has transmitted to the Security Council the last report issued by the independent commission on Ethiopia and Eritrea’s common boundary, said the United Nations in a statement Monday.
The report noted that the commission’s mandate has been fulfilled and that all administrative issues connected to its termination have wrapped up.
In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission handed down a final and binding decision awarding Badme, the town that triggered fierce fighting between the neighboring Horn of Africa nations, to Eritrea. But the two countries have since been at an impasse on that demarcation.
In this July, the Security Council voted unanimously to terminate the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, known as UNMEE, after restrictions placed on the peacekeeping operation by the latter country undermined its ability to carry out its mandate.
Eritrea is angry that the United Nations has not enforced a ruling by the independent boundary commission awarding the town of Badme to Eritrea.
As such, Ban said in his recent letter to the 15-member body that he will no longer provide regular reports on the situation between the two nations.