U.N. looks at disbanding Eritrea/Ethiopia force

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council considered on Monday a plan to disband its peacekeeping mission to the volatile border between Eritrea and Ethiopia after Eritrea forced most of its troops to go home.

The 1,700-strong force could be replaced by a small military observer mission on the Ethiopian side of the border, under one proposal before the council in a draft resolution submitted by Belgium.

The council took no immediate decision and instructed experts to assess the options, diplomats said.

The United Nations withdrew its peacekeeping force, known as UNMEE, from the border in February after Eritrea cut off fuel supplies. The force had been in place since 2000 after a two-year war between the Horn of Africa neighbors that killed some 70,000 people.

Asmara is angry that the United Nations has been unable to enforce a ruling by an independent boundary commission awarding the bulk of disputed border territory to Eritrea.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in April that the withdrawal of UNMEE could spark renewed conflict on the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontier.

Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group said last week the armies of the feuding neighbors were "less than a football pitch" apart, risking a catastrophic new war.

The Belgian draft would end UNMEE's mandate, which comes up for a regular renewal on July 31.