Horn buffer zone hits snag

Ethiopia says its withdrawal is complete

Eritrea is reported to have raised objections to the boundaries of a buffer zone being established under UN supervision to separate its forces from those of Ethiopia.

Sources close to the Eritrean Government say it will now delay withdrawing all its forces from the disputed area until its objections are resolved.

UN will supervise the buffer zone

The Eritrean Government says the UN map is an inaccurate interpretation of a political map.

It says it unfairly gives land to Ethiopia which it never controlled before.

The United Nations is aware of the problem, but has not commented so far.

Under a peace agreement signed by the sides to end their costly border war, UN peacekeepers will monitor the 25km (16-mile) buffer zone.

Ethiopia said it completed its withdrawal from the zone by Monday's deadline.

Displaced Eritreans

The two governments had agreed earlier in the month on the new boundaries, which the UN was to translate into an operational map.

The BBC's Alex Last in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, says without agreement, hundreds of thousands of displaced Eritreans will be delayed from returning home.

Ethiopia has to withdraw to positions held by its troops before the outbreak of war in May 1998, while Eritrea must withdraw its forces 25km from Ethiopian lines.

This means that the buffer zone will be almost entirely on Eritrean territory.

It was a dispute over their border, following Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia in 1993, which sparked the neighbours' two-year conflict.

About 100,000 Ethiopian and Eritreans died as a result.