US calls for Horn sanctions

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea ignored UN demands

By UN correspondent Mark Devenport

The United States has proposed the imposition of an arms embargo on Ethiopia and Eritrea after both countries ignored a UN Security Council deadline to stop the renewed fighting in their border dispute.

Last Friday the Council gave them three days to halt the hostilities.

Russia has tabled a competing resolution which urges more diplomacy but does not mention any sanctions on weapons' sales.

A vote on the matter is not expected until later this week.

We hope it will degrade their ability to carry on this war, which has cost almost as many lives as America lost in Vietnam

US representative at UN Security Council, Nancy Soderberg

The US draft resolution proposes an embargo on the sale of weapons, ammunition and military spare parts to both sides.

It also calls for a diplomatic boycott of Ethiopia for starting the latest round of fighting.

The US representative, Nancy Soderberg, argued that the Council must take dramatic action, given the severity of the casualties in the border war.

"I think it sends a very strong signal initially and over time we hope it will degrade their ability to carry on this war, which has cost almost as many lives as America lost in Vietnam," she said.

"The human toll in this war is extremely dramatic and I think obviously they have enough to fight for now but we hope over time that it will have an impact."

Russia's resolution

Britain and a number of other Council members supported the US proposals, but Russia tabled its own draft, which called for the UN Secretary General to send an envoy to the region and urged further diplomacy by the Organisation of African Unity.

Crucially, the Russian resolution made no mention of an arms embargo.

Both Russia and China are believed to have sold weapons to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the past.

If the Council does decide to introduce an arms embargo it would take time to have a practical impact, as both armies are well supplied.

But western diplomats argue it would be an important demonstration of the international community's disapproval of a war which has cost so many lives in a region already stricken by famine.