General Kofi Annan had warned of another conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, over the "increased movement of troops and material in the buffer zone along the disputed border." Eritrea is believed to have restricted UNMEE activities in a bid to force the U.N. to pressure Ethiopia into accepting the binding decision of the International Border Commission for demarcating the disputed border, said the dpa. In April 2002, Ethiopia rejected the Commission's decision awarding Eritrea the town of Badme and the region. It had earlier been the flashpoint of May 1998 to December 2000 conflict in which a 70,000 troops died. During the past year, Addis Ababa has called for talks with Asmara on the status of Badme, but Eritrea has rejected the move. --SP 0026 Local Time 2126 GMT
