By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday slashed the U.N. peacekeeping force in Ethiopia and Eritrea to 1,700 troops from 2,300 and pressed both sides to stop blocking peace efforts. A resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council demanded that Ethiopia fully accept the border set out by an international commission for the two Horn of Africa neighbors. At the same time it demanded that Eritrea pull all troops out of the U.N. buffer zone between the two countries and end all restrictions on peacekeeping operations. The measure urged both countries to "show maximum restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other" and extended the U.N. mission's mandate for an additional six months, until July 31. Had the council not acted, the mandate would have expired at the end of the month. A U.N. force was sent to Ethiopia and Eritrea to enforce a cease-fire ending a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people. As part of the peace accord, both countries pledged to accept a new border as set out by a boundary commission. But the new border was never marked out after Ethiopia rejected part of it and Eritrea objected that Ethiopia was not being held to its word, leading to a four-year impasse. More recently, Eritrea has imposed restrictions on the peacekeeping force, arbitrarily arrested U.N. staff, ordered some humanitarian relief groups to leave the country, and sent armed personnel into a buffer zone set up by the United Nations between the two countries, Ban said. Responding to the impasse, the council last May trimmed the peacekeeping force to 2,300 troops from 3,300. In a report issued earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the council the stalemate threatened regional stability and could trigger renewed war. "The potential for this situation to deteriorate further or even to lead to renewed hostilities is real, especially if it is allowed to continue indefinitely," the report said. "The two governments need to take the political decision to put the conflict behind them, for the sake of their own people." Despite the risks, council members said they decided to cut back the force because it was unable to carry out its duties under the circumstances.
