Ethiopia Tuesday asked Nigeria to deploy a contingent of its troops for peace-keeping mission in its disputed areas with Eritrea.
Making the request when he paid a courtesy call on Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, Ethiopian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Suleiman Dedefo Woshe, said the deployment of troops to the border of the two countries would prevent the situation in the disputed area “from degenerating into a full scale war”.
Woshe also solicited for Nigeria’s assistance for peace sustenance between Ethio pia and the Eritrea .
He told Njeze that Eritrea, which shares a common border with Ethiopia, had violated the peace accord signed by the two countries.
Ethiopia, Dedefo said, had restrained itself from retaliation to avoid full-scale war between the two countries, adding that war was never a solution to such situations.
Responding, Njeze described Dedefo’s visit as meaningful, saying Nigeria and Ethiopia had a good history of long-standing relationship in their peace-keeping efforts in Africa and beyond.
According to her, Nigeria has peace as its primary mission and will work to ensure the two countries live in peace.
She said peace in the African Region was of primary importance to the present Nigerian administration.
Nigeria, she added, would work towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding between Ethiopia and Nigeria, to cement the existing relationship between the two countries.
