UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations peacekeeping chief on Tuesday urged the Security Council to be prudent in deciding the future role of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

    The 15-nation council is considering whether or not to reduce the UNMEE's role in calming border tensions between the two Horn of Africa countries as proposed by the United States.

    After a closed-door council meeting, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno told reporters: "I think it is important at this critical stage ... to exert some measure of caution. The mission serves an important role."

    By a unanimous vote last week, the council decided that if the two rivals had not fully complied with a resolution calling on them to accept the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission decision demarcating the border by the time a meeting of that body ended the same week, it would "adjust the mandate and troop level" of the more than 3,000-strong UNMEE by the end of the month.

    The armed forces of the two countries fought a 1998-2000 border war, but Ethiopia has not accepted the border delineated in 2002, awarding Badme, the town that triggered the fierce fighting, to Eritrea.

    In turn, Eritrea has intensified its criticisms of the UN for not forcing Ethiopia to accept the commission's final and binding decisions, has restricted the UNMEE's movements by land and air, and has twice detained the mission's Eritrean staff members.

    Guehenno noted that the UNMEE has helped to prevent a resumption of conflict between the two countries, thereby making a very significant contribution to peace.

    Even if the UNMEE's capability is not what it should be for monitoring the buffer temporary security zone, it could make an important contribution to the security of the demarcation teams, if the demarcation gets started, he said.

    "So that's what the Security Council is going to weigh. I hope it will be cautious," he said. "I think there are risks that will need to be weighed." Enditem