The United Nations Security Council late Friday extended its “fully support” to Qatar’s mediation, under the auspices of H.H. the Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, between Djibouti and Eritrea, and welcomed their signing of an agreement aimed at resolving their two-year old border dispute.

“The members of the Security Council are encouraged by the willingness of the parties to resolve their border dispute peacefully, in full compliance with the provisions of relevant Security Council statements and resolutions, and in accordance with the United Nations Charter,” council President Claude Heller of Mexico told reporters on behalf of the other members.

The members also called upon both parties to engage in the mediation process “fully and in good faith, to refrain from the use or the threat of use of force and to abide by their commitments” under the agreement, and to solve their dispute and normalize their relations for the overall stability and security in the region.

The leaders of Eritrea and Djibouti signed a deal last week vowing to pursue a negotiated settlement to their dispute.

The deal ends the conflict that erupted in early 2008 when, after weeks of tensions and military build-up, the two countries’ armed forces clashed over an un-demarcated area in the Red Sea known as Doumeira, killing 35 people and leaving dozens of others wounded.

Earlier this week Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also issued a statement welcoming the deal and expressing confidence that it will “contribute to long-term peace and stability” in the region.

Volcano in Danakil

Geologists in the region report that a huge amount of lava has spewed in the remote volcanic complex in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression bordering Eritrea.

According to the report, the eruptive activity has started since late June and the heat from the spewing lava was first detected by space-based thermal sensors.

The area is believed to be home to mainly nomadic herders. So far there have been three other eruptions of the Manda Hararo volcanic field since the first volcanic activities in modern times began there in August 2007. 

However, the Ethiopian News Service announced that the current eruption is being accompanied by dense plumes of sulphur dioxide gas.

According to the news, the eruption killed five people and hundreds of livestock and forced 50,000 nomads to flee, although there is no detail if the eruption has struck any of the nomadic herders in the area. 

This active volcanic area is an extension of the East African Rift Valley, the oldest and best defined rift in the Afar region on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border.

The exact mechanism of the rift formation is still under debate among scientists.

Evidences suggest that the East African Rift System (EARS) assumes elevated heat flow from the asthenosphere (the liquid layer of mantle), which is causing a pair of thermal “bulges” in central Kenya and the Afar region on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border.  

It is believed that the EARS is one of the geologic wonders of the world, a place where the present tectonic forces could possibly create new plates by splitting apart old ones.