UN peacekeepers in Eritrea regrouped in Asmara

March 3, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) — The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has achieved the regrouping of UN peacekeepers and their equipment in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea after Eritrea cut off their fuel and food, the UN said on Monday.

The original plan had been to move to the Ethiopian side of the border, but Eritrea prevented the 1,700-strong force, known as UNMEE, from crossing.

After more than a week of repeated blockages by Eritrean forces, UN peacekeepers in the Horn of Africa country have finally completed regrouping to Asmara, in preparation for their planned temporary relocation across the border to Ethiopia, said Michele Montas.

Except for 112 military personnel who are awaiting further instructions in the port city of Assab, all of the approximately 980 peacekeepers — mainly from Jordanian, Indian and Kenyan battalions — along with most military observers in the country are now in Asmara.

The mission started work in 2000, at the end of a two-year border war that killed an estimated 70,000 people.

They have been stationed in a 15.5-mile (25-km) buffer zone inside Eritrea. But Asmara has turned against the mission because of U.N. inability to enforce rulings by an independent boundary commission awarding chunks of Ethiopian-held territory, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea.

UNMEE decided to temporarily move its personnel from Eritrea after the country cut off diesel fuel supplies to the mission, paralyzing its operations

Eritrea accused U.N. peacekeeping officials and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office of making “unwarranted accusations” and “distorting the reality” of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

(ST)