Eritrea expels senior UN official; UN says has already left

March 21, 2007 (ASMARA) — Eritrea has expelled a senior U.N. official accused of repeated violations of Eritrean law, the U.N. said Wednesday, adding it disagreed with the reasons for the expulsion but has complied with the order.

It was the latest in a string of Eritrean moves against the U.N.

Friday, the U.N. Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia received communication from Eritrean authorities requesting David Bax, the head of the U.N.’s mine clearing center, leave the country “for good,” before March 20, the mission said in a statement. Bax has already left Eritrea, the statement said.

“This latest action of the Eritrean authorities will further affect the mission’s capacity to perform its functions as mandated by the Security Council,” the statement said.

The 1,700 strong U.N. peacekeeping force has been monitoring a 24 kilometer wide, 1,000 kilometer long buffer zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia under a December 2000 peace agreement reached in the Algerian capital, Algiers, that ended a fierce border war.

In apparent frustration at Ethiopia’s refusal to implement a binding ruling on their disputed border, and the lack of U.N. action to pressure Ethiopia to comply, Eritrea banned U.N. helicopter flights in its airspace in October 2005. Two months later, it banned U.N. night patrols and expelled Westerners in the peacekeeping contingent.

The international boundary commission’s ruling in 2002 awarded the town of Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision even though under the Algiers accord both countries agreed it would be binding.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30 year guerrilla war, but the border between the countries was never officially demarcated. The two countries fought a devastating 2.5 year border war that saw tens of thousands of troops on both sides killed. Ties have remained strained since the 2000 truce.

(AP)