UN leader arrives in Eritrea hoping to rekindle peace process

ASMARA, July 3 (AFP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived here on Saturday for a short visit designed to breathe new life into the stalled peace process between uneasy neighbours Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Annan was met at the airport by Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Seid Abdella and representatives of the United Nations in the capital Asmara.

He was due to hold talks with Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki later on Saturday in an effort to give impetus to a peace process that has barely advanced since the Horn of Africa neighbours ended a war in 2000.

A border row that sparked the conflict in 1998 remains unresolved, the frontier itself is still closed to all but UN peacekeepers and relations between Asmara and Addis Ababa are virtually non-existent.

During his visit to Eritrea, the third since he took up the top UN job, Annan will also attempt to ease strained relations between the government and the peacekeeping force, known as UNMEE.

Annan was scheduled to travel to Ethiopia later in the day.