No evidence of border incursion from Ethiopia into Eritrea – UN

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 17, 2004 (Ethiopian TV) — The head of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, has said that he is in the process of verifying the recent accusations that there were incursions along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border, inside the buffer zone.
From investigations carried out up to now, there has been no evidence to substantiate the accusation.

Head of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila told local and foreign journalists that the UN peacekeeping force had carried out investigative procedures to verify recent Eritrean accusations that Ethiopian troops had burnt down some houses in Eritrea.

According to Ambassador Legwaila, investigations carried out, with the help of helicopters, had not yet unearthed any clue to confirm any burnt down structures.

The ambassador said that the three charges against Ethiopia included the burning down of houses and kidnapping of citizens. But, said the ambassador, we have not yet found any evidence to support these accusations.

The UN peacekeeping force has begun investigations to verify the accusations. It has already finalized the investigation of the first charge, and the remaining two continue, but they had not yet found any tangible evidence, the ambassador said.

Asked why the peacekeeping force could not move into the areas mentioned by Eritrea, the ambassador said it was because the said area was heavily mined and so it was not possible to send the UN forces to the area. He also said that it would be very difficult to follow up on all the alleged atrocities committed along the vast borderline between the two countries with a meagre 4,000 troops.

The UN peacekeeping force head expressed his hope that the year 2005 would be a year where the border demarcation would start and a foundation for improved relations between the two countries would be laid.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service, original in Amharic