Four mine-clearance personnel working for the British NGO HALO Trust were released by the Ethiopian authorities on 13 July. The four, one Russian and three Eritreans, were detained at an Ethiopian military checkpoint just outside the western sector of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on 3 July, after inadvertently crossing the sector’s southern boundary, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said in parallel press briefings in Asmara and Addis Ababa, respectively conducted by spokesman Christopher de Bono and deputy spokeswoman Angela Walker.
UNMEE had worked with the Ethiopian government to effect the release of the team, and its military observers had stayed with the detainees 24 hours a day since their detention, said UNMEE.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article