UN peacekeepers in confrontations with armed Ethiopians

The UN has made an official protest after a group of Ethiopian militiamen illegally entered the temporary security zone (TSZ) and threatened its peacekeepers. The militiamen, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, fired several bursts over the heads of the UN Blue Helmets in an angry confrontation inside the demilitarised TSZ. This was the first-ever clash between armed Ethiopian militia and peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). "Armed threats to the peacekeepers – this is the first of its kind," said Col Rajesh Arya of UNMEE, speaking from the Eritrean capital, Asmara. He added that what happened was a major violation of the peace agreement signed by Eritrea and Ethiopia at the end of the war in December 2000. The TSZ is a 25-km buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Villages inside the TSZ are inhabited mainly by Eritreans. Cheikh-Tidiane Gaye, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, has delivered a letter of protest to the Ethiopian authorities regarding the clash. UNMEE said that since the two incidents of this nature, which happened on 4 and 5 of October, there had been no further incursions into the buffer zone. It also reported that Ethiopian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Tekeda Alemu promised to investigate. UNMEE said as many as 60 Ethiopian villagers, armed with knives and axes, had entered the TSZ in the central sector with the militiamen. The incidents took place in Irob, about 10 km northeast of Zela Ambesa – a border town that was the scene of heavy fighting during the bloody two-year war between the two countries. Tensions have been high in Irob since the Border Commission announced the new international boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Both countries claimed sections of Irob, and local populations are still unsure where the demarcation will actually be. "The locals on either side are not exactly aware what will be the results once demarcation takes place, so they are not sure whether this area belongs to them or not," Arya said. He noted that tensions increased as villagers wandered with their animals in search of grazing lands into territory that did not belong to them. Arya added that the Ethiopian villagers had made threatening gestures and abused the Indian battalion's peacekeepers, who had approached them to order them to return to Ethiopian territory. The militia then fired over the heads of the soldiers as a warning not to interfere. "Eight militiamen did fire two bursts of rounds into the air threatening the peacekeepers. At the end of it, nobody was hurt and everyone went back to their respective areas," Arya, the UNMEE chief of staff third in the line of command of the 4,200 peacekeepers, said. UNMEE also revealed that villagers along the border had complained about abductions at gunpoint and widespread cattle rustling. It said it believed that many such incidents were being sparked by the severe drought in the region.