UN team to visit border zone

Meanwhile, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the head of a UN Reconnaissance Mission planning a new peacekeeping operation, Major-General Timothy Ford, said he planned to visit some of the areas along the border on Thursday where the fighting occurred. He said the UN team had earlier visited strategic sites along the front lines in Eritrea where they had also met key officials. “This morning (Wednesday) we held similar discussions with officials of the Ethiopian Defence Ministry,” he said in a statement. “We discussed the establishment of a Temporary Security Zone, a Military Coordination Commission, the main tasks and composition of a United Nations peacekeeping operation and de-mining.” He said the field visits to the border zone starting on Thursday were to last several days. Meanwhile, humanitarian sources told IRIN there was concern about the deep mistrust which continued between the two countries, despite the agreement. One of the major humanitarian challenges would be landmines, said the source. UN sources said there were plans for a mine action programme that could mobilise resources quickly and start de-mining, in a way that would reinforce and compliment efforts by the national governments already in place.