4,200 military personnel proposed

In a draft report to the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended a total of 4,200 military personnel to monitor the ceasefire and border delineation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The report, based on a recent reconnaissance mission to the region, recommended that with the poor infrastructure and difficult terrain, the mission should use planes and helicopters as well as ground forces and armoured personnel carriers.

It warned that landmines and unexploded ordnance posed a significant risk throughout the conflict area, particular in the so-called “no-man’s land” that runs between the trenches along the two confrontation lines. Neither side had sufficient technical means to conduct mine clearance to international humanitarian standards and, despite mine clearing operations by both parties, there would be a need for a mine action assistance programme. This should be carried out with the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the report recommended.

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) would be composed of “political, military, public information, mine action and administrative components, and include a mechanism for coordination of its activities with those of the humanitarian community”. It would be headed by a Special Representative who would have overall authority and maintain close contact with the political and military leadership of the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as the OAU and the UN country teams in both countries.
Offices in Addis Ababa and Asmara would be complemented by regional headquarters based in Mendefera, western Eritrea, and Mekele, northern Ethiopia. The main logistics support base of the mission is proposed to be situated in Asmara, because of the proximity of the Eritrean capital to UNMEE’s area of operations, and its “significant air and sea transport facilities”.