UN investigating alleged border clash

The United Nations said on Tuesday it was investigating an alleged clash between armed Ethiopians and Eritrean militia along their contested border. One Eritrean militiaman was killed in the skirmish, which took place on Saturday, according to claims being looked into by the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Major General Robert Gordon, the commander of the force, said they had “forensic evidence that a firing incident did take place” in the demilitarized Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that separates both countries. “UNMEE deeply deplores any such activity in the TSZ which has the potential of destabilizing the peace process,” the force commander added. The UN peacekeepers said the local Eritrean militia commander claimed armed Ethiopians in military uniforms attacked his men. The UN was told that two Eritrean militiamen on patrol duty came under “close range small arms fire” from a group of uniformed men numbering between three and five. “In an exchange of fire one Eritrean militiaman was apparently killed,” said the statement from the peacekeeping force, issued on Tuesday. “UNMEE is trying to establish the details and an investigation team has visited the location. [...]. The Ethiopian Ministry of Defence has categorically denied any Ethiopian military involvement in this incident.” The incident, which is said to have taken place at 6 am, occurred at a village called Fawlina, two kilometres inside the security buffer zone that separates the two countries. Under the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by Ethiopia and Eritrea in June 2000, the TSZ is strictly off limits to both Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces. Eritrean militia are allowed to police the 25-kilometre-wide TSZ, which is patrolled by a 4,200-member Blue Helmet peacekeeping force. A spokesman for the Ethiopian government said he was looking into the claims regarding Saturday's reported incident. Tensions have been increasing between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the disputed 1,000-kilometre frontier that separates them and which sparked a bitter two-year war. Both countries have warned of a risk of renewed conflict over the dispute. The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) had planned to start constructing posts along the border in October after two delays. But the commission - created under a deal by the two countries to end their 1998-2000 war - announced last week that it had suspended its work. Ethiopia is opposing the April 2002 ruling by the commission that placed Badme – a border town where the war flared up – in Eritrea. In mid-October, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, head of UNMEE, had warned that the three-year-old peace process was under “severe stress” and that it had reached an “impasse” amid the wrangling over the border ruling.