Redeployment plans presented by UNMEE

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said it had presented its assessment of the redeployment plans for the establishment of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the contested border. An official UNMEE statement said the plans had been personally presented to the governments in both countries by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, on 30 January. It said the assessment was offered “as a ‘good faith’ effort to move the peace process forward.” The assessment was not intended to “contribute to or prejudge the final delimitation and demarcation of the Ethiopian-Eritrean border. Its unique purpose is to assist in drawing two temporary lines to delimit the Temporary Security Zone.” UNMEE called on “both sides to accept the temporary line with the same good faith, recalling their repeated expressions of full trust in the United Nations.” On the basis of the UNMEE assessment, a meeting of the Military Coordination Commission will convene on 6 Feburary in Nairobi, Kenya, the statement said.

The establishment of the TSZ is crucial for the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the contested border region, as the majority of UNMEE’s 4,200 peacekeepers will be positioned there, said the statement.