Controversy over “operational map” continues

The Eritrean government said it had continued reservations over an operational map drawn up by the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Brigadier-General Abrahaley Kifle told IRIN that Eritrea had not agreed to any changes made to the political map in a meeting of the Military Coordination Committee of UNMEE held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 6 February. The newly drawn map “puts areas that were supposed to be in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) in Ethiopian hands”, said Kifle, who is the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Commission for Coordination with UNMEE. Eritrea “will not continue with the rearrangement of its forces until the issue has been resolved,” a government source said.

UNMEE spokesman Lieut-Com Albert Wong told IRIN that Ethiopia and Eritrea had agreed to a political map at the 6 February meeting. He said the two parties had also agreed that the UNMEE Force Commander, Major-General Patrick Cammaert “would translate the 1:500,000 political (computer) map into a 1:100,00 operational (military) map”. The operational map would then be used by the military forces of both parties and UN peacekeepers, Wong said. After the Nairobi meeting “military leaders from both countries were consulted by the Force Commander in arriving at the 1:100,00 military map,” Wong said. At the fourth meeting of the MCC, the Chief military representative for Eritrea stated Eritrea’s strong objections to this translation but also said Eritrea was prepared to re-deploy its forces to the lines indicated in the original political map, Wong said.

Eritrea has halted re-deployment of its forces in the proposed buffer zone between the two countries, saying the re-drawn map put a number of Eritrean villages under Ethiopian military control in areas that were uncontested.