Annan welcomes POW commitments

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed a pledge by Eritrea and Ethiopia to release all remaining prisoners of war (POWs). In a press statement, the secretary-general's spokesman said the pledge to free some 1,300 Eritrean and 300 Ethiopian POWs "will no doubt contribute to the successful implementation of the peace process between the two countries". The commitments were made during official visits to Eritrea and Ethiopia earlier this month by the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger. According to the ICRC, the main objective of the visits was "to ensure the release and repatriation of all remaining prisoners of war in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention and the peace agreement signed in Algiers on 12 December 2000". The Eritrean government will start releasing and repatriating the Ethiopian POWs on 29 August under the auspices of the ICRC. The ICRC quoted Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as saying that the release and repatriation of Eritrean POWs would commence on completion of internal procedures to be worked out with the ICRC. The two countries went to war over a border dispute in May 1998 and eventually signed a peace accord in Algiers in December 2000.