New UNMEE commander appointed

British Major-General Robert Gordon has been appointed the new force commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). The announcement was made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday. Gordon replaces Major-General Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands whose two-year tour of duty ends on 31 October. Maj-Gen Gordon will head the 4,200-strong peacekeeping force at one of the most crucial stages of the peace process. His new role follows increased tension between UNMEE and the Ethiopian government, which accused Cammaert of "bias" towards Eritrea. UNMEE spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte said she hoped the arrival of the new force commander would lead to improved relations. “I am sure we are all looking forward to that,” she said. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter two-year war, sparked by a border dispute in 1998. In December 2000, they signed a peace accord in Algiers and in April this year, an independent boundary commission at The Hague defined a new border between the two countries. According to a UN statement, Maj-Gen Gordon was commander of the Army in Northern England and Scotland. He has also served the UN in Bosnia.