Military Coordination meeting announced

The first meeting of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Military Coordination Commission will be convened by the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in Nairobi, Kenya, on 2 December. Announcing the first Military Coordination Commission meeting, UNMEE Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila said on Wednesday that he expected it to “lay the foundation for UNMEE’s actions over the next three months”. The demarcation of the disputed border, which remains unresolved, would be discussed at the meeting, said Legwaila. He would not commit himself answer as to whether a line of deployment had yet been decided upon. “I’m not saying it is known or it is not known - I’m agnostic about that,” he told reporters in Asmara.

He said UNMEE needed freedom of movement and unimpeded access, by land and air, and that progress needed to be made on air access. He told reporters that a test of access would be taken on 28 November when the UNMEE Force Commander would move through the Adi Keyh (Eritrea) to Adigrat(Ethiopia) route.