Ethiopia denies presence in buffer zone

The Ethiopian permanent representative at the UN has denied that Ethiopian troops are present in a proposed buffer zone on the contested Ethiopian-Eritrean border. Dr Abdulmajid Hussein made the remarks to officials who attended the signing ceremony between Ethiopia and the UN on the status of UNMEE, official Ethiopian television said on 26 March. Abdulmajid said that the area where Ethiopian troops remained was not part of the proposed Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), because Irob had been administered by Ethiopia before May 1998 when the conflict broke out.

The Ethiopian UNMEE Coordinator Bureau said on 27 March that allegations that three companies of Ethiopian forces had moved into the TSZ was “contradictory”. The criticism made by UNMEE was “contradictory to the Algiers agreement that stipulates the redeployment of Ethiopian forces to the May 1998 position”, said a statement published in the official press. It said the areas where the Ethiopian troops “have allegedly been sighted” were in the Irob district, which had been “under Ethiopian administration prior to May 1998”. UNMEE’s call for the Ethiopian troops to be withdrawn immediately was “highly regrettable... [as] Ethiopia had complied to the letter and spirit of the Algiers agreement”, the statement said.