Church leaders try for border meeting

Significant numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) have moved back to their home areas since the peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea was secured last June. The June 2001 progress report of the UN Secretary-General on Ethiopia and Eritrea said an estimated 81,000 people had returned home through organised moves. “However, the provision of timely and effective support to the returning population has been hampered by the lack of advance information from the Eritrean government to the humanitarian agencies on the planned moves,” the report noted. The safe return of displaced and refugee populations was one of the issues discussed in early May, when the United Nations Country Team of Eritrea and Ethiopia held their fourth joint meeting in Asmara since 1998. Other issues included HIV/AIDS, and ways of seeking to engage the Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora in peace and reconciliation efforts. The human rights component of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) had been investigating allegations of human rights violations in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), and monitoring the return of IDPs, the report said. Meanwhile, plans by church leaders in May to hold a joint meeting at the Ethiopian-Eritrean border were aborted at the last minute when the Ethiopian authorities did not provide visas. Diplomatic sources told IRIN that Ethiopian church leaders had said that there was too much bitterness among the Ethiopian population at the affected border to facilitate such a reconciliation meeting. Humanitarian and religious agencies have continued to encourage Ethiopian religious leaders to rise above such bitterness and organise another meeting, the source said.