UN “monitoring” militia numbers

In a briefing to journalists and diplomats in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a UN spokesman said the situation of internally displaced people (IDPs) returning to war-ravaged and mine-infested areas was high on the list of concerns in the UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

An UNMEE spokesman, Chris De Bono, also said the mission was still experiencing some difficulties on a daily basis, including freedom of movement. Responding to questions from the media, de Bono said that up to 13 June there had been 113 restrictions on the freedom of movement of UNMEE in areas adjacent to the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the Eritrean side, and 30 restrictions of movement in areas adjacent to the Ethiopian side. He explained that the TSZ had been established on the disputed border to separate the forces.

It was “impossible for us at present to state, on any factual basis, who the attackers were” in a recent shooting incident near Bure, 7 km inside the TSZ in Eritrea, the spokesman said. Ethiopia has denied accusations by Eritrea that Ethiopian soldiers attacked a police post.

On the issue of the numbers of Eritrean militia in the TSZ, De Bono said that UNMEE did not have the right to control the numbers, but to negotiate and monitor the matter. “If you are asking me if perhaps somebody who was serving in the Eritrean army has gone back into the TSZ, I would suggest this is quite possible. If you are asking me, are they returning with the same duties they had when they were soldiers, and carrying the same kinds of weaponry, the answer is no.”

UNMEE and the Ethiopian government have expressed concern about the numbers of Eritrean militia and police returning to the buffer zone.