Eritrean objections a “major impediment”

The failure of the Eritrean government to agree to unrestricted movement for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has impeded peacekeepers’ ability to operate, an UNMEE spokesman said on 6 July. In parallel press briefings given by UNMEE spokesman Christopher de Bono in Asmara, and deputy spokeswoman Angela Walker in Addis Ababa, UNMEE said the Eritrean government had “repeatedly argued against our right to unrestricted freedom of movement outside the TSZ [Temporary Security Zone] and supply routes to the Zone”. Accordingly, it had “impeded our ability to undertake our responsibilities... in a major way”, UNMEE said. Both parties had agreed to allow the peacekeeping mission freedom of movement through their territories when they signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement on 8 June 2000 in Algiers, UNMEE said. Ethiopia had agreed to UNMEE’s freedom of movement, but Eritrea had continued to dispute the areas where the peacekeepers could freely operate. “We must be able to watch what is happening outside the Zone, as well as inside it,” UNMEE emphasised.