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Border bridge reopened

A strategic bridge over the Mereb river on the disputed common border was reopened on 7 July, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said. The bridge traverses river between the towns of Rama in Ethiopia and Adi Kwala in Eritrea. During the two-year war, a six-metre span of the bridge was destroyed, causing difficulties in crossing the river for Dutch peacekeepers patrolling the area. “The mandate of UNMEE is to keep two armies apart, but underlying this is a desire to bring two peoples together. How better to symbolise this than a bridge?” Ian Martin, UNMEE’s Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said at the reopening ceremony. The government of the Netherlands had donated a prefabricated Bailey bridge to UNMEE for the purpose, which Indian and Slovak peacekeepers had “worked day and night” to install it before the rainy season started, the statement said. The ceremony was attended by UNMEE Force Commander Maj-Gen Patrick Cammaert, the Netherlands ambassador to Eritrea and the Netherlands charge d’affaires to Ethiopia. Also present were senior officials from Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Organisation of African Unity.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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