Border commission to visit

The Border Commission, which is located in the Hague, has begun its work, and members will be visiting the border areas between Ethiopia and Eritrea in October, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, told journalists on 9 August. At a joint press conference at the Mereb River on the border, Legwaila also said that despite recent internal problems in both countries, forces at the border were “thinning out”. He said the Ethiopian army was “in full swing” with demobilisation, and that the government was restructuring the army. He said on the northern boundary of the buffer zone (Temporary Security Zone - TSZ), the Eritrean forces were “preparing for their demobilisation at the end of the year”. He commended both sides.

He said, however, that discussions were continuing over the issue of Eritrean militia and police remaining in the TSZ, and that he had asked the Eritrean government to provide numbers and details pertinent to the organisation of the police as it had been before the outbreak of conflict. “We have an argument with the Eritrean government on those numbers, and we feel that there is no reason why they should be concerned in the TSZ, because there is no threat as such to justify that.”