Secretary-General recommends UN peace mission

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that a UN peace mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea would require a total military strength of up to 4,200 personnel, including 220 military observers, three infantry battalions and support units. In a New York briefing on Thursday his deputy spokesman, Manoel de Almeid E Silva, said that the recommendations were made in a report submitted to the Security Council the same day. The Secretary-General had called on both parties to exercise restraint and avoid provocative moves. Under the Algiers peace agreement, Ethiopia and Eritrea had proposed that the UN peacekeeping operation would terminate with the successful conclusion of the delimitation of the disputed border. In his briefing, the spokesman said the UN mission would monitor the redeployment of Ethiopian forces to the positions they had held on 6 May, 1998, and the position of Eritrean forces, which are to remain a distance of 25 km away from the redeployed Ethiopian forces. It is also to monitor the temporary security zone and coordinate and provide technical assistance for mine clearance. The report follows a UN reconnaissance mission, which visited the region from 4-18 July. According to the briefing, the Secretary-General said he wanted to assure both nations that the mission and the UN would make every effort to create conditions for peace and prosperity: “The people of Eritrea and Ethiopia have suffered terrible losses during two long years of war”.