MCC meets in Djibouti

A delayed meeting of the Military Coordination Commission (MCC), which took place in Djibouti on Tuesday, heard that there had been an improvement in working relations with Eritrean liaison officers and commanders. The 11th MCC meeting, postponed from 10 January over a disagreement on the venue, was chaired by the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), Major-General Patrick Cammaert. According to an UNMEE press release, the chairman explained that since the last meeting, the Mission had improved its monitoring of a set of "blind spots" north of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) "through a combination of prior-notification visits, intensified patrolling along major and secondary access routes, and a general improvement of working relations with Eritrean liaison officers and local commanders on the ground". As a result, UNMEE had acquired a better overall understanding of these restricted areas, he said. However, despite these advances, there remained "room for improvement" in the area north of the TSZ in the central sector. Furthermore, the larger issue of UNMEE’s freedom of movement north of the TSZ remained unresolved. "The Mission’s overall assessment was that the situation in the TSZ was calm, and that there was no military build-up or change of posture on the part of either party," the press release said. There was also an extensive discussion of localised incidents such as those involving local herdsmen and instances of cattle theft in the sectors West and Centre. "The Eritrean delegate rejected a proposal to have the relevant local civilian and military authorities from both sides meet on the southern boundary in sector West to discuss and resolve these issues," the statement said. It added that the MCC would hold its next session in Djibouti in March.