UN prepares peacekeeping mission

A United Nations reconnaissance team preparing for the deployment of peacekeepers between Eritrea and Ethiopia, was visiting Addis Ababa on Wednesday after successfully completing a four-day visit to the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Major-General Timothy Ford, leading the mission told the BBC, however, that no peacekeeping force would be able to keep the two sides apart if they chose to resumed hostilities. The UN and the OAU have stressed the need to deploy peacekeepers as rapidly as possible. The reconnaissance team said they planned to have the first group of liaison officers in both capitals before the end of the week, even though the deployment of a large multinational force of armed peacekeepers and unarmed military observers was likely to take some months. The UN Security Council is still to announce a timetable, approve the mandate and decide on the size of the peacekeeping force. In his initial report to the Security Council on 30 June, the UN Secretary-General said “It is envisaged that up to a total of 100 United Nations military observers would gradually be deployed to each country over the next two months, pending the report on the implementation of that resolution and on the humanitarian situation in Eritrea and Ethiopia”. Ethiopia has informed the UN that the size of the UN peacekeeping force should be based on the length of the frontier and the topography of the region, Ethiopian newspapers have reported. Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin told the UN team to lay the groundwork for the mission in a manner that reflects the length of the 1,000 km border, reported the government-owned Addis Zemen and the Ethiopian Herald. “The size of the peacekeeping force should also take into account the topography of the terrain along the border, and the force should be efficient and effective”, Seyoum was quoted as saying. Much of the terrain is mountainous, isolated and without good road access.