More Eritreans cross border in UN vehicle

The UN peacekeeping force in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has been hit by a new bout of cross border stowaways.

UNMEE spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte said on Thursday that a local UN employee had driven 11 Eritreans over the contested border in the latest incident.

Some 25 Eritreans have now slipped across the 25 km-wide buffer zone into Ethiopia in the last three months, hidden in or using peacekeeping vehicles.

Sainte said UNMEE was “extremely disturbed” by the incidents and had launched a crackdown to try and prevent it happening again.

“The incidents are increasing and we are concerned that the incidents are increasing,” Sainte told a weekly video-linked press briefing in Asmara and Addis Ababa.

“Each incident is different and each incident involves a different modus operandi,” she added, saying that the force had informed both countries about the illegal crossings.

Sainte said the latest incident was “embarrassing", but added that UNMEE was not there to “police the border”.

Some 4,000 Blue Helmets maintain the peace along the 1,000 km border and in the buffer zone which is patrolled by Eritrean militia and police.

“We have to face the fact that we cannot control every single Eritrean who is interested in crossing the border,” she added. “People will cross the border whether UNMEE is here or
not.”

The latest incident took place on 5 October when a local translator stole an UNMEE pickup and drove 36 km from the town of Senafe, through back roads and across the border.

Ethiopian authorities in the border town of Adigrat are now interrogating the men and women who came across. UNMEE said the vehicle had been recovered.