Peace process under "severe stress" - UN

The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) warned on Thursday that the peace process was under “severe stress”.

Legwaila Joseph Legwaila told journalists that the three-year-old peace process had now reached an “impasse” amid wrangling over a bitterly contested border ruling. He added that UNMEE had intensified its efforts to try and resolve the crisis.

The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) was set up by both countries to resolve their bitter dispute over the 1,000 km border. But Ethiopia has condemned the ruling which awarded
territories – including the Ethiopian-administered town of Badme where the war flared up - to Eritrea.

Legwaila, who spoke of his concern over warlike language emanating from the media in both countries, said that failure of the peace process was “too ghastly to contemplate”.

“In my experience with peacekeeping, rhetoric about war has never been helpful,” he stated. He urged the populations of both countries to “stay calm”.

But he played down fears and insisted there was no military build-up nor any signs of impending war.

Legwaila, the special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, also appealed for further support from the international community to help resolve the crisis and once again called for dialogue between the two countries.

“We are now in the most important phase of the peace process, which is the demarcation of the border,” Legwaila added.

“As I have always said without the demarcation of the border, no-one in his right mind can consider the peace process successful.”

Legwaila also expressed regret over a letter from Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to the UN Security Council which called for a new body to resolve the crisis over the border.