Military coordination committee meets in Nairobi

Eritrean military leaders have rejected assertions by the United Nations that the border with Ethiopia is "militarily stable", claiming instead that Eritrean territory is being occupied. Eritrean Brig-Gen Abrahaley Kifle said on Monday that he disagreed with the UN’s assessment that the situation on the 1,000-km long border remained stable. He made the statement at the UN-hosted Military Coordination Committee (MCC) talks held between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The talks are being held inspite of Ethiopia’s rejection of the independent border commission’s ruling on the demarcation of its border with Eritrea which placed key territory in Eritrea. Demarcation was consequently suspended last year while the international community started looking for a solution to the impasse. A central point of the dispute concerns the small Ethiopian-administered town of Badme, which the border commission determined to be part of Eritrea. The MCC meetings constitute the only forum for the two countries to meet and hold face-to-face talks despite their war having ended in a peace agreement signed in Algiers three years ago. In a statement released after the Nairobi meeting, the UN said Abrahaley's assessment differed from that of the commander of the UN's peacekeeping force, Maj-Gen Robert Gordon, who was quoted as saying "that while the atmosphere in the border areas remained politically tense", it was militarily "alert but defensive". The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was "generally happy with the cooperation from the Eritrean Defence Force and the Ethiopian Armed Force, as well as the Eritrean militia and police" the statement said. It added, however, that "there remained security incidents and issues" which could be solved by forming local military committees between both sides on the border. UNMEE stated that the local committees – called Sector Military Coordination Commissions (SMCCs) – would be formed to help avert "security incidents" in the border area following mounting fears that a local flare-up on the border could escalate. At the MCC meeting, a timetable for the inception of the SMCCs was agreed, with three of them to be established respectively for the western, central and eastern regions of the border. Although the war ended in December 2000, incidents of cattle rustling, shootings by unidentified armed groups, and other incidents have alarmed the peacekeepers. Local UN commanders currently have to shuttle between the two sides to resolve disputes, but the planned system would have a standing committee that could be called at any time. UNMEE envisages Ethiopian and Eritrean local commanders meeting on neutral territories like bridges linking the two countries or UN bases. The local military meetings would then report back to the full military coordination committee attended by senior military leaders from both countries under the auspices of the UN. Ethiopian Brig-Gen Yohanes Gebremeskel told the MCC during its Nairobi meeting that his country "wanted to avoid war at all costs" and supported efforts to find a peaceful solution. He reiterated that Ethiopia was keen to find a "lasting solution" to the border demarcation, which, if reached, would benefit not only the two countries but the region as a whole. Ethiopia has called for dialogue with Eritrea to overcome the impasse over the border, but Eritrea has refused any talks until after demarcation has been effected in accordance with the commission's ruling. The next MCC meeting will take place on 15 March, also in Nairobi.