Lifting of partial border closure expected

Ethiopia is expected to lift a partial border ban imposed unexpectedly on United Nations peacekeepers, the UN’s military commander said on Thursday. Maj-Gen Robert Gordon said the Ethiopian military had pledged to reopen its frontier with Eritrea after closing western and central border areas to the UN force. No official reason was given for the restrictions, which were imposed on Tuesday, Gordon, who is in charge of 3,800 Blue Helmets, told reporters. "I can report that in the last two days, UNMEE [UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea], specifically the force, had faced restrictions imposed by the EAF [Ethiopian Armed Forces] on our movements across the southern boundary of the temporary security zone. "We have received no official notification of any change in policy by the Ethiopian authorities regarding our movements, but I can say we are now in discussions with them on this development," he told journalists at a weekly press briefing by the UN force. "In certain crossing points over the southern boundary of the temporary security zone we were not allowed to cross," he added from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, during a video-linked press briefing. "Clearly, UNMEE, in order to fulfil its mandate, needs freedom of movement either side of the temporary security zone's southern boundary. "A number of our key sites and a number of our force contingent locations are based on what would appear to be the wrong side if they wanted to patrol on the other side," Gordon said. Ethiopia has a 1,000-km border with neighbouring Eritrea – a boundary that sparked a bloody two-year war. A border commission has ruled on a new frontier. UN peacekeepers were sent in under the December 2000 peace deal agreed between both countries to help ensure the ceasefire, which has not been breached since then. Ethiopia has rejected the border commission's ruling, arguing that key territories in both the central and western areas had been erroneously placed in Eritrea. Gordon said the partial closure now imposed could result in logistical headaches, such as water or food for the peacekeepers, but that the restrictions would not be insurmountable. He said Ethiopian army checkpoints had been "closed for us" in either direction in certain locations in the central and western areas – two contested sectors of the border dispute. He went on to note that the restrictions were due to be lifted on Thursday, adding that the peacekeepers in the area were "testing that now". The border closure follows concerns expressed by Ethiopia over a UNMEE vehicle that disappeared in Asmara but turned up a week later, abandoned, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Three Eritrean UNMEE personnel also disappeared when the vehicle was driven across the border, although UNMEE insists there is no evidence to link the incidents. Gordon said UNMEE was "sympathetic" to the Ethiopian government’s concerns over last month’s incident and was holding a board of inquiry. UNMEE officials added that they had received legal advice from UN headquarters in New York advising them to cooperate with Ethiopian requests to inspect the vehicle. The force has been hit in the past year by a number of cross-border stowaways who have used peacekeeping vehicles to cross the 25-km-wide buffer zone. UNMEE also welcomed the appointment of UN Special Envoy Lloyd Axworthy, saying he would be an "extra force" towards breaking the deadlock between the two countries. "Obviously, it is welcome in moving the peace process forward," said Dianne Bailey, a spokeswoman for the force. The force said they not yet been informed on Axworthy's exact role or the date of his arrival in the Mission's area, but he would have a "close and all-informed relationship" with UNMEE.