UN relocates expelled staff from Eritrea to Ethiopia

The United Nations relocated some staff on Thursday from its peacekeeping mission in Eritrea to Ethiopia following Eritrea's decision to expel European and North American personnel working there. Officials at the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said 87 of nearly 180 expelled staff were leaving aboard three flights from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "The decision to relocate comes as a reaction to a number of actions and decisions by Eritrea that affects the safety and security of our staff and also our ability to operate," Jean-Marie Guehenno, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told reporters in Asmara. "We are at a critical time. Never has there been such a great crisis for the mission. The unacceptable actions and restrictions on [UNMEE], if they are sustained, will have implications for the future," he added. UNMEE, Guehenno said, would present a report to the UN Security Council in early January outlining possible actions it may consider in view of restrictions imposed by Eritrea as well as the expulsion order. The Council would make "critical decisions" about UNMEE after assessing the impact of the expulsions. Guehenno, who is on a mission to the region with UN military adviser Gen Randir Kumar Mehta to review the tense border standoff between Eritrea and Ethiopia, had extended his stay in Eritrea on Wednesday, hoping to see officials who refused to meet him a day earlier. He said UNMEE was at a "crossroads", adding: "The next two weeks are of great importance. There is a real possibility to make progress and that opportunity should not be squandered." The monitoring ability of the peacekeeping force, he noted, had been substantially affected by Eritrean restrictions, but the mission would still carry out its work. The peacekeepers, who number about 3,800, patrol a Temporary Security Zone between the two countries that was established at the end of a bloody border war from 1998 to 2000. The military situation along the border remains tense and potentially volatile, UN News reported on Wednesday, adding that troop movements had been noticed on both sides of the frontier. "In my years as the head of peacekeeping," he said, "I have not been confronted with a similar situation." The personnel shuffle followed the Security Council decision on Wednesday to relocate the expelled staff members temporarily "for their own safety". Eritrea ordered the expulsion on 6 December. Staff from the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia - including military observers, UN volunteers and international civilian personnel - are affected. The government did not give reasons for its decision but gave the staff members 10 days to leave Eritrean territory. On 5 October, Eritrea banned helicopter flights by the peacekeepers within its airspace and stopped UN vehicles from patrolling at night, prompting the mission to vacate 18 of its 40 posts. At its meeting on Wednesday, the Security Council strongly condemned the Eritrean decision, calling it an "unacceptable action" in a statement read by Council president Emyr Jones Parry of Great Britain. The Council reiterated a demand it made in a 23 November resolution that Eritrea reverse restrictions on UNMEE and offer the mission access, assistance, support and protection required for the performance of its duties. "The Security Council intends, with the Secretariat, to review promptly all options for UNMEE's deployment and functions in the context of its original purpose, capacity to act effectively and the different military options available," it added. Tension between the two neighbouring countries rose again after Ethiopia refused to hand over territory to Eritrea, including the key town of Badme, where the war first flared up. The territory was awarded to Eritrea by an independent commission set up under a peace agreement to resolve the border dispute.