UNMEE envoy leaves, new force commander appointed

The top United Nations envoy to Ethiopia and Eritrea expressed both regret and determination in his farewell remarks on Thursday. "I leave with sadness that the border has not been demarcated, but with pride that I have led this mission for five-and-a-half years, even under difficult circumstances," said Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, the outgoing special representative of the Secretary-General at the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). He called on all parties in the region to redouble their efforts to resolve the border stalemate between the two Horn of Africa nations. The peacekeeping mission, he said, would continue to carry out its mandate of creating conditions conducive to the demarcation of the contested border. "UNMEE is here to help the planting of the pillars as it was decided by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Boundary Commission. We will only leave the area when the last pillar has been planted at the border," he said. "I hope that the two countries will solve their problem peacefully in the near future." The UN Security Council is expected to appoint a new special envoy to UNMEE to replace Legwaila. The Council has not yet announced who will replace Legwaila. Meanwhile, Maj Gen Rajender Singh, who served as force commander of the peacekeeping mission for the past two years, is also leaving UNMEE. The UN has appointed Maj Gen Mohammed Taisir Masadeh as the new force commander, officials said on Thursday. Masadeh is a Jordanian who served in the former Yugoslavia in 1992 and 1993, and has headed various UN delegations. He arrived in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, this week, and will assume command of UNMEE on 9 April. The peacekeeping mission has more than 3,000 peacekeepers in the disputed area between the two countries. Jordan is one of the largest troop contributors to mission. "I was following the whole peace process in Ethiopia and Eritrea before coming physically here," Masadeh said. "I had a good experience in the UN. I do hope we can do our best to bring peace and stability in the two countries." "He will continue to do what we, the outgoing officials, have been doing to bring peace between the two countries," Singh said. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war beginning in 1998; both sides lost tens of thousands of people. The Algiers peace agreement - signed in December 2000 - ended the war, and an independent boundary commission ruled on the border demarcation in April 2002. However, Ethiopia has refused to accept the decision, which grants Eritrea the town of Badme, where the war started. Relations between the two neighbours have become more strained in recent months.