ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia says UNMEE "increasing border tension"

Photo: IRIN/Anthony Mitchell

mine warning on the border

ADDIS ABABA, 18 August 2003 (IRIN) - The Ethiopian government on Monday accused the UN peacekeeping force of fuelling tensions along the contested border with Eritrea. It hit out after a complaint by the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) that Ethiopian troops in military uniform had encroached the off-limits buffer zone separating the two countries to play football. UNMEE spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte said the men were armed and should not have crossed into the 25 km wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), describing it as a violation of a peace accord between the two sides. But the Ethiopian government accused UNMEE of overreacting and insisted it had not violated the June 2000 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. “What increases the tension along the border is the seriousness with which UNMEE treats this,” Zemedkun Tekle, spokesman at the ministry of information said on Monday. He asserted that the troops which entered the TSZ were unarmed, arguing that under the peace deal only the “armed forces” of both countries were banned from entering the buffer area. “UNMEE has repeatedly asked both parties to get closer and open talks,” Zemedkun said. "But now it is strictly trying to stop an unarmed Ethiopian army from playing football inside the TSZ and taking the incidents very seriously instead of trying to solve the major problem between the two parties." “The reason for the Ethiopian army to play football inside the TSZ was only to find a better place to play the game and had no other political reasons behind it,” he added. Meanwhile, the independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) issued a statement regarding two-day talks in New York last week at which both countries were present. The commission was set up by both parties under the peace deal to mark out a new internationally recognised frontier between the two. But Ethiopia is demanding changes to the EEBC ruling, arguing that key territories have gone to Eritrea. In its statement, the EEBC said it would be issuing “instructions” to Ethiopia and Eritrea on implementing the latest schedule for demarcation – which is expected to start in October. “Copies of these instructions will be communicated to the parties shortly,” the EEBC said.