Ethiopia, Eritrea Agree to Facilitate Freedom of Movement of UN Soldiers

Ethiopia and Eritrea both have agreed to open new land routes on December 7 to facilitate the freedom of movement of the peacekeepers in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), UN officials said Tuesday, December 5.

The two governments reached the agreement over the weekend in Kenya on the eve of the visit to the two Horn of Africa countries Tuesday by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The agreement was reached at the first meeting of the UNMEE's Military Coordination Commission -- one of the main instruments for addressing the parties' military concerns and consulting on the activities of the UN mission.

At the meeting, Ethiopia and Eritrea also agreed to begin as soon as possible the process of providing the UNMEE with information on known and suspected minefields, the officials said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to sign a final peace treaty on December 12 to end the two years of border conflict between the two neighboring countries, reports said.

As for Eritrea's announcement of the signing of the peace accord, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told a press conference here Monday that the United Nations has "as of now received no official confirmation."

"If confirmed, this is indeed a positive development and we would welcome it," he said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cease-fire agreement in June, under which the two nations agreed to the deployment of a UN force in the border area.

Eritrea won independence in 1993. The latest fighting, which began in 1998 over a border dispute, killed tens of thousands of people, mostly soldiers, and displaced more than 1.2 million civilians.

Sign Peace Agreement in Algiers

Eritrea and Ethiopia will sign a comprehensive peace agreement in Algiers, Algeria on December 12, Eritrea's Foreign Ministry said in a press release available Monday, December 4.

Eritrean President Issaias Afewerki on Sunday received a formal letter from Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika inviting him to Algiers for the signature of the agreement, the ministry said.





People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/