Ethiopian Government reopens borders with Eritrea, UN mission reports

The Ethiopian Government has reopened its borders with Eritrea, which had been closed since 27 April, the United Nations reported today.

According to the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, known as UNMEE, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the region, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, who had been in Addis Ababa since the imposition of the measures by Ethiopia, crossed the border this morning and headed to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.

Regular UNMEE flights are scheduled to resume on Wednesday, the Mission said, adding that it did not yet have a full picture of the movements of its peacekeepers across the border.

Meanwhile, the decision of the independent Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission was released today at UN Headquarters in New York as an official document of the Security Council. The 125-page decision, announced in The Hague on 13 April, sets out the Commission’s finding regarding delimitation of the border between the two formerly warring nations.

According to the Algiers Peace Agreement, signed by the two parties in December 2000, the decision of the Boundary Commission is to be considered "final and binding."