Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process under 'stress', UN envoy says, urging calm

The top United Nations envoy for Ethiopia and Eritrea today said the peace process is under stress, appealing to the local press corps to mute the "noisy beating" of war drums and urging general calm.

In a briefing with reporters in the Eritrean capital Asmara, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Legwaila Joseph Legwaila said, "I would like to underline that although politically the peace process is experiencing severe stress as a result of the rejection by one of the Parties, namely, Ethiopia," of a border commission's recommendations on a new border with Eritrea, "militarily, the situation in the area of responsibility remains generally stable."

Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to a peace in 2000 and a boundary commission has been attempting to delineate a permanent border.

Mr. Legwaila, also the head of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), told the press conference, which was connected to Addis Ababa via a video link, "I should like to stress that the noisy beating of the drums [of war,] by some of you, as evidenced by some of the articles which [have] appeared in your newspapers, is of great concern to me.

"In our view, the border remains militarily stable and there are no signs of impending war. In my experience with peacekeeping, rhetoric about war has never been helpful. I would like, therefore, to appeal to the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and to you as journalists whose influence on the public consciousness is so powerful, to stay calm. Not to frighten people.

"I wish to appeal to you to avoid using language that might create a state of panic among the people of the two countries, whose yearning, and I must repeat, whose yearning is that they should live in peace after so many decades of strife, turmoil and suffering.

"We must now all concentrate on helping the parties to walk the last mile on the road to peace."