Eritrea imposes more restrictions on UN further reducing its monitoring ability

Eritrea recently imposed more restrictions on the United Nations peacekeeping mission monitoring the ceasefire that ended its border war with Ethiopia in 2000, further reducing the world body’s effectiveness in the area, a UN spokesperson said today.

Both countries have long been in stalemate along the frontier, with Ethiopia refusing to implement the binding decisions of a Boundary Commission and Eritrea maintaining troops in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) along the border, in addition to its ban on UN helicopter flights.

“The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has confirmed that Eritrean authorities recently imposed additional restrictions on the movements of UN peacekeepers in the Mission’s area of responsibility,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

“The Mission says that as a result of the new restrictions, UN peacekeepers’ ability to monitor the ceasefire has been reduced in these areas.”

In January, the Security Council extended UNMEE’s mandate by six months until the end of July, but also cut the number of blue helmets as it voiced frustration with the lack of progress made by either country in resolving their differences.

The number of peacekeeping troops will be reduced from the current 2,300 to 1,700, including 230 military observers – one of four options for the Mission proposed by the Secretary-General in the face of the ongoing intransigence by Ethiopia and Eritrea.