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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN urged to boost border security

ADDIS ABABA, 12 August 2003 (IRIN) - Ethiopian officials have called on the UN to increase border security after claims that nine Eritreans may have slipped across the border, hidden among the peacekeeping force.

Dr Wolde Alemayehu, vice chairman in Adigrat town where the stowaways arrived, said he was “alarmed” at the apparent breach of security.

“We are angry about this because we don’t know who these people are and what their intentions are,” he told IRIN from the border town.

The UN’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said last week it was launching an investigation into three stowaways.

But government officials have notified UNMEE that nine Eritreans may now have crossed the border, stowed away among the peacekeepers into Ethiopia over the last three weeks.

UNMEE Force Commander Major General Robert Gordon has launched an investigation into the stowaways and how they got across the 25 km-wide buffer zone.

He told journalists last week that the 1,000 km-long border which separates Ethiopia and Eritrea was extremely porous and is crossed by a “considerable” number of people.

UNMEE said its investigation was aimed at preventing anyone crossing the border "either in our [UNMEE] vehicles or aided and abetted by us [UNMEE]".

“We are taking it seriously, we are concerned about this and we need to investigate it thoroughly,” Gordon added.

Dr Wolde said his officials would be holding talks with representatives from the peacekeeping force on Wednesday to demand an explanation.

“We have to condemn this,” he added. “UNMEE has to secure our people because that is part of their mandate. Security has to be improved.”

The incidents occurred during the routine rotation of Indian peacekeepers who operate in the central border region.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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