The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has complained to the authorities in Asmara of ”serious restrictions of freedom of movement” imposed on its peacekeepers, the force’s spokesperson said.
UN envoy and UNMEE chief Legwaila Joseph Legwaila ”has protested about these serious restrictions on UNMEE’s freedom of movement”, Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte said late on Monday.
On March 5, the Eritrean official in charge of relations with UNMEE, General Abrahaley Kifle, informed the mission about the new restriction imposed on the road linking the capital to Keren and Barentu, she said.
”This is a main supply route to distribute food to the troops based in Barentu,” she explained.
UNMEE patrols a buffer corridor on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea in line with a peace accord the Horn of Africa states signed in the wake of a fierce border war fought between 1998 and 2000.
The accord guarantees UNMEE’s freedom of movement.
On ”Saturday morning we were prevented from using the route. We were stopped at the [army] checkpoint and diverted to a largely unpaved dirt road to the west,” said the spokesperson.
”The problem is it doubles the time to travel and imposes considerable wear and tear on the vehicle fleet, as there are a lot of stones,” she said.
”Discussions are going on in the view to restore our freedom of movement on that route,” she added. — Sapa-AFP