The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) began scaling down the size of its force this week, a spokesperson announced.
The scaling down ”began on Wednesday and we will let you know when it will be finished. That will probably be in January 2005,” Unmee spokesperson Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte told a news conference in Asmara on Thursday.
Unmee currently numbers some 3 600 troops, of which some 500 are expected to leave, according to the UN.
On September 14, the UN Security Council extended Unmee’s mandate until March next year but called for a reduction in its size, so as to reduce its annual budget of around $200-million.
Its troops are mostly stationed in a buffer corridor in Eritrea that hugs the length of the 1 000km border between the two states.
Unmee was deployed in the wake of a 1998-2000 war fought over the border.
In 2000, the two parties signed a peace accord under which they promised to respect a ruling on the path of the frontier which was decided by an independent Boundary Commission in 2002.
The following September, however, Addis Ababa rejected the decision, a position it maintained until last week. – Sapa-AFP