UN mission to end monitoring Ethiopia-Eritrea border
16/10/2008 16:09
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has almost
completed its withdrawal from the Horn of Africa region, said a UN news release
yesterday.
In July, the Security Council voted unanimously to terminate the
mission after restrictions placed on the peacekeeping operation by Eritrea
undermined its ability to carry out its mandate.
Over the weekend, 60 Indian
peacekeepers, who had been based in the northern Ethiopian town of Adigrat, left
the country.
The mission's 15 remaining guards, part of an Indian contingent,
are expected to depart at the end of the week.
"This was a difficult mission
but you can go home knowing that you accomplished what you were sent to do,"
Azouz Ennifar, the Secretary-General's acting Special Representative, said at
their farewell ceremony.
"The parties remained at peace while UN military
observers were stationed in the Temporary Security Zone and adjacent areas," he
said.
Ennifar stressed that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made it clear
to both Ethiopia and Eritrea, which fought a bloody border war in 2000, that his
good offices remain available to them.
Xinhua
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