ERITREA: The last U.N. Western peacekeepers leave after an expulsion order by the Eritrean government

Record ID: 349925

  • Title: ERITREA: The last U.N. Western peacekeepers leave after an expulsion order by the Eritrean government
  • Date: 17th December 2005
  • Summary: CAR DRIVING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 1st January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Eritrea
  • Country: Eritrea
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAEPB5XGY720EDFIGH67AGM5BFL
  • Story Text: The last Western peacekeepers began left Eritrea on Friday (December 16) after the United Nations agreed to pull out Americans, Canadians and Europeans from a mission set up after a two year-war with Ethiopia that ended in 2000.
    The U.N. Security Council said in a statement on Wednesday (December 14) the world body would "temporarily relocate" military and civilian staff from Eritrea to neighbouring Ethiopia in the interests of safety.
    Last week, Eritrea ordered out peacekeepers from the United States, Canada and Europe.
    The decision affects some 180 military observers and civilian logistics staff, but the United Nations said on Thursday roughly 20 extra staff from other nationalities would also be leaving.
    The deadline for their departure is Friday, and some began leaving on Thursday.
    The head of U.N. peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, arrived in Eritrea late on Monday in a last-ditch effort to resolve the crisis.
    According to reports on Eritrea's Information Ministry website, shabait.com, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has been touring the country this week and hardly present, if at all, in Asmara.
    The order for peacekeepers to leave will limit the U.N.'s capacity to monitor the tense Eritrea-Ethiopia border, where the 1998-2000 war killed 70,000 people, but Guehenno said the mission can still keep an eye on the frontier.
    The Eritrean move was widely viewed as a sign of frustration that the international community has done little to force Ethiopia to implement demarcation of their common border.
    In a 2000 peace deal, the two countries agreed an independent commission would decide on where their border should be, but Ethiopia later rejected the ruling.
    The Security Council's statement emphasised the "urgent need" for progress in implementing the commission's decision.
    India and Jordan are the main contributors to the 3,300-strong peacekeeping mission.
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