Commission for Coordination with the UN Peacekeeping Mission

Press Release
1 March 2001
REF: CCPM/024/01

Ethiopia Reneges on TSZ Boundaries

Recent press statements from the Ethiopian authorities have announced that Ethiopia has now completely removed its hostile military occupation from Eritrean territories above the southern boundary of the Temporary Security Zone. The location of the TSZ was established by the agreement of the two Heads of State prior to the February 6 meeting of the Military Coordination Commission in Nairobi, Kenya.

Contrary to these announcements, however, Ethiopia still remains in hostile military occupation of large Eritrean areas within the TSZ. Despite Ethiopia's earlier acceptance of the proposal that UNMEE formulated after consultations in Addis Abeba and Asmara, Ethiopia now claims that it subsequently expressed "reservations" and it has now refused to vacate its troops.

Under the UNMEE-sponsored plan that was accepted by the two countries last month, the areas that Ethiopia now refuses to vacate are supposed to be monitored by the United Nations peacekeepers. If Ethiopia's demands are accepted, however, these areas would be under the exclusive control of the Ethiopian military, with no United Nations peacekeepers permitted.

Among the new areas that Ethiopia demands are waterholes and rivers, critical for survival to the returning Eritrean farmers and pastoralists in the intensely hot and arid lowlands. Ethiopian military occupation in other occupied Eritrean territories has been accompanied by massive destruction and looting as well as rape, mutilation and disappearances among the civilian population.

Ethiopia's refusal to redeploy in accordance with the agreed-upon plan threatens to place in jeopardy the entire redeployment plan at a critical juncture in the process.

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