Eritrea arrests UN staff

2006-05-11 22:03

Asmara - Eritrean authorities have arrested 11 local employees of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee), the mission said on Thursday.

Unmee's acting spokesperson, Musi Khumalo, said: "Eleven of our national staff are now in detention. They were taken in by the Eritrean authorities.

"No reasons have been given yet as to why they have been detained. We at Unmee have written letters of protest. We are obviously very concerned."

The arrests follow similar incidents in February, in which 27 Eritrean Unmee staff were detained but later released.

Thursday's arrests come at a low point in relations between the UN and Eritrea.

Asmara accuses the world body of failing to enforce a 2000 peace deal that ended a two-year border war between Eritrea and neighbouring Ethiopia.

Unmee patrols volatile border

Eritrea has slapped restrictions on Unmee patrols in protest.

Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment on the new arrests. After similar previous detentions, the Eritrean government has said it was looking for citizens evading compulsory military service.

Since Unmee arrived in Eritrea in 2000, it has reported several incidents of the detention of its local staff.

Unmee has been patrolling the border between the two countries since the end of the 1998-2000 war, but Asmara has banned all its helicopter flights, restricted ground movement and expelled its European and North American staff.

The moves are seen as signs of Eritrea's anger over a lack of international pressure on Ethiopia to accept a binding 2002 border demarcation, from an international panel that both countries had agreed to respect.

Ethiopia demands revisions

Addis Ababa has so far refused to accept the panel's ruling, which awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Asmara, and is demanding revisions.

The UN security council has threatened Eritrea with sanctions unless it lifts the restrictions on Unmee.

It has warned that it may be forced to downgrade the mission.

The council is scheduled to consider Unmee's future on May 15, but may delay its decision until the next meeting of a United States-backed group looking at ways to end the deadlock.

The boundary commission is set to meet with legal advisors from both Ethiopia and Eritrea in London on May 17.

- AFP