Peacekeepers begin Eritrea pullout

Peacekeepers begin Eritrea pullout

Thursday, December 15, 2005 Posted: 1236 GMT (2036 HKT)
ASMARA, Eritrea (Reuters) -- Western peacekeepers began leaving Eritrea on Thursday after the United Nations agreed to pull out Americans, Canadians and Europeans from its mission set up to prevent war with Ethiopia.
The U.N. Security Council said in a statement Wednesday the world body would "temporarily relocate" military and civilian staff from Eritrea to Ethiopia in the interests of safety.
Last week, Eritrea ordered out peacekeepers from the United States, Canada and Europe.
The decision affects 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 Thursday.
"It is confused," said one U.N. staff member when asked about the mood inside the so-called Green Building of the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
The head of U.N. peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, arrived in Eritrea late Monday in a last-ditch effort to resolve the crisis.
"So far I have not met with any Eritrean official," he told a press briefing Thursday. "I made very clear that I am available for the Eritrean authorities. I cannot do more than what I have done."
According to reports on Eritrea's Information Ministry Web site, 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 a 1998-2000 war killed 70,000 people, but Guehenno said the mission can still keep an eye on the frontier.
Enforcement questioned
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 emphasized the "urgent need" for progress in implementing the commission's decision.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said earlier the council should consider withdrawing all the troops and questioned whether the operation should continue because Ethiopia and Eritrea were making unreasonable demands.
India and Jordan are the main contributors to the 3,300-strong peacekeeping mission.
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