ERITREAN MILITIAMEN BLOCK MOVEMENT OF U.N. PEACEKEEPERS

21 February 2008 (UN Noon Briefing)

This afternoon at 3:00, the Security Council has scheduled consultations on Ethiopia and Eritrea. Council members will receive a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet about the temporary relocation efforts concerning UN peacekeepers in Eritrea.

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) says that regrouping of peacekeepers and their equipment to Asmara continued yesterday and today.

Even so, Eritrean militiamen have prevented a vehicle carrying two soldiers to travel Asmara from the Temporary Security Zone. The Mission says the two peacekeepers could not proceed until the militiamen holding them had received instructions from Eritrean authorities in Asmara.

Meanwhile, the four Armoured Personnel Carriers held up by militiamen since 17 February in Om Hajer were allowed to proceed to Asmara today.

Asked about complaints from Eritrea that UN press offices had misreported the situation there, the Spokeswoman reiterated that, due to a lack of cooperation by the Eritrean authorities, UNMEE has been compelled to regroup in Asmara, in order to facilitate its temporary relocation from the country.