Eritrean shoppers strike peace deal

A hitch remains over deployment of peacekeepers

By Alex Last in Asmara

A bizzare incident involving hundreds of angry Eritrean shoppers has prompted the United Nations to speed up the return to civilian administration in the former war zone along the Ethiopian border.

This is despite an ongoing disagreement over the delineation of the UN security zone, which forms a part of the Algiers peace plan.

The Eritrean town of Senafe has just been released from eight months of Ethiopian occupation, and civilians both inside and out the buffer zone are meant to stay put.

Ethiopian soldiers have withdrawn from Eritrean territory

But about 500 residents decided that they were tired with being stuck in the badly damaged town, waiting for the security zone to be declared.

So they decided to go shopping in the neighbouring town of Adi Keih which lies just up the road.

They gathered at the checkpoint just north of Senafe, and demanded that the Eritrean army and the UN let them through.

Faced with the daunting crowd of impatient shoppers, the Eritrean army and the UN gave way, and the people streamed off to Adi Keih - for some their first visit to another Eritrean town in almost a year.

The incident has prompted the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) to ask the Eritreans to restore civilian administration in some areas, despite the significant unresolved arguments and before the stated deadline for the Eritrean withdrawal.

Buffer zone hitch

But the latest hitch in the creation of the temporary security zone, which would separate the Eritrean and Ethiopian armies, shows no sign of disappearing despite a meeting on Wednesday, of the UN-chaired Military Co-ordination Commission (MCC).

The problem came to light when Eritrea said that the map being used to draw up the temporary security zone differs from the one seen by the Eritreans when they agreed to the creation of the zone.

For the first time, the MCC, which brings together Eritrean and Ethiopia army commanders, held its meeting inside what will be the security zone - inside a tent in the dry bed of the Mereb river, one of the few parts of the border not under dispute.

The UN said after the meeting that Eritrea had made clear its strong objections to the UN's modifications to the map of the security zone, previously agreed by both parties.

Eritrea stated that it planned to withdraw, but only to positions based on the original map. In short, there is still a problem in certain areas.

Map problem

For example, if Eritrea goes by the original map and the Ethiopians go by the UN's new modified version, it could be that the zone separating the two armies is narrower than the 25km agreed during peace negotiations.

Eritrea says that because of the modifications Ethiopian troops will move forward to positions it never occupied and take areas which Eritrean civilian were supposed to be returned to.

Since only a few people are privy to the maps, it is difficult to judge whether or not Eritrea's objections are based on fact.

But despite the hitch in one area, in most places the redployment of Eritrean forces is going ahead as planned. They still have two days to get to the new positions 25km away from the Ethiopian army.

In many areas, Eritrean forces are already this distance away.