Ethiopia and Eritrea meet

Ethiopia withdrew from the zone last month

By Martin Plaut

Ethiopian and Eritrean military representatives have met in Djibouti under the auspices of the United Nations, to resolve the outstanding issues brought about their border war.

Eritrea told the meeting that on 5 March it had begun redeploying its armed forces from the proposed temporary security zone that will run along the disputed border.

Once the Eritrean re-deployment is completed, the UN will inspect the zone and then formally bring it into operation.

The meeting also explored the possibility of establishing joint investigation teams.

'Constructive'

These teams would bring together Ethiopian and Eritrean military personnel, to work with the United Nations to invetigate any disputes that arose.

These might include problems at checkpoints, as well as the movement of UN peacekeepers within the zone.

The UN spokesman, Lt Commander Albert Wong described the meeting as having taken place in a "constructive" atmosphere.

He said that they were "making progress - slow progress. But progress is being made".