Ethiopia accused of ceasefire violation

Ethiopia wants head of the UN mission removed

By Nita Bhalla BBC Addis Ababa reporter

The war of words between the United Nations and Ethiopia intensified on Friday after the UN accused Ethiopia of violating an international agreement between them.

There are more than 4,000 UN peacekeepers in the region

The UN says Ethiopia has restricted the movements of its peacekeepers deployed in the area to supervise last year's ceasefire agreement signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending two and a haf years of border conflict.

More than 4,000 peacekeepers are deployed in a 25 kilometre buffer zone separating the two countries, under the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea claim ownership of the disputed town of Badme, which spawned one of the bloodiest conflicts of recent times.

New checks

At a joint televised press conference in Addis Ababa and Asmara, UNMEE spokeswoman, Gail Bindley-Taylor, said Ethiopia had violated aspects of State of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the UN mission and Ethiopia.

SOFA is an international agreement signed by member countries and UN peacekeeping missions all over the world to protect the rights, privileges and immunities of all UN staff deployed for peacekeeping operations.

Both sides claim ownership of the town of Badme

Earlier last month, Ethiopia imposed new checks on the movement of the peacekeepers.

UNMEE staff must now show their passports, rather than the usual UN identification, when travelling.

Peacekeepers have also been subjected to body searches and all their luggage is now X-rayed before they are allowed to leave the country.

The UN spokeswoman said that the head of the mission, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, held talks with the Ethiopian Government earlier this week to discuss the issue.

Ms Bindley-Taylor Sainte said that talks were "fruitful" and "cordial", adding that "slow progress" was being made.

Badme trip

This is the latest in a series of moves by the Ethiopians, who are furious with UNMEE for flying journalists from Eritrea to the controversial village of Badme.

Addis Ababa claims that by taking journalists to Badme from Eritrea, without prior permission, UNMEE is insinuating that Badme lies with Eritrea.

Ethiopia has blamed the military head of the peacekeeping mission, Dutch force commander Major General Patrick Cammaert, for the incident and has demanded his removal.

Hundreds of thousands were displaced in the war

In April, Ethiopia showed its anger at the journalists' trip by closing its borders to the UN peacekeeping mission for nine days.

The move severely hampered the duties of the peacekeepers who are mandated to patrol the 1,000 kilometre border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

On Friday, Ethiopian officials admitted that new procedures had been employed at the airport.

But they defended their action, saying the government had to be more careful in who was entering and leaving Ethiopia after UNMEE took people into Ethiopian territory without permission.