Asmara — On 18 June 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea committed themselves in Algiers to an immediate cessation of the hostilities, the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission, the creation of a Military Coordination Commission (MCC) and the establishment of a Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) in order to create a "climate of calm and confidence" and "conditions conducive to a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict."

Both parties have sought adjustments in the southern boundary of the TSZ as presented to them by UNMEE after the 6 February meeting of the MCC. UNMEE regrets that Ethiopia did not communicate to UNMEE the full nature of its redeployment plans in the Irob area. UNMEE has, however, concluded that it has no other option than to adjust the southern boundary of the TSZ accordingly. It expects to reach agreement on the clarification of the redeployment lines provided by Ethiopia and to gain a more accurate understanding of the differences between the parties on the ground in specific localities.

This will ensure as far as possible the inclusion in the TSZ of the villages to which Eritrean internally displaced persons (IDPs) are expected to return.

UNMEE reminds the parties of their obligation to create the conditions for the return of the population and the full respect of their human rights, wherever their homes may be, as called for in paragraph three (3) of the Agreement between the Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia signed in Algiers on 12th of December, 2000. The Agreement states that, "the parties shall afford humane treatment to each other's nationals and persons of each other's national origin within their respective territories."

UNMEE welcomes Eritrea's announcement on 16th April 2001, that it has completed the repositioning of its armed forces out of the proposed TSZ. UNMEE commends both parties for fulfilling their obligations as stipulated in the Algiers Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities.

This repositioning allows for the establishment of the TSZ. To delay any further the establishment of the TSZ until all areas of disagreement have been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties would subject the civilians seeking to resume their lives in the former war-torn areas to unnecessary suffering.

The establishment of the TSZ is a milestone in the Ethiopian-Eritrean peace process as stated in the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities. It allows for the immediate restoration of civil administration and the return of IDPs in the areas of the TSZ. The establishment of the TSZ is particularly urgent given the impending rainy season and the need to reconnect existing villages and communities to their administrative support systems.

Mindful of the need for the orderly and safe return of the displaced populations, UNMEE stands ready to support the efforts of the Eritrean administration and the humanitarian community in mine awareness, demining and the provision of basic services such as shelter, water and health facilities.

UNMEE declares the establishment of the TSZ as of today, the 18th of April 2001. The establishment of the TSZ marks the formal separation of the forces of the two parties. It is the penultimate step in the resolution of the Ethiopian- Eritrean conflict and a necessary precondition to the implementation of the full peace agreement reached by the parties in Algiers on 12 December 2000. The TSZ is temporary in nature and does not in any way prejudice the decision of the Boundary Commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the border.

Questions & Answers:

Q: What is the state of humanitarian preparation and the situation regarding landmines inside the TSZ? How quickly can people return safely and what preparations have been made in coordination with UNMEE and aid agencies, for example with providing seeds?

SRSG Legwaila: Thank you. The reason why I have two gentlemen on both of my sides is because we have compartmentalized some of the areas of activities particularly concerning the TSZ. Therefore I will ask Ian Martin to answer that humanitarian question, which is his responsibility.

DSRSG Martin: Obviously the extent of mine contamination and indeed unexploded ordnance in parts of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) is a major concern. At this point the UNMEE Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) is not in a position to know the full extent of that in different parts of the zone.

What is urgent now is that demining personnel, who will mostly be Eritrean personnel, who have been trained recently by UNMEE, NGOs including Danish Church Aid and HALO Trust, are now able to get into the areas to conduct rapid surveys. They will mark off areas that are unsafe initially as a preview to eventual demining.

It is extremely important that the return of IDPs [internally displaced people] is as far as possible planned in relation to the ability of mine action personnel to conduct those surveys on the ground. As far as humanitarian preparations are concerned, a rapid village assessment has been carried out in Gash Barka organized in conjunction with ERREC [Eritrean Refugee and Relief and Commission], which has given a first indication of what the most urgent humanitarian priorities will be in parts of the TSZ. Again, there is an enormous amount to do. It is ERREC that clearly will be the lead agency in that respect with the United Nations humanitarian agencies coordinated by the Resident Coordinator Mr. Simon Nhongo. UNMEE will do everything it can to facilitate there operations as rapidly as possible.

Q: Are the resources actually in place in time to get people farming for the rainy season?

DSRSG Martin: I don't think anybody can say that with certainty. Certainly nobody can give an assurance that that is the case. There is an enormous amount to do now in a very short period of time.

Q: Can you give clarification for the conflicting information on the provision of land mine information by both Governments?

SRSG Legwaila: I don't think we have ever said that the Ethiopians have given us all the information that we need. I can tell you that we are cooperating with them in seeking more information. They are cooperating with UNMACC and therefore we hope that in the not too distant future they will give us all the information that we need.

I think it is in their best interest that they should be helped by the international community to lift these dangerous mines. We can only lift them if we know where they are. If the two parties want to make peace obviously they have to remove the mines because you cannot keep the mines there if you are preparing for peace. That is what we have been advising them to do, and we will continue to do so until we leave this place.

We don't see why mines should be maintained if the two parties have signed two very important documents - the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement from December.

Q: If I remember well, I think the UN two weeks ago said that it is absolutely unacceptable that Ethiopia stay in the zone. From this statement I believe you have given into their demands, blackmail, whatever word you want to use. This morning you saw President Isaias. Does he agree with the same wording as in your communique?

SRSG Legwaila: There are things that we can do as UNMEE and there are things, which we cannot do. It depends on the willingness of the parties to negotiate with us and finally to agree to certain things. There are still problems, which we have to resolve insofar as the southern border of the TSZ is concerned.

There are problems, which we are going to resolve. There are problems, which have been resolved. I can tell you that there are problems, which we cannot resolve, problems, which will be left to the demarcation commission.

One of those problems, which will be left to the demarcation commission, is the problem of Irob. That is what I said to President Isaias, that we have tried our very best in good faith to say to the Ethiopians.

They told us before the 6th of April MCC [Military Coordination Commission] meeting that they had made a mistake when they gave us the redeployment points by leaving out this area of Irob. We corrected the line and then when they completed their redeployment we certified that they had redeployed. After a few days we discovered that they were present in the area at issue. That is the area that is six kilometres beyond the lines that we have drawn.

We issued a statement, as you said, a statement protesting the presence of the three companies in that part of Irob. I was invited with the Force Commander to go to Ethiopia to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia where we were told that Ethiopia had always been in that area and that Ethiopia had never left the area and that that area is part of the territory that Ethiopia occupied before and on the 6 May 1998. Therefore, they have redeployed there in accordance with the line of 6 May 1998.

We were told in certain terms that nothing, and I underline nothing, would move them out of that area. Therefore, as realistic people we have decided that there is no use in trying to push the Ethiopians out of that area, because they are not going to be pushed out of that area. Nobody wants to fight the Ethiopians out of that area and therefore we have told the President that this is a typical candidate for the Border Commission. That is the only solution, because to mortgage the creation of the TSZ, the progress of the peace process generally, to a resolution of the Irob issue would be tantamount to saying you don't want to create the TSZ, you don't want the peace process to go forward.

We were pleased that the President listened to us. He didn't say one way or the other. All he was interested in, what he continues to be interested in, is that, number one, the TSZ should be created, number two, that the IDPs should go back to their villages, and number three, that they should go back to their villages regardless of where they are insofar as the lines of the TSZ are, which is what, as I said in my statement, the agreements that Ethiopia and Eritrea signed say that they must return to their villages.

It doesn't say they must return to villages, which must be in Eritrea or must be in Ethiopia. They have to return to the villages from whence they came, from whence they were displaced by the war. In other words, what is important here is that the parties must be put on notice, as the agreements they have signed say. They must respect the human rights of the people returning to their villages. There should be no brutalization. The people must be looked after. That is what we are going to insist on insofar as we are concerned. The President of Eritrea understands that and appreciates that that is our position - that the people must return wherever they came from to resume their lives in the villages from where they came.

Q: Do you know how many villages actually cross over the line?

SRSG Legwaila: Well, I can tell you that it is difficult to know how many villages have been disadvantaged by the lines we have drawn. I can tell you that we have gone a long way to reduce the number of villages that are likely to be disadvantaged by the lines.

We have not been sitting here in Asmara or in Ethiopia doing nothing. Every time we are told that some villages will find themselves on the wrong side of the line we go to work. We use all our assets to investigate and once we have investigated we go to the party that we think the village should fall under and say 'is it possible that we can adjust the line so that the villages can fall on the right side'.

In other words, we always try to make sure that the Eritrean villages will fall on the Eritrean side so you don't have the complications of people being afraid of returning to villages that are administered by somebody else.

Therefore, because we have been successful to a great extent in a considerable number of the villages, right now we don't know how many villages will be disadvantaged. I can tell you that every time we solve a certain number of villages, a new set is given to us to investigate. In other words, sometimes we find it difficult to keep up with the protests, the submission of new villages to be investigated. As a result, even today after we've created the TSZ, we'll continue our work insofar as the clarifications or investigations of villages is concerned.

Q: Has there been agreement between UNMEE and Eritrea on the numbers of militia [in the TSZ once civil administration is restored]?

SRSG Legwaila: It's impossible to impose an actual limit, especially if you are totally ignorant about the numbers that existed before the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea broke out. We don't know how many militia or policemen were there before the war broke out. Therefore, to put it bluntly, we are going to be victims of being given numbers, which we cannot query. So that is our problem.

But we believe that people realize that the Temporary Security Zone - underline security -- is an area which should be free of conflict; it's an area that should be characterized by peace and tranquility, and that if anything untoward is done there, we are going to have conflict between the two parties.

And I don't think that is what the parties want. What we all want is the Border Commission to be able to do its work in peace and security, its work that will relieve all of us - UNMEE and the parties - of the responsibility of being here for the rest of our lives.

We hope the numbers of police and militia will be reasonable enough for reasonable people not to suggest that there is something "fishy". That's what we expect of this side, so as not to give the other side the excuse to complain, or to protest, or worse.

Q: Will both Governments accept the TSZ?

SRSG Legwaila: We met with President Isaias this morning and he gave no indication that Eritrea would oppose the creation of the TSZ. Actually, at one point he said that so far as he is concerned, the TSZ already exists. The recent statement issued by the Commissioner [for Coordination with the Peacekeeping Mission] says that now that Eritrea has rearranged its forces, people will return with immediate effect to the TSZ. Therefore I don't think there will be any problem with the creation of the TSZ on this side.

And we have officially, twice, informed the Government of Ethiopia of how we are going to proceed. Even yesterday we informed them that today I would announce the creation of the TSZ. We haven't received any protest from the other side. This is an indication that the parties want to go forward with the peace process.

Q: What will be the fate of Eritreans whose villages are in Irob?

SRSG Legwaila: If you listened to my statement, and to what the President said, the IDPs will return to the villages from whence they came. It does not matter whether these villages are under the Ethiopian administration or under Eritrean administration, the parties have the obligation to allow them to return to the villages from whence they came, and to respect their human rights, and to make sure that people are not brutalized.

In the unlikely event that people are brutalized, of course the United Nations will inform the Security Council to make sure that the parties can be told that that is a violation of the agreements they have signed.

And that, by the way, is the view of the President of Eritrea, with which I agree entirely. That has been our view all along as we read the agreements, which the two parties have signed.

Q: What problem will be resolved by declaring the TSZ?

SRSG Legwaila: The problem it will resolve is that the parties will withdraw from the area. In other words, the reason we today declared that the TSZ exists is that officially the parties have redeployed and rearranged and therefore they have separated their forces. Once they separated, we interceded between them. Now we stand between them and monitor the TSZ. That is what has been resolved.

Q: The Eritrean Government announced that it completed rearranging its forces. How is UNMEE going to verify this? And UNMEE said the Ethiopian Government has not redeployed fully from the TSZ. What mechanism is used in verifying these movements of forces?

SRSG Legwaila: I told you that we have negotiated with Ethiopians insofar as that portion of Irob where we discovered they were sitting after we had verified the redeployment. We negotiated, and we discovered that it was a waste of time because they are not going to move out of there. They say they are where the 6 May 1998 line of administration was, and they are not going to move out, so what is the use of continuing to insist that they should move out when they are literally saying you dare move us out of it.

We have already verified that the Eritreans have withdrawn from the TSZ. We have our own mechanisms for this. Our force is patrolling the area, I think we can recognize when people move out of a place. We have verified that the Eritreans have rearranged satisfactorily.

Q: How can Eritrean people come back to ....[inaudible]?

SRSG Legwaila: I think guarantees is the wrong word, but we are going to make sure that the parties are reminded of their responsibility to respect the human rights of all the people under them. President Isaias this morning said that insofar as administration is concerned, if some of the villages are under the Ethiopians and people who are Eritreans came from there, they are entitled to return there.

That's what I said in my statement, and that's what the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement say: people must go back to their villages, and the parties must respect their human rights, and the United Nations must ensure that the parties respect their human rights.

We will remind the parties that it is their responsibility to implement the agreements they have signed. The agreements they have signed say that people shall return to their villages and their human rights must be respected.

Q: Are you concerned that [inaudible] Ethiopia won't accept the TSZ?

SRSG Legwaila: I said I met the Ethiopians twice already, and I am going back there to say now I have created what I said I was going to create, that here is the line, here are the villages, the populations are going to return to the villages, please respect them, because we will be there to remind you of your obligations to respect them.

And I'll meet them again. I'm going to be here for a long time, until the border is normalized and therefore, I'm going to meet them next week, and then I'll come back and President Isaias, and the Commissioner, and anyone else who wants to meet me, to make sure that I keep reminding them that they have obligations to meet.

Those obligations are that they have decided to make peace, and you can't make peace by brutalizing each other's populations. You must respect each other's populations regardless of where they are. If they are in your territory it is your responsibility to respect them. Also, both countries have signed the international human rights instruments in addition to the peace and security agreements between them.

They must treat returning villagers like people who want to make peace, who want to start a new chapter altogether. I think they want to start a new chapter; otherwise they wouldn't have signed the agreements they have signed.

Q: Do you really think Eritrean people want to return to areas that are under Ethiopian administration?

SRSG Legwaila: I haven't talked to the returnees, but President Isaias has, and he told me that the people want to return to the villages from whence they came. What they are saying is that we hope the UN will make sure we are not brutalized. It makes me happy that they are not saying 'we are not returning there,' instead they are saying 'we are returning to our villages,' and in the event that village is under the administration of Ethiopia, UNMEE wants to make sure that there will be protection, not only by us, but by the governments.

Insofar as we are concerned, we are going to remind the parties that you have signed agreements, and those agreements with their signatures are not for naught. Their signatures are signatures of very disciplined leaders of very disciplined countries... [inaudible].

Q: An article published [in the Eritrean media] today states that you are afraid that one of the Governments might oppose the decision of the Border Commission?

SRSG Legwaila: No, I never said that. I said the length of our stay here, as the UN peacekeeping force is dependent on the completion of the work of the demarcation commission coming up with the verdict. The parties decided in advance to accept the verdict of the Border Commission, and therefore I said of course if any of the parties does not accept the verdict of the Commission then we will be here a very long time.

I never said I was afraid. When you hear me speak, I don't speak like a man who can be easily afraid.

Q: What is going to change now that the TSZ is established?

SRSG Legwaila: The UN is already in the TSZ, and was before it was even created. It has been there since 10 February when the Force Commander declared the force had fully deployed. Even the humanitarian organizations have been visiting the TSZ, because it is going to be their responsibility together with us to make sure that the people are looked after from a humanitarian perspective. Therefore, we and they are very busy right now preparing for the repatriation of the IDPs to the TSZ. Everybody's busy, the Government of Eritrea, everyone. The international community is busy trying to make sure that it can help the Government of Eritrea repatriate these people in an orderly and humane fashion. I hope we are not going to abandon them to their own devices, walking home with bundles on their heads. I hope their return to their places of abode will be as smooth and as humane as we can possibly make it.

Also in attendance were Force Commander Major-General Patrick Cammaert and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General Ian Martin

For additional information contact the UNMEE Public Information Offices: Addis Ababa, phone 251-1-443396 (e-mail, walkera@un.org); Asmara, phone: 291-1- 151908 (kellyb@un.org).