Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Ethiopia has rejected a recent protocol agreement between Eritrea and the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) providing for the return of Eritrean militia and police to the border area, official sources said.

Ethiopia described the protocol as "lopsided and unbalanced," and that it was a violation of the spirit of the agreements the two sides signed in Algiers in June and December ending their border conflict.

"This is a potentially dangerous measure executed in contravention of the Algiers agreements," the Ethiopian Peace- keeping Co-ordination Bureau with UNMEE said in a statement published in the official press Sunday.

"It should be known to all, including UNMEE, that Eritrea is yet to re-arrange its troops as the force that is currently deployed in the TSZ consists of units of the Eritrean regular army disguised as militia," the bureau said.

It said that the Ethiopian side persistently expressed its concern "stating that the Eritrean police and militia returning to the TSZ should maintain" the composition, command structure and the standing they had before the conflict.

"However, in contravention of the agreement, the Eritrean government was preparing to infiltrate its intelligence security elements into the area, under the guise of police forces and militia," the bureau added.

It further charged that the protocol UNMEE had signed last week, "had also failed to specify the exact number of police and militia members that are to return to the TSZ."