SENAFE, Eritrea For the first time since Horn of Africa neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war in 1998, vehicles are able to cross the now-dormant frontline between the two countries, AFP said.
This right is exclusively reserved for personnel of the United Nations force mandated to deploy along the border and to monitor the implementation of an accord the neighbors signed in June in Algiers to halt the conflict. The route passes through the Eritrean trading town of Senafe, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the border, which has been occupied by Ethiopian troops since Addis Ababa launched a major offensive in May, an act which prompted most residents to flee. The town lies in an area designated in the Algiers accord as a temporary security zone, a 25-kilometer (15-mile) wide strip of land running the length of the 1,000 kilometer (620 mile) border and in which Ethiopian troops will be allowed to remain until two months after the arrival of up to 4,500 UN peacekeepers.
On Tuesday, UN military observers and Ethiopian troops posed in Senafe by a wooden barrier blocking the road, which extends from Asmara to Addis Ababa. They were waiting for a UN convoy sent by Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, commander of the peacekeeping mission known as UNMEE, from Adi Keyih in Eritrea to Adigrat in Ethiopia, a distance of some 75 kilometers (47 miles). "It is a great moment in the whole process of going to a lasting peace in the region. It is the first time that we (the UN) can cross the frontline," said the general.
With the war on hold since June, there has been some reconstruction of buildings damaged by artillery and other arms. While damage was not extensive, some buildings, such as the hospital, have been unusable until quite recently. Since Monday, a blue UN flag has fluttered atop UNMEE's office in Senafe. Visible with binoculars from this first barrier, a second, about 1,000 meters (yards) to the north, on the slopes of Mount Emba Tarika, marks the limit of Ethiopia's occupation of Eritrea. Ethiopia's most forward trenches can also be seen from here.
In some areas, the no-man's land is just a few hundred meters (yards) wide. The opening of the corridor constitutes "a road toward peace," according to Lieutenant Colonel Fekade Haile, an Ethiopian liaison officer. The officer firmly denied Asmara's charges that Ethiopian troops here had committed human rights violations in the area. The June agreement to cease hostilities has been scrupulously respected, said Fekade. Not a shot has been fired around Senafe since it was signed, he said.
Inside the UNMEE building, the force's advance elements and Ethiopian troops held a long discussion about the identity cards required to pass through the road block. For general Cammaert, another step to peace will be taken Saturday in Nairobi, at a meeting of the military coordination commission. Talks will focus on how to set up the security zone and on the future deployment of Ethiopian and Eritrean troops. According to Cammaert, UNMEE plans to set up further corridors in other parts of the border region over the coming months.