Eritrea & Ethiopia pledge to stop shootings

Eritrea and Ethiopia pledge to prevent further border area shootings - UN mission

Eritrea and Ethiopia today gave assurances to the United Nations that they would cooperate to avoid a reoccurrence of last weekend's deadly border area shooting, according to a report from the UN mission to both countries, known as UNMEE.

The UN mission reported that at a regular meeting of a mixed Military Coordination Commission (MCC) in Nairobi today, generals from Eritrea and Ethiopia discussed reports of the shooting which apparently left one Eritrean dead, and "both parties agreed to cooperate with UNMEE to avoid the reoccurrence of such incidents."

According to the UNMEE report, the UN Force Commander in the area, Maj.-Gen. Robert Gordon, had sought "further reassurance from both parties that they were fully committed to ensuring that nothing would be done to destabilize the existing military stability."

"Both Parties gave the Force Commander their strongest assurances that this would be the case," UNMEE said.

The report said General Gordon "further reminded them once again, in the words of the Secretary General to 'eschew the rhetoric of war, which is necessary for any difference to be resolved in a calm and peaceful climate.'"

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