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afrol News, 16 May - The UN Security Council yesterday afternoon decided not to extend the arms embargo against of Ethiopia and Eritrea beyond 16 May - one year after the sanctions had been imposed on the warring countries. In a statement, the Security Council however "stressed that the parties in the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict must provide unrestricted free movement and access to the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and its supplies, including within the Temporary Security Zone, whose purpose is to separate the parties' armed forces." The security zone, which aims to separate the parties' armed forces, "must be completely demilitarized," the UN statement said. It added that civilians inside the area should be supported by an "appropriate but limited" number of Eritrean civilian militia and police. The Council further urged the two sides to redirect their efforts "from weapons procurement and other military activities towards the reconstruction and development of both economies, and regional reconciliation, with a view to achieving stability in the Horn of Africa." In addition, the Council called for the immediate establishment of a secure air corridor between the Ethiopian and Eritrean capitals. It urged both nations to cooperate fully and expeditiously with UNMEE, to abide scrupulously by their agreements, and to "exercise restraint in their public statements" after provoking government statements have increased the tension during the latest weeks. Calling on the two countries to continue to facilitate mine action in coordination with the UN, the Council encouraged them "to exercise caution in returning civilians" to the security zone "before it has become adequately demined." The lifting of the UN arms embargo comes almost one year after Eritrea and Ethiopia signed an Agreement of Cessation of Hostilities in Algiers on 18 June 2000, and a half year after the signing of the Peace Agreement in Algiers on 12 December 2000. Although the hostilities long have ceased and UN forces are monitoring the peace, tension has remained relatively high between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The UN however has stated that it is confident that the disputed peace process between Ethiopia and Eritrea will "not fall apart" despite existing disagreements over the implementation of the peace agreement. "The UN Mission is dealing with two disciplined leaders, two disciplined nations and two disciplined armies," the UNMEE Chief Legwaila Joseph Legwaila concluded earlier this year. Return to peace Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that nearly 1,000 Eritrean refugees had been repatriated on Saturday from the neighbouring Sudan as part of a major operation. A spokesman for the agency told reporters in Geneva that the returnees were receiving cash assistance, food and household supplies "to help them settle back into communities which some of them left during last year's conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia." Some of the roughly 174,000 Eritrean refugees in camps in the Sudan have spent more than 30 years in exile, spokesman Kris Janowski said. Many of them have no home to return to after the hostilities or after their lands have been mined. Source: Based on UN
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