The UN, Eritrea and Ethiopia

The UN mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea in Addis Ababa said on Tuesday evening that the UN and the Ethiopian government had signed in New York on March 23 an agreement on the status of civilians and military men belong to this mission.

In a statement, the mission said that the agreement determines the legal framework of rights, privileges and duties between the peace keeping mission and the hosting country and states the freedom of movement for all " military and civilian " members of the mission.

On the other hand, in a statement issued on Tuesday evening Addis Ababa denied the recent accusation which were released by the UN mission on that there are Ethiopian forces in the isolation zone with Eritrea, noting that these forces exist in the Ethiopian territories in the areas of " Auda and Meikhata of Eirope district, which was under the authority of Ethiopia before May 1998.

The peace agreement signed between the two countries on December 12, 2000 in Algiers stated to deploy some 4255 of the UN troopers in an isolation area at a depth of 25 Km. inside the Eritrean territories along the borders between the two countries. Ethiopia had incurred in depth in the Eritrean territories in an attack its forces carried out in May 2000.