UNMEE/PIO/PR/95
The second Sector Military Coordination
Commission Meeting (SMCC) was held at the Humera Bridge in Sector West
on 9 March 2004. For the newly created SMCCs this was the next important
step, following the successful conclusion of the first SMCC meeting at
Mereb Bridge in Sector Centre on 3 March 2004.
The UNMEE Force Commander, Major General Robert Gordon, opened the meeting, which was chaired by the Sector West Commander, Colonel Mohmmad Al-Salim. The Ethiopian delegation was led by Lieutenant Colonel Tsegaye Teka and the Eritrean delegation by Lieutenant Colonel Belay Hinsta.
In his opening statement, Major General Robert Gordon highlighted the role of the SMCCs, which was to "address military issues at the local level and investigate any security incidents that may occur along the southern boundary of the TSZ". The Force Commander stressed that he was confident that the members of SMCC "will be able to work closely to ensure that a continued military stability and security prevails in their area of responsibility." He went on to describe the SMCC as a local and joint fire brigade that needed some training. He noted "but today starts that process. Here in sector West we have had a number of fires and I look to you all in the SMCC to stamp them out in the future, speedily and cooperatively."
In his opening statement as Sector West SMCC Chairman, Colonel Mohmmad Al-Salim, the Sector Commander, welcomed the Eritrean and Ethiopian delegates and reinforced the fact that their agreeing to meet on the Humera Bridge signified that both the parties were keen on achieving peace. The Sector Commander hoped that the first meeting would help the Parties to develop more trust between each other and strengthen their commitment to the peace process.
Both Lieutenant Colonel Tsegaye Teka of the Etiopian Armed Forces and Lieutenant Colonel Belay Hinsta of the Ethiopian Defence Force welcomed the establishment of the SMCC and affirmed their strong commitment to it as a forum to resolve local issues.
Issues discussed at the meeting included military training exercises conducted by both Forces, freedom of movement of UNMEE night patrols, boundary crossings by civilians and cattle rustling. The meeting was conducted in a spirit of full cooperation, with both Parties professing their support to the SMCC process as a peace keeping mechanism.
For additional information contact the UNMEE Public Information Offices:
Addis Ababa, phone: 251-1-443396; Asmara,
phone: 291-1-151908
E-mail: unmeepublicinformation@un.org
Website: www.unmeeonline.org