U.N. observers head for Ethiopia-Eritrea border

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) -- Small teams of U.N. military observers headed for either side of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea on Friday to prepare for the deployment of a full-scale peacekeeping mission, U.N. officials said.

The Horn of Africa neighbors signed a ceasefire agreement in June, ending a two-year border conflict in which tens of thousands of soldiers died.

The deal called for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers along the length of the 600-mile (1,000-km) border. A force of up to 4,200 troops was approved last week by the Security Council.

Named the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), the peacekeeping force will patrol a 25-km "security zone" separating the two armies with an initial mandate of six months.

A team of 15 military observers left the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for the border region on Friday aboard an Illyushian cargo plane loaded with four-wheel drive vehicles, generators and communications equipment. A similar team left the Eritrean capital Asmara for the border area.

"What we plan to do is establish contacts with the local military and civilian administrations to prepare the way for the deployment of the full military contingent," Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Ryder-Burbidge of Canada told Reuters as the plane was loaded.

Around 100 military observers will deployed in total, while the full peacekeeping force is expected to be in place by the end of November, U.N. officials said.

The tiny Red Sea state of Eritrea won independence from its southern neighbor Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year guerrilla struggle. Initially friendly relations between the two nations turned sour over trade disputes and a disagreement over the poorly-demarcated border.

Fighting broke out in the western border region of Badme in May 1998 and quickly spread to two other fronts.

After two years of sporadic but bloody bursts of fighting, Ethiopian forces marched deep inside Eritrean territory in May of this year, prompting a flurry of diplomatic activity which eventually yielded the June peace deal.

According to the agreement, Ethiopian troops will withdraw from the chunks of Eritrean territory they still occupy after the U.N. peacekeepers are in place.

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