Asmara: Eritrea has responded positively to a request from the UN for land and air corridor to allow for the unhindered movement of the United Nations Mission for Eritrea and Ethiopia, UNMEE.
"We agreed in writing immediately after the UN requested to have the land and air corridor" said an Eritrean official. The letter was signed and was delivered to the UN office six weeks ago.
Brian Kelly, UNMEE press officer in Asmara, said that the Eritrean government has been very supportive of the UN peace-keeping mission. "We welcome the response from the Government of Eritrea. It is certainly a positive approach."
Ethiopia has not yet responded to the United Nations request for land and air corridor. "We are still waiting for the Ethiopians to respond positively to our request," said a UN official in New York.
Diplomatic sources tell Visafric that the Ethiopian government has said it is still discussing the UNMEE request for land and air corridor request with its military command. The sources say that the Ethiopian government could be worried about approving an air corridor as its military has a history of shooting down its own fighter planes and had, at the beginning of the border conflict with Eritrea, shot down a foreign civilian plane which flew into its airspace.
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