In a briefing to journalists in the region yesterday, a spokesman for the mission, known as UNMEE, said the incident began on Saturday, when a Bangladeshi peacekeeper fell seriously ill, suffering from chest pains.

When the mission asked Eritrea to allow a helicopter to medevac the patient to a hospital, it got no response. As a result, the peacekeeper had to be evacuated by road.

The 14-hour trip through difficult terrain put the peacekeeper’s life in grave danger, the spokesman said, but after he arrived in the Eritrean capital of Asmara and was treated, his condition stabilized.

This was the ninth medevac over land since the helicopter ban went into effect late last year.

Meanwhile, the military situation in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) and adjacent areas remains “tense,” the spokesman reported.

In his last report to the Security Council on UNMEE, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea has reached a dangerous stalemate. Ethiopia has failed to comply with a border demarcation decision while Eritrea is restricting the mission deployed in the two Horn of Africa countries.

He also recommended a variety of options to cope with the fact that UNMEE’s position was becoming “untenable” as a result of restrictions imposed against the mission, including relocation and withdrawal.