An Indian peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has died of cardiac arrest after what has been described by the UN as an unnecessary long medical evacuation due to an Eritrean ban on UN helicopter flights.
Lance Corporal Kamble Ramesh Annappa suffered a cardiac arrest in the Temporary Security Zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia and was pronounced dead after having been evacuated to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the UNMEE said.
According to official information, Annappa first collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday and died soon after arrival at the hospital at 1400 hours local time.
"It is pertinent to note that this soldier could have been evacuated to Asmara in Eritrea in a much shorter time frame (45 to 50 minutes) since a helicopter was available at the Battalion Headquarters in (Ethiopian town of) Adigrat," the UNMEE said.
"However, since this could not be done, due to the continued helicopter ban by Eritrean authorities, an aircraft had to be flown from Addis Ababa to Mekele to evacuate the soldier, which led to an avoidable delay of nearly four hours," it added.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was troubled with the death and called on Eritrean authorities to lift restrictions on the operations of UN personnel.
"Secretary General is particularly troubled that the death occurred in the circumstances when, because of the inadmissible restrictions imposed by Eritrea, the medical evacuation of the sick peacekeeper to a hospital required the use of a longer route," Annan's spokesman said in a statement.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter border war between 1998 and 2000, and the TSZ now separates the two countries. The Secretary General has told the Security Council that there were various options for coping with the current stalemate, ranging from re-deployment to total withdrawal of the UNMEE.
The UN peacekeepers face a number of restrictions in addition to the ban on overflight by helicopters. Eritrea has barred peacekeepers of certain nationalities from its territory and UNMEE patrols face restrictions on their movements. The UN peacekeepers are mainly from India and Jordan.
