ADDIS ABABA, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said here Thursday that it has received three reports from Eritrean women who named the peacekeepers as the "putative fathers" of their children.

    UNMEE officials told journalists that they have received two official and one unofficial records of allegation from three Eritrean women involving two children and a pregnancy.

    Indian, Zambian and Russian peacekeeping soldiers were involvedin the accusation which was described as "inappropriate actions" by the UN mission.

    "Our efforts at this junction show that the mission did receivethree reports from adult women, in some instance accompanied by relatives, naming the peacekeepers as the putative fathers of their children," UNMEE said in a statement.

    UNMEE spokeswoman Gail Sainte said that the alleged "putative fathers" have already left the mission area, making the investigation difficult.

    She however said that the alleged soldiers who were approached by their respective countries have denied the allegation.

    "What makes the investigation to be difficult is that the allegation came after the soldiers left the mission area. There isno DNA test in Eritrea or in Ethiopia. We didn't receive the report while the soldiers were here in 2003. UNMEE is not responsible after the soldiers left the mission," Sainte said.

    However the mission reiterated that the inappropriate actions of these individuals will not be tolerated and the mission will continue its investigation as a priority. The mission also indicated that the UN headquarters would hold a meeting by the endof this month concerning the UN soldiers' activity on the matter, and will pass a recommendation to the problem.

    Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two and a half year border war between May 1998 and December 2000. Nearly 3,400 UN peacekeepers are now deployed in a 25 km-wide buffer corridor that hugs the length of the 1,000 km border between the two Horn of Africa states. Enditem