DATE=2/17/99
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-245634
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA FRONT (L ONLY)
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=TSORONA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: WITH REGIONAL MEDIATORS TRYING TO BRING A CEASEFIRE IN
THE BORDER WAR BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA, BOTH COUNTRIES ARE
REINFORCING POSITIONS ALONG THEIR BORDER. V-O-A CORRESPONDENT
SCOTT STEARNS IS AT THE ETHIOPIAN FRONT, WHERE HE REPORTS THERE
IS MORE TALK OF WAR THAN OF PEACE.
TEXT: UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS, THOUSANDS OF ETHIOPIAN TROOPS
MARCH TOWARD THE FRONT FOR WHAT THEIR OFFICERS SAY WILL BE THE
SECOND PHASE OF ETHIOPIA'S COUNTEROFFENSIVE AGAINST ERITREA.
WHEN ERITREAN TROOPS CROSSED THE BORDER LAST MAY, RECLAIMING LAND
THEY SAY IS RIGHTFULLY ERITREAN, ETHIOPIA WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD.
IT TOOK WEEKS FOR ETHIOPIA TO REINFORCE THE FRONT AND STOP
ERITREA'S PUSH SOUTH.
THIS TIME, ETHIOPIAN OFFICERS SAY THEY ARE READY TO RETAKE LAND
THAT, BEFORE LAST MAY, WAS ADMINISTERED BY ETHIOPIA.
IN A COLUMN OF MORE THAN FOUR-THOUSAND MEN MARCHING SINGLE FILE
ALONG A DUSTY RIDGE IN NORTHERN TIGRAY PROVINCE, ETHIOPIAN
SOLDIER TESFAE AYELE SAYS ERITREA WILL NOT TAKE THEM BY
SURPRISE AGAIN.
/// AYELE ACT - FADE UNDER ///
HE SAYS ERITREA INVADED ETHIOPIA BECAUSE IT HAS ECONOMIC
PROBLEMS. SO, WE HAVE COME TO DEFEND OUR TERRITORY.
IT IS THE FIRST TIME IN COMBAT FOR SOLDIER YOHANNES KABEDE, WHO
WAS RECRUITED EIGHT MONTHS AGO AND NOW SAYS HE IS HAPPY TO
FINALLY BE HEADING TO THE FRONT.
/// KABEDE ACT - FADE UNDER ///
MR. KABEDE SAYS ETHIOPIANS ARE READY TO DEFEND OUR TERRITORY.
FOR US, WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THE ERITREANS, NOT BECAUSE WE
WANT WAR.
WHEN ERITREA DECLARED ITS INDEPENDENCE IN 1993, MR. KABEDE SAYS
HE NEVER IMAGINED THERE WOULD BE WAR BETWEEN THESE FORMER ALLIES
WHO FOUGHT SIDE BY SIDE BY AGAINST ETHIOPIAN LEADER MENGISTU
HAILE MARIAM.
BUT INDEPENDENCE BROUGHT TERRITORIAL RIVALRIES AND ECONOMIC
JEALOUSIES ACROSS THE BORDER. ETHIOPIA INVESTED HEAVILY IN
TIGRAY PROVINCE, THREATENING ERITREAN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. WHEN
ERITREA UNVEILED ITS OWN CURRENCY, ETHIOPIA REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT
ONE-TO-ONE AGAINST THE ETHIOPIAN BIRR.
SOLDIER IMIR MELAKWI SAYS IT IS A WAR MORE ABOUT MONEY THAN LAND.
/// MELAKWI ACT - FADE UNDER ///
HE SAYS THERE IS A MISUNDERSTANDING ON BOTH SIDES BECAUSE OF
ERITREA'S ECONOMIC JEALOUSY OF ETHIOPIA'S DEVELOPMENT. HE SAYS
ERITREA HAS BEEN PREPARING FOR WAR FOR THE PAST SEVEN YEARS WHILE
ETHIOPIANS WERE TRYING TO DEVELOP THEIR COUNTRY.
REGIONAL MEDIATORS ARE TRYING TO ARRANGE A CEASEFIRE IN THE WAR.
BUT SO FAR, BOTH COUNTRIES SEEM DETERMINED TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT.
ERITREA WANTS INTERNATIONAL MONITORS IN THE DISPUTED AREAS BEFORE
WITHDRAWING ITS FORCES. ETHIOPIA WANTS THOSE TROOPS OUT AND
LOCAL ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITY RESTORED BEFORE ANY FORMAL PEACE TALKS.
// OPT //
MARCHING TO THE FRONT WITH A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHER
OVER HIS SHOULDER, ETHIOPIAN SOLDIER KASOU MAHARI SAYS THERE HAS
BEEN ENOUGH TALK ABOUT PEACE.
/// MAHARI ACT - FADE UNDER - OPT ///
AFTER ERITREA INVADED OUR COUNTRY LAST MAY, HE SAYS, WE WERE
TRYING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM PEACEFULLY. BUT HE SAYS ERITREA HAS
REJECTED PEACEFUL MEANS SO THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE NOW TO DEFEND OUR
COUNTRY IS TO FIGHT THEM.
// END OPT //
YOUNG MEN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FRONT ARE DYING OVER A FEW
KILOMETERS OF DRY ROCK THAT THEIR GOVERNMENTS BELIEVE ARE CENTRAL
TO NATIONAL SECURITY. (SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/JWH/JO
17-Feb-99 10:41 AM EST (1541 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
