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DATE=3/19/99
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-246878
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA FIGHTING (L UPDATE)
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
INTRO:  ERITREA SAYS IT HAS SCORED ANOTHER VICTORY IN ITS BORDER 
WAR WITH ETHIOPIA.  BUT V-O-A EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT SCOTT 
STEARNS REPORTS ETHIOPIA SAYS THE BATTLE IS FAR FROM OVER.
TEXT:  AFTER A WEEK OF FIGHTING ON THE CENTRAL TSORONA FRONT, 
COMBAT HAS SHIFTED 160 KILOMETERS WEST TO AREAS AROUND THE BORDER
TOWN OF BADAME.
ERITREA LOST BADAME THREE WEEKS AGO.  NOW ERITREAN FORCES ARE 
REGROUPING ON THAT FRONT, SAYING ETHIOPIA HAS SUSTAINED 
CONSIDERABLE LOSSES, WITH ERITREA CAPTURING A HELICOPTER GUNSHIP 
AND DESTROYING FOUR TANKS AND THREE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS. A FOREIGN
MINISTRY STATEMENT SAYS ERITREA ALSO CAPTURED TWO TANKS INTACT 
AFTER DRIVING BACK WHAT IT CALLS NEW ETHIOPIAN ATTACKS.
ETHIOPIA SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN SKIRMISHES ALONG THAT FRONT, WITH 
MOST OF THE FIGHTING FRIDAY IN THE SHEMBEKO AREA NEAR THE MEREB 
RIVER WHICH DIVIDES ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA.  ETHIOPIA SAYS THERE IS
ALSO MORE COMBAT ON THE TSORONA FRONT WEST OF THE ERTIREAN-HELD 
BORDER TOWN OF ZALAMBESA.
ERITREA SAYS IT KILLED MORE THAN 10-THOUSAND ETHIOPIANS IN 
FIGHTING THERE THIS WEEK, SHOOTING DOWN A MIG-23 FIGHTER JET, 
DESTROYING 57 TANKS, AND CAPTURING SIX OTHERS.  ETHIOPIA SAYS 
THAT IS A LIE.
AFTER ANOTHER WEEK OF FIGHTING AND REPEATEDLY VICIOUS PROPAGANDA 
ATTACKS IN THIS WAR, REGIONAL MEDIATORS HAVE MADE LITTLE APPARENT
PROGRESS TOWARD A CEASEFIRE.  ERITREA STILL SAYS IT IS READY TO 
PULL BACK ITS FORCES AT THE SAME TIME AS ETHIOPIA, IN KEEPING 
WITH AN ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY PLAN.
BUT ERITREA SAYS ETHIOPIA IS TRYING TO GO BACK ON THE DEAL BY 
CONTINUING THE FIGHT AND INTRODUCING NEW PRE-CONDITIONS TO 
TORPEDO THE PEACE PROCESS.
THE O-A-U PLAN CALLS ON BOTH SIDES TO DEMILITARIZE THE BORDER 
AHEAD OF AN INTERNATIONAL MONITORING FORCE FOR DISPUTED AREAS AND
A COMMISSION TO DECIDE THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE BORDER WITHIN 
SIX MONTHS.
ETHIOPIA SAYS IT IS ERITREA THAT IS BLOCKING O-A-U MEDIATION BY 
REFUSING TO WITHDRAW FROM TERRITORIES ADMINISTERED BY ETHIOPIA 
BEFORE FIGHTING BEGAN LAST MAY.  (SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/JWH
19-Mar-99 8:41 AM EST (1341 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.