DATE=5/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA (L)
NUMBER=2-262312
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 3:11 p.m.
INTRO: Ethiopia says fighting is continuing through
the night in its border war with Eritrea. V-O-A's
Scott Stearns reports from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
launched a fresh round of attacks Friday across three
fronts.
TEXT: Ethiopia's army opened a series of new
offensives against Eritrean positions in the west,
near Sudan; in the east, near Djibouti; and in the
center of its border with Eritrea, around the town of
Zalambessa.
On the western front, near the Mareb River, Ethiopia
says troops supported by tanks and heavy artillery
broke through three lines of Eritrean trenches and now
occupy what Ethiopia calls "key strategic areas." A
government statement says Ethiopia's air force bombed
deep inside Eritrean territory throughout the day.
While reclaiming the central town of Zalambessa has
long been a key Ethiopian objective, this offensive
appears to be concentrated more on the western front,
where Ethiopia retook the town of Badme over a year
ago. Ethiopian troops pushed across the Eritrean
border during that fight and now appear to be driving
even farther inside the country, perhaps in an effort
to cut off Eritrea's western army and prevent it from
reinforcing positions around Zalambessa.
This fighting comes just days after a U-N mission to
the region failed to agree on a new round of peace
talks. U-S Ambassador Richard Holbrooke led a
delegation of U-N ambassadors shuttling between Addis
Ababa and Asmara, without getting either side to
recommit to a peace plan drawn up the Organization of
African Unity. That plan has so far shown little
progress.
The latest round of peace talks last week in Algeria
broke down over many of the same issues that have
divided these former allies for two years. Part of
the problem is that Ethiopia and Eritrea appear to
have decidedly different views about the nature of the
conflict.
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of invading its territory, so
Ethiopia wants local Ethiopian administration restored
in disputed areas before talk of a cease-fire.
Eritrea says the land in question is rightfully
Eritrean, so there can be no question of restoring any
local authority until the issue of ownership is
decided by an international border commission. That
commission is provided for under the O-A-U plan, along
with the deployment of neutral foreign observers to
monitor disputed areas during a simultaneous
withdrawal of troops.
But the O-A-U plan has never gotten off the ground,
and there are increasing calls, especially from
Eritrea, for the United Nations to take a more active
role. Ethiopia says it has waited long enough for
that process to show results. Eritrea says it wants
to talk peace, but Friday's fighting makes that more
difficult. (Signed)
NEB/SS/WTW-T/WTW
12-May-2000 22:46 PM EDT (13-May-2000 0246 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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