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DATE=5/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA (L)
NUMBER=2-262501
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=TOKOMBIA, ETHIOPIAN-OCCUPIED ERITREA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Ethiopian forces say they have made new gains 
in their drive to capture a key town that controls the 
main supply route for Eritrea's western army.  V-O-A's 
Scott Stearns is with Ethiopia's army inside Eritrea 
and has the latest.
TEXT:  Ethiopia's government says it has captured the 
village of Desa, seven kilometers from the town of 
Barentu, on the main resupply route west from 
Eritrea's capital, Asmara.
Ethiopia says Eritrean troops in Barentu are starting 
to withdraw to the north, toward the town of Keren -- 
because, Ethiopia says, it has cut the road to Asmara.
None of this could be independently confirmed 
(Wednesday).  Reporters traveling with Ethiopia's army 
did see MIG fighter jets flying sorties in the 
direction of Barentu, and plumes of gray smoke rising 
from a ridge.  Ethiopia says this is the battle for 
Burentu.
Thousands of Ethiopian recruits continue rolling 
toward the front, through captured Eritrean towns 
which Ethiopia is now using as staging areas.
Trucks and buses and tanks jam the roads of western 
Eritrea.  Ethiopia is bringing in food and fuel, water 
and ammunition.  There was even a detachment of 
Ethiopian soldiers herding cattle toward the front, to 
feed the troops.
While Ethiopia is clearly pleased with how quickly it 
has moved across the border, military officials appear 
to be taken no chances that their offensive may lose 
momentum.  They have stationed troops across newly-won 
territory, protecting against a possible counter-
attack.
Here in Tokombia, a new unit of Ethiopian soldiers has 
been brought in, to replace the men who took the town 
Saturday.  Those troops have moved on toward the 
Barentu front, while their replacements pick over 
what's left of Tokombia's shops.  One soldier proudly 
displayed the bottom of a blender; others shuffled 
through a photo shop on the town's main square and 
went through the bar of the Eritrea Hotel.   (Signed)
NEB/SS/TVM-T/WTW
17-May-2000 18:30 PM EDT (17-May-2000 2230 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.