DATE=5/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA/ERITREA (L)
NUMBER=2-262612
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Ethiopia's army says it is 100-kilometers from
the Eritrean capital. Correspondent Scott Stearns
reports Ethiopia is continuing its weeklong offensive
across the border.
TEXT: Ethiopian troops are approaching the Eritrean
capital, Asmara, from the northwest, after capturing a
key re-supply route. Since taking the town of Barentu
last week and cutting off most of Eritrea's western
army, Ethiopia has vowed to pursue troops retreating
from Barentu toward Asmara.
Ethiopian military commanders in Barentu say some
Eritrean troops are 15-kilometers outside town.
Others have withdrawn 45-kilometers to the town of
Akordat.
The United States is evacuating all non-essential
staff from its embassy in Asmara. It is not known if
or when Ethiopia will attack the capital.
Ethiopian troops are making considerable progress
moving east along the contested border, taking the
town of Maidema on the road to Mendefera. Waiting to
capture Mendefera, before moving on the capital, would
give Ethiopia a northern and southern approach to
Asmara.
/// OPT /// The northern approach is Ethiopia's
longest supply route. That route has been full of
buses and trucks carrying thousands of reinforcements
more than 100-kilometers across Ethiopian-occupied
Eritrea.
In the past few days, some of the troops from the area
around Barentu appear to be moving toward the central
Tsorona front and Mendefera. That brings them closer
to the Eritrean-occupied town of Zalambesa, where both
sides have exchanged heavy artillery fire.
Reclaiming Zalambesa is central to the Ethiopian
offensive. Instead of attacking Zalambesa directly,
as expected, they began their campaign on the
considerably weaker western front. That may
eventually give them the ability to put together an
attack against Zalambesa that does not rely solely on
troops from Ethiopia's side of the border, but could
also include Ethiopian units inside Eritrea west and
north of Zalambesa. /// END OPT ///
Ethiopia says it is also making gains farther west
near Sudan, capturing the Eritrean border town of Om
Hajar. When Eritrean units there withdrew last week,
Ethiopia's air force says it bombed their convoys on
the road.
// OPT // Ethiopia believes some of the Eritrean
units who pulled out of Om Hajar, Barentu, and the
town of Tessane are now regrouping at Eritrea's main
training camp, planning a counter-offensive. Ethiopia
says it has launched an aerial bombing campaign on the
Sawa camp to disrupt that reorganization and make it
more difficult for Eritrea to train a future army. //
END OPT //
Both sides accuse the other of starting this two-year-
old war. Regional mediation efforts by the
Organization of African Unity have failed to resolve
the conflict.
Ethiopia says it has been invaded and wants the
restoration of local Ethiopian authority in disputed
areas before cease-fire talks. Eritrea says the land
in question is rightfully Eritrean, so there can be no
question of restoring any authority until the issue of
ownership is decided by an international border
commission.
Ethiopia says the failure of peace talks forced it to
begin this latest offensive in what it says is an
effort to convince the Eritrean government to withdraw
from disputed territories. (SIGNED)
NEB/SS/ALW/RAE
21-May-2000 09:15 AM EDT (21-May-2000 1315 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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