DATE=5/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263000
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=TSORONA, OCCUPIED ERITREA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Ethiopia says its troops have left western
Eritrea, but the army continues to hold ground on the
central front of the war with Eritrea. V-O-A's Scott
Stearns reports from the central front.
TEXT: Ethiopian commanders say the battle here was
more intense than fighting on the western front. A
heavier concentration of Eritrean armor and ground
forces made it more difficult to break through the
lines.
Ethiopian commanders say they launched a four-pronged
attack on the western-most edges of the central front.
The first came along an eastern ridge skirting the
Eritrean trenches. The second came right up the
middle, with tanks and heavy artillery pounding the
Eritrean line. The third attack went to the west,
toward the town of Tsorona. And the fourth looped
around to the far west, bringing Ethiopian troops in
behind the Eritrean line.
This front is another impressive display of Eritrean
trenches dug deep into the rock, with reinforced
bunkers every 40 meters. Gun emplacements are ringed
with thorns. The trench line is defended by landmines
on a trip-wire.
But like the western front, the trenches here appear
to have let Eritrea down. Ethiopia did not come
with a full frontal assault, but instead attacked many
Eritrean units from behind.
Again, like the western front, prisoners of war here
say they surrendered because they were surrounded and
had no way to fall back with other troops farther
into Eritrea.
Heavy artillery clearly played a big part in the
fighting for Tsorona. Ethiopia says Eritrea had an
artillery brigade here, along with an anti-aircraft
brigade and more than 40 tanks in a mechanized
division.
Ethiopian artillery hit the trenches and the town --
which has been abandoned since the war began two years
ago.
Ethiopian shells landed in an empty school classroom
and came through the wall of a local hotel. The
town's square has clearly seen a heavy exchange of
automatic weapons fire, especially the few buildings
with a second floor.
Just outside the town, at an ammunition dump, Ethiopia
says it hit six trucks trying to escape with weapons.
The blackened shells of the trucks sit on blown-out
tires. The ground is scattered with 60-millimeter
mortar shells, hand grenades, rifle grenades,
shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles, and anti-
aircraft guns.
Tsorona is quiet for now. Ethiopian commanders say
the Eritreans have fallen back to the town of Qua-
atit, 20 kilometers to the north.
Having re-gained the ground they wanted on the central
front, Ethiopian commanders say they have been ordered
to hold their position and not advance farther.
Some of the Ethiopian reinforcements sent to the west
are pulling out through the central front, moving
farther east along the mountains that divide the two
countries.
Ethiopia says the western withdrawal shows it does
not intend to occupy Eritrea. It also allows
Ethiopia to use those tanks and troops elsewhere along
this central front. (Signed)
NEB/SKS/JWH/KL
31-May-2000 08:02 AM EDT (31-May-2000 1202 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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