DATE=6/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA (L)
NUMBER=2-263041
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Ethiopia says its border war with Eritrea is
over. But as V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports from Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia says its troops will remain in parts
of Eritrea until there is formal cease-fire.
TEXT:
/// SOUND OF TROOPS MARCHING - FADE UNDER
///
Ethiopian troops leave Eritrea in columns of two's,
marching across a rocky ridge near the Eritrean town
of Tsorona. They are pulling out now that Ethiopia
says it has accomplished what it set out to do by
invading Eritrea -- reclaiming border areas occupied
by the Eritreans at the start of the conflict two
years ago.
The Ethiopian withdrawal is as massive as the
offensive itself.
/// SOUND OF TANK - FADE UNDER ///
Captured Eritrean tanks are among the column of
Ethiopian trucks winding their way home through the
dust. Frontline troops rearmed themselves with
captured Eritrean munitions. Ethiopians clearing land
mines do not detonate them in the ground, but keep
them for another day.
Ethiopia returns with those arms to its side of the
border, sure to watch the redeployment of Eritrean
troops into the western lowlands. Thousands of
Ethiopian reinforcements sent to that front have
already pulled out. Troops who were 100 kilometers
from Eritrea's capital are back in Ethiopia.
Units along the central and southern fronts are
expected to join them soon now that Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi says the war is over. But the
Prime Minister says Ethiopia will not withdraw from
all of Eritrea until there is a formal cease-fire.
He says security concerns make it necessary for
Ethiopia to hold onto strategic high ground near the
Eritrean town of Shelalo and areas within artillery
range of the Ethiopian border town of Zalambessa.
He told diplomats that does not mean Ethiopia wants
to stay in Eritrea, but he suspects the international
community may have trouble coming up with a force of
its own, considering that the United Nations is still
raising troops for a peace mission in Congo.
The prime minister said Ethiopia would be happy for
foreign troops to monitor this strategic high ground.
But if they cannot, he said Ethiopia must do the job
itself. Until there is a formal cease-fire, Prime
Minister Meles said some Eritrean territory cannot
be allowed to fall back into the hands of an Eritrean
army that could threaten Ethiopia.
/// MELES ACT ///
The high ground in Shelalo and the high ground between
Zalambessa and Senafe among others. If it is the
preference of the international community that we do
so, we are prepared to do it at no cost to the
international community. If that is going to happen,
it will not be because we insist on remaining in
Eritrean territory. On the contrary, we insist that
return to status quo anti be implemented this time
around too. The principle does not change because
we are on the receiving side of the inconveniences of
that principle. The principle still holds true. We
have to withdraw.
/// END ACT ///
Ertirea says the war will never end until Ethiopia
withdraws from all undisputed Eritrean territory,
returning to the pre-war borders as Eritrea has. That
now is the challenge for Organization of African Unity
talks in Algeria -- to come up with a cease-fire that
both guarantees Ethiopian security and respects
Eritrean sovereignty. (Signed)
NEB/SKS/JWH
01-Jun-2000 06:10 AM EDT (01-Jun-2000 1010 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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