DATE=6/9/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA - ERITREA (L)
NUMBER=2-263313
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: There is more fighting in the Horn of Africa,
with Eritrea saying Ethiopia has launched a large-
scale offensive on their southern front. VOA's Scott
Stearns has this report.
TEXT: Eritrea says Ethiopia has launched what they
call an "all-out" attack across the southernmost Bure
front. A Foreign Ministry statement says the offensive
began Thursday night and continued into Friday.
Eritrea says Ethiopia has deployed more than 25-
thousand soldiers on that front, troops who Eritrea
says are sustaining huge losses.
Ethiopia says that is a lie. There was fighting on
that front last night, but Ethiopia says there is no
offensive. A government spokesperson says Ethiopia's
military operations are over now that it has regained
ground occupied by Eritrea at the start of the
conflict two years ago.
Eritrea has withdrawn from disputed territory along
that front near the border with Djibouti. But
Ethiopian troops who have returned to take that ground
say they have come under attack from Eritrean units
inside Eritrea.
Because Eritrea has withdrawn from disputed
territories and returned to its pre-war borders, it
says the Organization of African Unity (O-A-U) must
condemn Ethiopia for continuing the fight. Eritrea
says the failure of the O-A-U to do so questions the
credibility of its peace process.
O-A-U mediators are meeting with both sides in Algeria
to try and come up with a compromise cease-fire deal.
One of the problems is Ethiopia's insistence that it
continue to hold some strategic high ground inside
Eritrea.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his troops
will not leave all of Eritrea until international
troops are ready to take over strategic border areas
that could be used to attack Ethiopia. The Prime
Minister says Ethiopia must have international
guarantees that Eritrea will not attack again. Until
then, he says Ethiopian troops will stay.
Eritrea says the war will never be finished as long as
Ethiopian troops remain on Eritrean soil. Eritrea says
Ethiopia must first withdraw from all undisputed
Eritrean territory, returning to the pre-war border as
Eritrea has.
In the last week, Eritrea has regained most of its
western lowlands, ground taken by Ethiopia at the
start of this latest round of fighting last month.
Ethiopian troops are pulling back toward their border
in a move that Ethiopia says shows it does not intend
to occupy Eritrea. Eritrea says it has forced the
Ethiopian withdrawal in heavy fighting. (SIGNED)
NEB/SS/GE/PLM
09-Jun-2000 05:30 AM EDT (09-Jun-2000 0930 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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