/ 9 June 2000

Ethiopia in massive offensive – claim

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Asmara | Friday 9.20am.

ERITREA claims that Ethiopia has launched a “large-scale” offensive on its eastern Assab front, following small-scale attacks and intensive shelling throughout Thursday.

It comes after Ethiopia claimed earlier that its military objectives have been reached and that its war with Eritrea is over.

Asmara said Ethiopia has deployed three divisions in the offensive, and are sustaining “heavy losses”. The Eritrean claims could not be verified by independent sources.

According to Eritrea, Ethiopian troops began a heavy offensive along the eastern front last Saturday, near the countries’ common border.

Eritrean forces repulsed the attack, killing, wounding and taking prisoner nearly 3700 Ethiopian soldiers, Asmara said. But Addis Ababa refuted the claims, saying it has pushed back Eritrean forces on two fronts.

A two-year-old episodic border war between the Horn of Africa neighbors flared up again on May 12 with an Ethiopian offensive that Addis Ababa said is aimed at liberating border territories it claims as its own.

Ethiopia now has troops deployed in several parts of undisputed Eritrean territory, explaining their presence with the need to prevent further attempts on its sovereignty. Their presence is however unacceptable to Asmara, which has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops, saying their presence violates international law.

“The failure of the OAU [Organization of African Unity] and its partners to publicy condemn Ethiopia’s repeated acts of invasion on the Assab front and to take appropriate measures for its rectification have no doubt encouraged Ethiopia to dwell on its agression with impunity,” the Eritrean ministry statement said. — AFP