OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Sunday 3.00pm.
ERITREA claimed on Sunday that it foiled a large-scale Ethiopian offensive on the Assab front, inflicting huge losses on the Ethiopian army which was forced to retreat to its original positions.
In a statement, the Eritrean foreign ministry said the Ethiopian offensive on the Assab front involving more than three divisions had been “totally foiled after more than 48 hours of intensive fighting”.
“Ethiopian forces have been forced to retreat, with staggering losses, to their original positions,” the statement said, adding that fighting had subsided on Sunday morning, apart from the odd shelling.
On the Senafe front, the statement said, Eritrean forces were able to dislodge Ethiopian forces from strategic and commanding heights on the left side of the town after a day-long battle on Saturday, which also saw high Ethiopian losses.
The fighting in the western part of the country between Omhager and Guluj continued all day on Saturday without any change in the relative positions of both sides, the statement said.
“Eritrean forces had liberated Tesseney, Barentu, Haicota, Tekhombia, Awagaro and Guluj earlier in the week,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the statement also accused Ethiopia of missing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) deadline to unequivocally pronounce its acceptance or rejection of the OAU proposal on a cessation of hostilities.
“This is Addis Ababa’s characteristic tactics of obstructing the peace process,” the statement said.
“Ethiopia’s agenda of war is determined by the closely-knit seven-member Tigre People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) politburo, many members of which do not have any formal position in the government,” it charged. — AFP