Eritrea accus Ethiopia of launching air raid near Asab port on the Red Sea
Eritrea-Ethiopia, Politics, 6/3/2000

The spokesman for the Eritrea's government told journalists in Asmara on Friday that the Ethiopian planes bombarded positions behind the Eritrea's defense lines on the Southern front on Thursday evening, noting that that raid targeted the logistic backing of the Eritreans.

The spokesman added that a cease- fire can be reached if a precise timetable is defined for a later Ethiopian withdrawal. But he added that the Ethiopian forces are still occupying Teisouni town, near the borders with Sudan and other several towns in the southern parts of the country.

Today, an Eritrean statement said "The Eritrean front line at Assab is a new front line set at 37 kms. west of the port city. The original front line was at Burrie, which is 71 kms. from the port city and at the established boundary between the two countries. But Eritrea redeployed to this new position in response to the express appeal of the OAU Chairman, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Eritrea completed redeployment to the new front line last Sunday which was verified by the diplomatic community in Eritrea and the international press which visited the area on Tuesday, 30 May 2000.

Ethiopia for its part said "Low scale fighting on the Bure front has recommenced this evening. There was a lull in fighting during the afternoon."

Meantime, the UN said "United Nations relief agencies today warned of a serious humanitarian situation in Eritrea, where thousands of people have gathered along the border to escape the fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia. A multi-agency mission visited encampments of displaced people in the western Gash-Barka region in Eritrea, some 220-300 kilometres west of Asmara. There, it saw concentrations of displaced people numbering between 4,000 and 5,000, of whom 70 per cent were children and up to 30 per cent women, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) told the press today in Geneva. The displaced population did not have adequate shelter or sanitation facilities and were mainly in open fields in a region that was extremely hot and inhospitable."

Previous Stories:
  Statement of the government of Eritrea on the war   (6/1/2000)
  Ethiopia: war is over   (6/1/2000)
  Ethiopia withdraw from Eritrean lands   (5/31/2000)

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