Ethiopia will not seize fire despite consent to indirect negotiations

Ethiopia said it will not seize fire with Eritrea unless it is certain of Eritrean withdrawal from Ethiopian lands.

A statement by the Ethiopian foreign ministry said this decision must be carried out despite of his country's consent yesterday on participating in indirect negotiations with Eritrea that will be held in Algeria the day after tomorrow.

Eritrea said yesterday that it has decided to withdraw its forces from border areas, which Adis Ababa considered them still under Eritrean occupation.

The head of the Organization African Unity Algerian President Abd El-Aziz Bouteflika is leading a mediation between the two sides. Bouteflika returned to Algeria from Addis Ababa where he spent two days May 24-26 in the Horn of Africa and made several moves between Addis Ababa and Asmara in his attempt to settle down the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict.

Following this tour the two parties in the conflict represented by the Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenaoui and the president of Eritrea, Issaias Afeworki, finally accepted the resumption of "the proximity talks" on May 29 in Algiers the Algerian news agency said.

Eritrea said its intention is to get into a peace negotiation and said that its military forces will withdraw from the "Bure front."

Meantime today, Ethiopia said that there has been fighting started this afternoon between the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the vicinity of Senafe.