Eritrea: Ethiopian army demolishes the towns of tessenei and guluj after signing agreement

Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed in a statement yesterday Ethiopia for recent brutality saying "In a nefarious act of state vandalism, the Ethiopian army has burned virtually all public, commercial and private premises and looted property in Tessenei and Guluj before evacuating from these places on Monday, 19 June 2000."

it added "In Tessenei, the power plant, the bank, private shops, the school, cereal warehouses, the Shell and Total petrol stations, and several residential houses were gutted with fire. Organized looting teams brought from Ethiopia for the purpose loaded trucks and took away movable property from shops and commercial premises, not sparing even small items such as kitchen utensils from private homes. The extent of damage incurred in Guluj was not fully known at press time although there were reports of the wanton burning of several residential quarters."

Eritrea said that Ethiopia reoccupied Tessenei last week "to demonstrate" that it was not forced out of the town but "evacuated it due to political instructions form the government." Eritrea said "It is now clear that this political instruction had no aim other than finishing the job of destroying the city as was the case with Barentu. As it will be recalled, the Ethiopian army had demolished the new cotton processing plant in nearby Ali Gidir during its first occupation of Tessenei but the city was largely spared from destruction apparently because the army had no time to complete its intended aims of senseless vandalism."

Eritrea said that "Ethiopia's acts of wanton destruction in Tessenei and Guluj have occurred in the aftermath of the signature by both sides of the OAU agreement on the cessation of hostilities."