Eritrea: We have not occupied Ethiopian territories

The Eritrean Foreign Ministry said that a letter from the Eritrean government to the Organization of African Unity's chairman asserted that Eritrea has not occupied Ethiopian territories.

The statement from the foreign ministry said Eritrea calls for the OAU to work for implementation of a peace framework agreement for Eritrea and Ethiopia, saying, "Any tampering with the OAU Framework Agreement will bear no fruit other than throttling the Agreement itself and bring the OAU initiative to a dead end."

The Eritrean Foreign Ministry also denied that any fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia took place over the weekend. Responding to Ethiopian statements, Head of Asia and Australia Desk at the Ministry Tesfamariam Tekeste said, "The accounts coming from Addis Ababa are, in keeping with pattern, completely without basis and designed to mislead the Ethiopian people. There has been no fighting since early last week when the TPLF ceased its offensives after successive defeats."