DATE=6/15/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-233962
TITLE=ETHIOPIA - ERITREA FRONT (L)
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=ERDE MATTIOS

INTRO: Ethiopia and Eritrea have agreed to stop bombing each other's territory as part of a US-backed peace plan, but there is no agreement on a ceasefire in their ground war. As VOA's Scott stearns reports from the northern Ethiopian border, Ethiopia continues to send troops to the front.

TEXT: Armored personnel carriers and convoys of ammunition jam the road past the town of sheraro, more than 600 kilometers northeast of the Ethiopian capital. Soviet-era tanks and trucks of Ethiopian militiamen with German machine-guns roll toward a front less than five kilometers from Eritrean trenches.

Ethiopian commanders say they are maintaining purely defensive positions along a border where Eritrean troops took control of eight villages last month. Eritreans say those areas belong to them; Ethiopians say they have been invaded.

Both sides have agreed to stop an air war that has seen the bombing of the Eritrean capital and the Ethiopian towns of Mekelle and Adigrat, but with more re-enforcements on both sides of the border, the risk of a continuing ground war is far from over.

Ethiopia's army says more than a thousand people died here last week fighting for control of the rocky hills overlooking Sheraro. Many of the dead have already been buried. Others still lie rotting in the heavy afternoon sun, their blood-soaked fatigues stretch over bloated corpses.

Local commander Guosh Gebrezegi says the battle of Erde Mattios began with an Eritrean tank barrage about 5:30 in the morning.

Commander Guosh says Eritrean tanks and infantrymen tried to capture the hills overlooking Sheraro. After 14 hours of mortar fire and hand-to-hand combat, the Eritreans were driven back, with Ethiopian tanks crushing Eritrean anti-aircraft guns.

These are both highly mechanized armies with field guns and mobile rocket launchers backing a front-line of tanks and 50 caliber machine-guns. Their commanders know each well. They fought along side each other for years against Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haille Mariam.

Eritrean militiamen Tesfaom Zewde fought against the Mengistu government. Last month he was re-mobilized for the campaign against Ethiopia. Mr. Tesfaom was taken prisoner during the battle of Erde Mattios.

Mr. Tesfaom says the war is a fight between brothers, a fight between comrades that no one wants. He says he was surprised That the two countries are fighting over their border, when both should be concentrating on economic development.

Prisoner of war Mahari Tekesti says many young men in his neighborhood were rounded up for what the government said was a youth service program.

Mr. Mahari says no one told them where they were going. Then they got to the border and were all given guns. Almost all Eritrean young men have regular military training. Mr. Mahari says they went into battle, got lost and were captured by the Ethiopians.

The prisoners appear to be well-treated, with regular rations of food and cigarettes. As a midfielder for the Miloti football Club in the Eritrean capital, Mr. Mahari says one of the worst things about being a prisoner is that he can't watch the World Cup. With more infantry and armor headed for the front, Mr. Mahori is likely to miss the finals of France '98. (signed)

Neb/sks/kl/wfr
15-jun-98 2:55 pm EDT (1855 utc)
Source: Voice of America