Ethiopian fighters on Thursday attacked "the Eritrean Military Training Camp known as Sawa," said the communique, issued a day after the government spokeswoman, Salome Tadesse, said planes had hit military targets around Mendefera, 58 kilometres (36 miles) south of Asmara, on the central front at Tsorona and at Adi Keyeh on the same front at Zala Anbesa.

The foreign ministry in Asmara confirmed that the attacks had taken place, but said in a statement to AFP in Nairobi that the Ethiopians had hit civilian homes and injured eight children, some seriously.

Addis Ababa said an attack on Thursday had caused "heavy damage" at the "strategic" camp and among conscripts undergoing military training.

Since Eritrea became independent in 1993, Sawa has been a military academy where people aged between 18 and 40 receive six months' military training before undertaking a year of public service activity, Ethiopian experts told AFP.

The government of President Issaias Afeworki undertook the training of the eighth and ninth groups of conscripts, aged between 16 and 50, during the war over the ill-defined frontier with Eritrea that broke out in May last year, the experts added.

"The air attack by the Ethiopian Airforce has made a severe impact on the capacity of Issaias' military institution to undertake further training activities," Friday's statement said.

Ethiopian planes "successfully completed their missions and returned safely to base," it concluded.

On Thursday, the Eritrean foreign ministry said Ethiopian war planes had bombed a school at Adi Keyeh, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital, and had partially destroyed a nearby church.

In Addis Ababa, the government's spokeswoman said the jets had bombed "two military" targets around the Eritrean towns of Medefera, 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of Asmara, and Adi Keyeh.

"The Ethiopian fighters have never targeted civilians," insisted Salome Tadesse.

Western diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa confirmed the attacks had taken place According to Ethiopia, the various fronts had been relatively calm for almost two weeks.

The new attacks come two days after the UN Security Council repeated its appeal for an end to the fighting. The war broke out seven years after the province of Eritrea obtained de facto independence from Ethiopia in 1991. Its status as a nation was internationally recognised in May 1993.

Since May last year the two countries have fought over territories near their common border. They both claim to have killed, injured or captured tens of thousands of enemy troops after fierce fighting resumed in February.

Both sides have agreed to peace proposals drawn up by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), but differ in their interpretation of the text.

Having recaptured the contested zone of Badme on the central front in February, Ethiopia insists Eritrean troops have since May 1998 occupied other parts of its territory near the central and eastern fronts.

On Wednesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Voice of America radio that the OAU plan called for the total withdraw of Eritrean troops from Ethiopian territory.

He went on to say he would consider a ceasefire if Asmara undertook in writing to carry out such a withdrawal.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi participated in Thursday's talks in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported today. State-run Sudanese television showed presidents Omar el-Bashir of Sudan and Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea shaking hands.

It wasn't clear what, if anything, had been accomplished in Thursday's meeting, the first between el-Bashir and Afwerki since relations deteriorated between the two countries soon after Eritrean independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

Sudan and Eritrea accuse each other of aiding separatist rebels, with Sudan claiming Eritrea has sent troops into its territory to aid southern Sudanese rebels. Occasional cross-border shelling also has been reported.

"This meeting paves the way for the possibility of normalizing Sudanese-Eritrean relations," MENA said in its report from Tripoli.

El-Bashir and Afwerki had arrived in Tripoli earlier this week for an African summit. Though the two presidents had not met in years, there have been signs lately that ties were improving.

In November, el-Bashir said an agreement to end hostilities with Eritrea would be signed soon. And Eritrea may be eager to improve relations with Sudan because of its border war with Ethiopia, a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people since May 1998.

DATE=4/16/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-43141 
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA RECRUITS
BYLINE=SCOTT STREANS
DATELINE=ADDIS ABABA

INTRO:  THE PRESIDENT OF ERITREA SAYS ETHIOPIA  CANNOT  KEEP UP 
THEIR BORDER WAR BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IN ADDIS ABABA LACKS 
NATIONAL SUPPORT.  BUT AS V-O-A'S SCOTT STEARNS REPORTS, ETHIOPIA
SAYS THE COUNTRY IS UNIFIED AGAINST WHAT IT CALLS ERITREAN 
AGGRESSION.

TEXT:  AFTER NEARLY ONE YEAR OF WAR, THIS CONFLICT IS LARGELY A 
STALEMATE.  ETHIOPIA HOLDS AN ADVANTAGE IN MEN AND ARMOR.  BUT 
WITH MORE THAN 300-THOUSAND TROOPS DUG IN ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THE
ROCKY BORDER, THERE IS  NO  EASY WAY OUT MILITARILY.

ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAYAS AFEWORKI IS BETTING THAT THE ETHNIC 
TIGRAYANS WHO RUN THE GOVERNMENT IN ETHIOPIA LACK THE NATIONWIDE 
SUPPORT TO CONTINUE RECRUITING TROOPS FOR THE FRONT.

PRESIDENT ISAYAS AND THE TIGRAYAN T-P-L-F FOUGHT TOGETHER AGAINST
FORMER ETHIOPIAN LEADER MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM.  NOW, PRESIDENT 
ISAYAS SAYS TIGRAYAN LEADERS ARE BOUND TO FAIL IN THEIR WAR JUST 
AS THE MENGISTU ARMY FAILED TO UNITE ETHIOPIANS AGAINST 
ERITREANS.

                      ///  ISAYAS ACT  ///

         YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A GROUP THAT IS A MINORITY WITHIN 
         A MINORITY. YOU MIGHT TALK ABOUT THE 55-MILLION 
         ETHIOPIANS.  WHO ARE THESE 55-MILLION?  MENGISTU WORKED 
         FOR ALMOST 17 YEARS TO MOBILIZE THE POPULATION OF 
         ETHIOPIA -- SOMALIS, AFARS, OROMOS, WOLITAS, ANHARAS, 
         EVEN TIGRAYANS AND OTHER GROUPS.  IT WAS A VERY LONG AND
         DIFFICULT STRUGGLE.  HE HAD THE BIGGEST AND THE BEST 
         MILITARY MACHINE IN WHAT THEY CALLED BLACK AFRICA.  THE 
         T-P-L-F DIVIDING THEM FROM WITHIN, WEAKENING THEM AND 
         WEAKENING THEIR PARTICIPATION, NOW ASKING THEM TO 
         PARTICIPATE IN THE WAR IT HAS TRIGGERED WITH ERITREA?

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS ETHIOPIAN OFFICIALS LED BY PRIME MINISTER 
MELES ZENAWI ARE TRICKING THEIR PEOPLE INTO FIGHTING A WAR 
STARTED BY THE TIGRAYAN LEADERSHIP.

BOTH SIDES ARE HEAVILY RECRUITING FOR THE WAR.  PRIME MINISTER 
MELES SAYS ETHIOPIA HAS SUCCEEDED IN DRAWING VOLUNTEERS FROM ALL 
AREAS OF THE COUNTRY -- NOT JUST TIGRAY.

HE SAYS IT SHOWS THAT THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE STAND UNITED AGAINST 
ERITREAN AGGRESSION -- THAT THEIR CONCERN FOR THE NATION AS A 
WHOLE OUTWEIGHS ANY MISGIVINGS ABOUT REMOTE BORDER CONFLICTS. 

                     ///  MELES ACT ONE  ///

         THAT WAS FOR ME A SENSE OF SATISFACTION -- DESPITE THE 
         FACT THAT THESE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE BEING RECRUITED TO 
         FIGHT AND DIE.  IT WAS A MAJOR SOURCE OF SATISFACTION 
         BECAUSE FOR ME THIS IS A SIGN OF MATURATION OF THE 
         ETHIOPIAN ENTITY.  THE ORDINARY PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO 
         DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SOME GOD-FORSAKEN VILLAGE IN SOME 
         REMOTE PART OF THE NORTH OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE CONCEPT 
         BEHIND IT.  NOBODY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO IMPOSE THINGS ON
         US AS ETHIOPIANS. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS IF PRESIDENT ISAYAS THINKS ETHIOPIANS 
ARE  NOT  TOGETHER IN THIS WAR, HE DOES  NOT  UNDERSTAND WHAT HAS
HAPPENED IN THIS COUNTRY SINCE ERITREA LEFT TO FORM ITS OWN 
NATION IN 1993.

                     ///  MELES ACT TWO  ///

         WE ARE MOBILIZING PEOPLE TO FIGHT FOR THE CONCEPT OF 
         ETHIOPIA, THE INDEPENDENT STATE, WHICH WHILE READY TO 
         COMPROMISE, IS  NOT  READY TO KNUCKLE-UNDER. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

BOTH COUNTRIES HAVE ACCEPTED AN ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY 
PLAN TO ARBITRATE THE BORDER DISPUTE.  THAT DEAL CALLS ON THE TWO
ARMIES TO WITHDRAW FROM DISPUTED TERRITORIES IN FAVOR OF 
INTERNATIONAL MONITORS WHO WILL POLICE CONTESTED AREAS WHILE A 
BORDER COMMISSION DRAWS UP A NEW MAP.

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CEASEFIRE IN 
THE WAR EVEN BEFORE ERITREA'S WITHDRAWAL -- AS LONG AS PRESIDENT 
ISAYAS PROMISES TO PULL BACK HIS TROOPS ON AN AGREED TIMETABLE.

THE BULK OF THE TWO ARMIES ARE NOW MASSED AROUND THE BORDER TOWN 
OF BADAME WITH TANKS AND HEAVY ARTILLERY.  (SIGNED)

NEB/SKS/JWH

16-Apr-99 5:09 AM EDT (0909 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America