DATE=11/3/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / AIDS CONFERENCE SCENESETTER (L)
NUMBER=2-255767
BYLINE=JOE DE CAPUA

EDS: On second reference Conference Scientific 
Chairman is addressed as Dr. Seyoum, not Dr. Ayehunie.

INTRO:  The First International Conference on AIDS in 
Ethiopia will be held in Addis Ababa, from November 7th 
through the 10th.  It's estimated three million people 
in Ethiopia are infected with H-I-V, the virus that 
causes AIDS.  That's over four percent of the 
population and experts say the figure will grow much 
higher in the years ahead. V-O-A's Joe DeCapua has a 
preview.

TEXT:  The theme of the conference is "Fighting for 
Life."  What makes this event different from many 
others are the participants.  Besides medical and 
scientific experts, the conference will feature 
children who are now orphans because of AIDS, people 
infected with H-I-V and commercial sex workers, or 
prostitutes.

The AIDS virus circulating in Ethiopia is a more 
robust and highly adaptable form known as H-I-V-1-C.  
It  shows a greater ability to interact with human 
cells, especially those in the reproductive tract.  
What's more, it is able to use fluids produced by 
venereal infections to help it reproduce.  Most of 
those infected are under 45 years of age - the 
country's prime workforce.

Doctor Seyoum Ayehunie (SAY-oom  aye-ah-HOO-neh) is 
the Scientific Chairman of the conference.

            /// SEYOUM ACT ///

      If the young generation is infected, a lot of 
      people will be out of work.  Because they are 
      sick they cannot work.  Or, the young 
      generation, which is the skilled manpower of the 
      nation, is dying.  And the impact on economic 
      development will be enormous.

            /// END ACT /// 

He says in many hospitals, 50-percent of the beds are 
occupied by people infected with H-I-V.  Because the 
country lacks medical resources and money, Doctor 
Seyoum says Ethiopia must fight AIDS through education 
and prevention.


            /// SEYOUM ACT ///

      They have to mobilize their community.  They 
      have to have community involvement in the 
      prevention programs.  They have to have strong 
      prevention programs.  We have seen, we have 
      hope.  We have seen countries like Uganda.  They 
      managed to bring down the HIV / AIDS epidemic in 
      their country.  This is a country just like us.

            /// END ACT ///

The major goal of the First International Conference 
on AIDS in Ethiopia will be to examine the roles of 
government, community leaders, non-governmental 
organizations and the media in the fight against AIDS.  
(Signed)

NEB/JDC/KL

03-Nov-1999 09:20 AM EDT (03-Nov-1999 1420 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America

Guelleh, on a four-day official visit to Ethiopia, told the country's Lower House of the Federal Parliament that despite efforts by the sub-regional grouping, there were still pressing problems in the horn of Africa that hamper development.

He said the parliamentary union's task would be to bring about "peace and stability and expediting development endeavours."

The speaker of the house, Dawit Yohannes, welcomed the proposal, saying the Ethiopian parliament "is ready to work with its Djiboutian counterpart."

The refugees had been due to cross the border on Tuesday as part of a major repatriation programme organised by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. But they were denied entry after a meeting by Kenyan heads of security.

More than 8,000 Kenyans fled into Ethiopia following an outbreak of ethnic fighting in their country in 1993.

A Kenyan TV report said 600 refugees were put on 14 lorries on Tuesday for the trip from the border crossing at Moyale to Isiolo, about 200km north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

They were transported to the no-man's zone between the two countries where they waited for hours in the baking sun as Kenyan officials debated whether to allow them in.

The lorries eventually returned to Ethiopia in the evening.

The 4,000 remaining refugees had been due to be repatriated by Saturday in an operation costing the UNHCR 40m shillings ($533,000).

UNHCR representatives said efforts to reach the Kenyan Ministry of Home Affairs official, who, they say, authorised the repatriation were fruitless.

"Everybody knows what is happening," said Yemane Ghebremeskel, a spokesman for the government of Eritrea. "There is a buildup of forces."

The rising tension in the obscure 18-month-old conflict has generated a fresh flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at preventing a resumption of all-out warfare. Last week, U.S. officials joined diplomats from the Organization of African Unity in visits to Addis Ababa and Asmara, the capitals of the rival nations.

Both Ethiopia, with a population of 60 million, and Eritrea, with one-twentieth that number, have accepted an OAU peace plan, but for reasons as unclear as the cause of the conflict the accord has not been implemented by either side.

Eritrea appeared to make a fresh overture Monday. Saying that his country would not be hung up on details, President Issaias Afwerki seemed to indicate in an interview with the Reuters news agency that Eritrea is prepared to pull back its troops unilaterally.

A U.S. official called the remarks encouraging. "I think these guys have made a strategic decision to resolve this somehow peacefully," said the official, who asked not to be identified. The Issaias interview, the official said, was an effort "to see how the Ethiopians respond to flexibility--verbal flexibility."

The Ethiopian response came today. In a terse statement headlined, "Eritrea: All Talk, No Action," the government challenged Asmara to "move beyond talk and take practical actions that unequivocally demonstrate its commitment to withdraw." Eritrea replied that it would not, and the situation remains where it has been for 18 months--deadlocked in trenches along a 600-mile border.

At stake in the stalemate--besides pride--is a patch of about 160 square miles claimed by both countries, which two years ago were close allies. The first skirmishes flared after Eritrea sent tanks into the disputed area in May 1998, and hundreds of troops died on both sides after Ethiopia marshaled its forces a month later. But the bloodiest battles came in February. In an offensive that military analysts described as World War I tactics backed by modern weapons, Ethiopia sent waves of infantry into the no man's land between the trench lines.

After four days of fighting, the Eritrean positions were overrun and Ethiopia reclaimed Badme Plain, the largest portion of the area under dispute. The death toll ran into the thousands, possibly tens of thousands, according to independent Western analysts.

Since then, death counts have become part of the dispute. Eritrea said Sunday that 70,000 Ethiopians have lost their lives on the battlefield. Today, Ethiopia called that figure "patently false" and claimed that Eritrean killed and wounded have topped 100,000.

"We've been waiting for the conflict to be settled peacefully," said Haile Kiros, a spokesman for the Ethiopian government. He pointed out that Ethiopia was first to accept the OAU peace plan and has objected only to a technical agreement that he said "diluted" the original.

Isayas told Reuters he was committed to a peace deal allowing for an independent examination of where the border should be, and was ready in principle to redeploy his troops to their pre-war positions.

The peace plan, put forward by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), calls for a ceasefire monitored by independent observers and both sides redeploying their troops from the war zones before work begins on the border's demarcation.

Ethiopia has accepted the plan in broad terms but insists it will not agree to a ceasefire unless Eritrea first withdraws from all the territory it has occupied.

In an interview with Reuters late on Sunday, Isayas appeared to offer a possible way out of the impasse. ``As a matter of principle, the question of ceasefire and redeployment is irrelevant as far as Eritrea is concerned,'' he said. ``If implementation starts and we have a final verdict through demarcation, why should a ceasefire or redeployment become an issue on its own?''

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in two rounds of fighting in the border war, which first erupted in May last year. There have been only sporadic clashes since June but both sides have sent reinforcements to the front lines and diplomats say a third round could begin at any time.

FEARS OF NEW ROUND OF FIGHTING

Isayas said Eritrea's army would launch no offensive actions but he believed that Ethiopia was still spoiling for a fight.

``The indications on the ground, and the indications from Addis Ababa clearly indicate that we are on the verge of war,'' he said.

``This campaign for another offensive is based on very stupid military assumptions about their numbers, our numbers, their losses, our losses, their firepower, our firepower. It is childish and very simplistic.''

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said last week his country was the victim of an Eritrean invasion and a new round of fighting was possible.

``Until and unless they withdraw from all these territories, we remain victims of aggression with the right to defend ourselves,'' he told Reuters.

Senior OAU officials have shuttled between Addis Ababa and Asmara in recent days in an attempt to break the diplomatic deadlock before the war flares up again.

The two nations were allies before the war broke out but diplomatic efforts by the OAU, the United Nations and the U.S. government have so far failed to bring peace.

Both sides have claimed at every point of the war that they were fired on first, and both claim they have the upper hand.

Eritrea took a clear military advantage in the first round of fighting in May last year but Ethiopia won back the contested border region of Badme when the war resumed in February. Isayas said on Sunday the fighting had cost Ethiopia 70,000 lives, adding that Eritrean losses were ``very small.''

Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki told Reuters on Sunday that he was, in principle, prepared to pull his troops back to positions they held before a war between the two countries erupted 18 months ago if it would help end the conflict.

But Ethiopia said it didn't believe him.

``Eritrea continues to profess a willingness to withdraw its forces from all occupied land but never puts its words into action,'' government spokesman Haile Kiros told Reuters.

``Eritrea needs to move beyond talks and take practical actions that unequivocally demonstrate its commitment to withdraw,'' he said.

A peace plan put forward by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), calls for a ceasefire monitored by independent observers and then for both sides to redeploy their troops from the war zones before work begins on the border's demarcation.

Ethiopia has accepted the plan in broad terms but insists it will not agree to a ceasefire unless Eritrea first withdraws from all the territory it has occupied.

In his interview with Reuters on Sunday, Isayas appeared to offer a possible way out of the deadlock by saying the timing of a ceasefire and redeployment was ``irrelevant'' to Eritrea as long as the peace plan is implemented.

``If implementation starts and we have a final verdict through demarcation, why should a ceasefire or redeployment become an issue on its own?'' he said.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in two rounds of fighting in the war, which began in May last year. There have been only sporadic clashes since June but both sides have sent reinforcements to the front lines and diplomats say a third round could begin at any time.

OAU officials have moved between Addis Ababa and Asmara in recent days in an attempt to force through the peace deal.

He is scheduled to hold talks with the Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on ways to promote and strengthen co-operation in various fields, including trade and communications.

Guelleh was accorded full honours on arrival at Addis Ababa's Bole international airport, where he was received by Negasso, cabinet ministers and members of the diplomatic corps.

Ethiopian officials said the two countries are to sign a series of co-operation agreements during his visit.

Drafts for the accords were prepared during two days of bilateral deliberations by the 7th session of the Ethiopia-Djibouti joint ministerial commission. Trade and economic relations between the two countries have improved greatly since the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998.

The dispute forced Ethiopia to channel the bulk of its exports and imports through the port of Djibouti, abandoning the Eritrean Red Sea ports of Assab and Massawa. Goods are transported between the two countries by road and railway.

Highlights of Guelleh's visit include an address to members of the diplomatic community Thursday on the prospects for peace in the horn of Africa.

Besides the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the civil war in Somalia continues. The country has had no central government since the 1991 overthrow of the late President Siad Bare by an assortment of clan-based guerrilla groups.