Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) sent a letter to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi protesting against the conviction this week of Samson Seyum, editor of the local weekly Tequami, for incitement to violence. A copy of the letter was faxed to Reuters in the Kenyan capital.

The group said Samson had been in detention since December 1995 and should be released in June 2000 after what it called ``the longest (sentence) ever passed on a journalist in Ethiopia.''

It said eight other journalists were also in jail in Ethiopia.

INTRO:  U-N SPECIAL ENVOY MOHAMED SAHNOUN IS HEADING FOR THE HORN
OF AFRICA ON THE LATEST MISSION TO SEEK AN END TO THE BORDER WAR 
BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA.  AS V-O-A EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT
SCOTT STEARNS REPORTS, BOTH COUNTRIES HAVE ACCEPTED A REGIONAL 
PEACE PLAN, BUT THERE IS STILL  NO  PEACE. 

TEXT:  ON PAPER, THE TWO COUNTRIES SEEM SO CLOSE IT IS A WONDER 
THE WAR HAS GONE ON NEARLY A YEAR. IN PRACTICE, ETHIOPIA AND 
ERITREA REMAIN DIVIDED BY A PEACE PLAN BOTH SAY THEY ACCEPT BUT 
UNDERSTAND DIFFERENTLY. 

MR. SAHNOUN WILL TRY BRIDGING THAT GAP IN MEETINGS WITH ERITREAN 
PRESIDENT ISAYAS AFEWORKI AND ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER MELES 
ZENAWI. HE IS ALSO EXPECTED TO MEET OFFICIALS FROM THE 
ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY WHO CAME-UP WITH THE PEACE PLAN IN 
QUESTION. 

THAT DEAL CALLS ON BOTH SIDES TO PULL-BACK THEIR TROOPS WITH 
INTERNATIONAL MONITORS IN DISPUTED AREAS WHILE A BORDER 
COMMISSION DRAWS-UP A NEW MAP. 

THE PROBLEM IS WHEN THOSE TROOPS WITHDRAW AND WHAT AREAS THEY 
LEAVE.  PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS ERITREA IS ALREADY IN COMPLIANCE 
WITH THE PLAN, HAVING PULLED-OUT OF THE BORDER TOWN OF BADAME. 
PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS ETHIOPIA FORCED THE ERITREANS OUT OF 
BADAME. HE WANTS ERITREA TO LEAVE ALL AREAS THAT WERE 
ADMINISTERED BY ETHIOPIA BEFORE FIGHTING BEGAN LAST MAY. 

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS ETHIOPIA HAS BEEN INVADED. PRESIDENT 
ISAYAS SAYS  ERITREA WAS DRAWN-INTO THE FIGHT, AND HE WANTS THE 
U-N TO TAKE PART IN AN INVESTIGATION TO PROVE IT. 

                    ///  ISAYAS ACT ONE  ///

         WE HAVE ASKED FOR AN INVESTIGATION, AN INDEPENDENT 
         INVESTIGATION TO VERIFY WHO STARTED THE FIGHTING MAY 
         SIXTH AND HOW THE FIGHTING DEVELOPED UNTIL OUR TROOPS 
         WERE FORCED TO ACT.  IT IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.  
         POLITICS, YES, YOU CAN COMPROMISE, YOU CAN BE TOLERANT, 
         BUT THEN IT WAS  NOT  THE CASE. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS PRIME MINISTER MELES AND OTHER ETHINIC 
TIGRAYANS CONTROLLING ETHIOPIA'S GOVERNMENT HAVE BROUGHT ON THIS 
WAR TO PUNISH ERITREA BECAUSE THEY ARE INTIMIDATED BY ERITREA'S 
AMBITION. 

                    ///  ISAYAS ACT TWO  ///

         THIS TYPE OF WARFARE IS AN EXPRESSION OF THIS DESPERATE 
         DESIRE TO PUNISH, TO HUMILIATE, TO TAME, TO TEACH 
         SOMEONE YOU FEEL HAS ALWAYS BEEN SORT OF SUPERIOR OR 
         VERY PROUD AND ARROGANT. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BLAMED US. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

///  OPT  ///   WHEN THEY WERE ALLIES AGAINST ETHIOPIAN LEADER 
MENGISTU HAILLE MARIAM, PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS TIGRAYAN LEADERS 
WERE JEALOUS OF WHAT HE CALLS ERITREA'S SUPERIOR COMBAT SKILLS. 
WITH ERITREAN INDEPENDENCE IN 1993, PRESIDENT ISAYAS SAYS THAT 
ANTAGONISM ONLY GOT WORSE. 

///  OPT  ///   PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS PRESIDENT ISAYAS HAS 
GOT IT ALL WRONG -- THAT  BECAUSE ERITREANS WERE COLONIZED BY THE
ITALIANS, THEY ARE THE ONES WITH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX,  NOT  
ETHIOPIANS WHO HAVE ALWAYS LIVED FREE TO RULE THEMSELVES. 

                     ///  MELES ACT ONE  ///

         PEOPLE SAY THAT ETHIOPIANS ARE IN GENERAL A PROUD 
         PEOPLE, AND PEOPLE ASSOCIATE THIS WITH THE FACT THAT 
         ETHIOPIA HAS BEEN INDEPENDENT WHILE THE REST OF THE 
         CONTINENT HAS BEEN COLONIZED.  NOW IF COLONIZATION IS A 
         DEHUMINIZING EXPERIENCE, WE IN ETHIOPIA -- TIGRAY OR 
         OTHERWISE -- HAVE  BEEN SPARED THAT DEHUMINIZING 
         EXPERIENCE.  OUR COUSINS ACROSS THE BORDER IN ERITREA, 
         UNFORTUNATELY HAVE  NOT  BEEN SPARED THIS EXPERIENCE.  
         IF ON THE OTHER HAND, THERE ARE THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT 
         COLONIALISM, PARTICULARLLY THE ITALIAN VARIANT OF IT, IS
         A REDEMING EXPERIENCE, A CAUSE OF CELEBRATION, A CAUSE 
         FOR PRIDE, THEN OBVIOUSLY IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT WE 
         HAVE BEEN SPARED THIS EXPERIENCE, WE CAN ONLY BE 
         INFERIOR. 

                 ///  END ACT  //  END OPT  ///

PRIME MINISTER MELES SAYS HE HAS WATCHED PRESIDENT ISAYAS MAKE 
ENEMIES OF ALMOST ALL HIS NEIGHBORS, PICKING FIGHTS WITH YEMEN, 
DJIBOUTI, SUDAN, AND NOW ETHIOPIA.  THE PRIME MINISTER SAYS ALL 
NATIONS HAVE AMBITION, IT IS WHEN THAT AMBITION CAUSES TROUBLE 
FOR OTHERS THAT YOU HAVE WAR. 

                    ///  MELES ACT TWO  /// 

         THE FACT THAT WE MAY  NOT  LIKE, AND I PERSONALLY DO  
         NOT  LIKE, THIS COMPLETELY MISDIRECTED AND MISGUIDED 
         AMBITION IS NOT NECESSARILY CAUSE FOR WAR, NEED  NOT  BE
         UNTIL AND UNLESS, AS I SAID, IT LEADS THEM TO TRAMPLE ON
         MY TOES. 

                        ///  END ACT  ///

REGIONAL DIPLOMATS SAY U-N ENVOY SAHNOUN WILL TRY AND BUILD ON 
PRIME MINISTER MELES' SUGGESTION THAT THERE CAN BE AN IMMEDIATE 
CEASEFIRE BEFORE ERITREAN TROOPS WITHDRAW AS LONG AS PRESIDENT 
ISAYAS PROMISES TO DO SO ON A SET TIMETABLE. 

ERITREA SAYS ETHIOPIA IS OFFERING NOTHING NEW.  THERE ARE MORE 
THAN  300-THOUSAND TROOPS DUG IN ALONG THE ROCKY BORDER, MOST NOW
MASSED AROUND THE TOWN OF BADAME.  (SIGNED)

NEB/SKS/JWH

22-Apr-99 7:38 AM EDT (1138 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America