Ethiopia Says Hits Eritrea With Heavy Losses
By Rosalind Russell
Reuters; Sunday, Feb 14 1999
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) -
Ethiopia said it inflicted heavy casualties on Eritrea Sunday in fresh fighting on a new front southwest of the strategic Red Sea port of Assab.
Eritrea said it shot down an Ethiopian Mi-24 helicopter gunship over the frontline at 9 a.m., killing the crew. Ethiopia later confirmed the loss.
An Eritrean government spokesman said artillery exchanges had died down around 3:30 p.m. and there had since been only sporadic shelling.
``The intensity and duration of the shelling suggested to us that, as before, the Ethiopians would follow it up with infantry but this was not forthcoming,'' spokesman Yermane Gebremeskel told Reuters.
Both sides blamed the other for starting Sunday's fighting.
Hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea restarted on February 6 on the Badme and Zalambessa fronts. Assab, at the southern end of the Red Sea, is just 70 km (40 miles) northeast of the border and is Eritrea's second port.
The town was a vital conduit for landlocked Ethiopia until the conflict began last May when the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi diverted trade mainly to Djibouti.
Both sides have since massively reinforced the 1,000-km (620-mile) border, digging large and well-equipped armies into frontline trenches.
``Ethiopia's heroic air force participated in the (Assab) counter-offensive, causing the enemy heavy losses by bombing enemy positions,'' an Ethiopian government statement said.
Two Eritrean tanks and a water storage point were destroyed, it said, adding the destruction of Eritrean water supplies was significant in the semi-desert terrain.
Ethiopia says it wants only to win back territory occupied by Eritrea last year and has no interest in gaining land, but fighting around Assab last June raised the specter of an Ethiopian push for the strategic port.
The U.N. Security Council and President Clinton urged an immediate cease-fire last week but the call went unheeded. Efforts by the Organization of African Unity and others to resolve the conflict are yet to bear fruit.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 with Ethiopia's blessing. Until last May, Meles and Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki were seen as allies.
The government of Yemen said Sunday it was worried over the fighting and urged a peaceful resolution.
ASMARA, Eritrea (Reuters) -
Fresh fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea erupted with heavy shelling Sunday on a new front southwest of the strategic Red Sea port of Assab.
Eritrea said it shot down an Ethiopian Mi-24 helicopter gunship at 9 a.m. (1 a.m. EST), killing the crew.
Car horns blared in the Eritrean capital when a report of the shelling was announced on state radio, witnesses said.
Both sides blamed the other for starting Sunday's fighting, which broadens one of the few African conflicts in which two nations are contesting a frontline using conventional armies.
``This morning the Eritreans started shelling our positions and we responded,'' Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse told Reuters in Addis Ababa.
An Eritrean government spokesman said the attack started with a massive Ethiopian bombardment by artillery and an Antonov aircraft.
``Such an attack is normally the prelude for an infantry attack,'' Eritrean presidential spokesman Yermane Gebremeskel told Reuters in Asmara.
Fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea restarted on February 6 on the Badme and Zalambessa fronts but eased Wednesday.
Assab, at the southern end of the Red Sea, is just 70 km (43 miles) northeast of the border and is Eritrea's second port.
The town was a vital conduit for landlocked Ethiopia until the conflict began last May when the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi diverted trade mainly to Djibouti.
Both sides have since massively reinforced the 1,000-km (620-mile) border, digging large and well-equipped armies into frontline trenches.
Eritrean officials say some of their best fighters, veterans of the 30-year war of independence from Ethiopia, have been drafted into the lines southwest of Assab.
Ethiopia says it wants only to win back territory occupied by Eritrea last year and has no interest in gaining land, but fighting around Assab last June raised the specter of an Ethiopian push for the strategic port.
The U.N. Security Council and President Clinton urged an immediate cease-fire last week but the call went unheeded with Ethiopia asserting it will win back territory occupied by its former ally in the earlier round of fighting.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 with Ethiopia's blessing to become Africa's newest state.
Independence followed a guerrilla war in which rebels now in power in both countries cooperated to oust Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in May 1991. Until last May, Meles and Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki were seen as allies.
Efforts by the Organization of African Unity, the United States and others to resolve the conflict have yet to bear fruit.
(Additional reporting by Rosalind Russell in Addis Ababa)