In Asmara, a news blackout continued Friday, with the radio silent since an announcement on Wednesday evening that in the first two days of heavy fighting in the Western Badme region, Eritrean troops had destroyed 40 Ethiopian tanks, captured five, and shot down an MI-24 helicopter gunship.

But the Eritrean radio gave no news Thursday, or Friday morning as tensions mounted in Asmara.

In Addis Ababa, a communique said that on Thursday: "The Ethiopian defence forces caused heavy damage to both Eritrea's air and ground forces."

"Intense fighting between the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries continued all day at the Badme-Shiraro front," it said.

In Asmara, Yemane Ghebremeskel, chief of staff to President Issaias Afeworki, told AFP Thursday the Eritrean air force was protecting Eritrea's skies, but not taking part in combat.

"The two armies are too close together for effective air strikes, and there is too great a danger of inadvertently hitting civilian targets," he said.

Diplomats in Addis Ababa, however, told AFP that several Eritrean warplanes had indeed taken part in the fighting on Thursday.

The Ethiopian government communique gave no details of the losses it claimed to have inflicted on Eritrea's air force, or on the infantry.

Eritrea's air force is made up of six sophisticated MiG-29 interceptors, six Italian Aermacchi-339s and eight Finnish Redigos, according to experts in Asmara.

Ethiopia has modern Sukhoi-26 fighter-bombers, MI-8 and MI-24 helicopter gunships, and about 30 veteran but reconditioned MiG21 and MiG-23 fighter-bombers.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi acknowledged recently in an interview with AFP that foreigners were training Ethiopian pilots and maintaining the aircraft.

In Moscow, Eritrean charge d'affaires Teclay Minassie charged Thursday that they were taking part in the fighting.

"Some 200 mercenaries from the ex-Soviet Union are taking part in the fighting on the Ethiopian side," he told AFP.

"They are being used in the aviation and anti-aircraft defence."

Minassie said Eritrea was turning down offers every day from former Soviet military wanting to fight on Eritrea's side.

Both sides signed a US-brokered moratorium on airstrikes in June last year as the first round of fighting over the ill-defined border petered out after about five weeks.

The fighting resumed on February 6 after the failure of diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, and Addis Ababa freely acknowledged it was using its air force.

Asmara declared on February 12 that it reserved the right to use its own air force if Ethiopia continued air strikes.

The Badme region has been occupied by Eritrean troops since hostilities over the ill-defined border erupted last May, and has become a symbol to the Ethiopians of Eritrean invasion. Each side accuses the other of being the aggressor.

The clashes which began Tuesday pitted infantry units, tanks, and artillery guns face-to-face on a vast, heavily mined plain surrounded by mountains, Eritrea said.

The fighting between the two Horn of Africa neighbours is officially over some 2,000 square kilometres (770 square miles) of land along the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) border.

Ethiopia's military action, Operation Sunset, which has resulted in fierce fighting between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces at the Badme front since Tuesday, continued today on an even more intense level.

During today's military engagements, the heroic Ethiopian air and ground forces caused the Eritrean military major losses. Building on the victories achieved in the past few days, the Ethiopian forces gained even more significant victories over Eritrea's air and ground forces today.

Operation Sunset takes its name from a quote by Eritrean President Issaias who insisted that Eritrea would never withdraw from Badme. Using a local proverb to make his point, Issaias said that expecting Eritrea to withdraw was as unlikely as the sun never rising again.

ENDS

Background

Official Ethiopian and diplomatic sources said an Eritrean MiG-29 warplane was shot down Friday morning and another was put out of action on Thursday.

Diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa said the stepped-up Ethiopian offensives Wednesday and Thursday had weakened the Eritrean army on the Badme front.

Heavy fighting has raged since Tuesday on the western front between the two neighbouring Horn of Africa states.

In Addis Ababa, government officials and diplomats said the Ethiopians had destroyed one of Eritrea's six MiG-29 interceptors on Friday, and crippled one on Thursday.

Eritrean radio announced Friday afternoon that the Ethiopian army "has gained some terrain."

This was the first war news broadcast in Eritrea since Wednesday evening, when the radio said Eritrean troops had destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks, captured three and shot down an MI-24 helicopter gunship that day, following the destruction of nine tanks and capture of two on Tuesday.

Wednesday's announcement led to an explosion of joy in Asmara, with people dancing in the streets, soldiers shooting in the air, motorists honking their horns, and hordes of young children running through the streets waving paper flags.

The mood on Friday, however was sombre.

The radio gave no details of the territory lost, but officials described it to AFP as unnamed pockets of stony land. In Addis Ababa, government sources said Ethiopia had won "significant victories."

Each side is claiming to have inflicted heavy casualties on the other, but without giving figures.

Most of the wounded on both sides are being treated at the front, informed sources said.

In Addis Ababa, a communique said that on Thursday "the Ethiopian defence forces caused heavy damage to Eritrea's air and ground forces."

"Intense fighting between the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries continued all day (Thursday) at the Badme-Shiraro front," it said.

In Asmara, Yemane Ghebremeskel, chief of staff to President Issaias Afeworki, had told AFP on Thursday the Eritrean air force was protecting Eritrea's skies, but not taking part in the combats.

"The two armies are too close together for effective airstrikes, and there is too great a danger of inadvertently hitting civilian targets," he said then, but diplomats in Addis Ababa told AFP that several Eritrean warplanes were involved in the fighting.

Warplanes could be seen taking off and landing at Asmara's airport all day both Thursday and Friday.

Eritrea's air force, as well as the MiG-29s, comprises six Italian Aermacchi-339 ground-attack aircraft and eight Finnish Redigo trainers, according to experts in Asmara.

Ethiopia has modern Sukhoi-26 fighter-bombers, MI-8 and MI-24 helicopter gunships, and about 30 veteran but reconditioned MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter-bombers.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi acknowledged recently in an interview with AFP that foreigners were training Ethiopian pilots and maintaining the aircraft.

In Moscow, Eritrean charge d'affaires Teclay Minassie charged Thursday that they were taking part in the fighting.

"Some 200 mercenaries from the ex-Soviet Union are taking part in the fighting on the Ethiopian side," he told AFP.

"They are being used in the aviation and anti-aircraft defence."

Both sides signed a US-brokered moratorium on airstrikes in June last year as the first round of fighting over the ill-defined border petered out after about five weeks.

The fighting resumed on February 6 after the failure of diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.

Asmara declared on February 12 that it reserved the right to use its own air force if Ethiopia continued airstrikes.

The Badme region has been occupied by Eritrean troops since hostilities over the ill-defined border erupted last May, and has become a symbol to the Ethiopians of Eritrean invasion. Each side accuses the other of being the aggressor.

The clashes which began Tuesday are pitting infantry units, tanks, and artillery guns face-to-face on a vast, heavily mined plain surrounded by mountains, Eritrea says.

``Through sheer weight of numbers ... they have managed to break through one of our defensive positions,'' said government spokesman Yermane Gebremeskel.

The current bout of fighting began Tuesday with an Ethiopian ground offensive aimed at recapturing land occupied by Eritrean forces last May.

Thursday, both sides claimed to have the upper hand and to have inflicted heavy casualties in terms of troops and military hardware.

Eritrea said it had destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks and shot down an attack helicopter, while Ethiopia said it caused ``heavy damage'' to Eritrea's ground and air forces.

Yermane said Ethiopia's ``numerical superiority'' finally allowed its soldiers to break through at one place along the 40-mile Badme front Friday.

``The Ethiopians have emptied the other fronts to bring troops to this front,'' he said. ``They have launched human wave attacks.''

Neither side has released details of casualties.

In the main Orthodox church in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a congregation gathered to mark St. Gabriel's Day cheered and clapped when the head priest announced news of the advance.

After an eight-month lull, the border war reignited at Badme on Feb. 6 and spread to fronts at Tsorona, south of the Eritrean capital Asmara, and Burre, southwest of the Red Sea port of Assab.

Apart some skirmishes at Tsorona Tuesday, the other fronts have been largely quiet this week.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia, with Ethiopian blessing, in May 1993 after a referendum. Relations began to sour over a currency dispute in 1997, highlighting a long-running disagreement over the border which boiled over into violence last May.

A string of foreign mediation efforts based on a peace plan drawn up by the Organization of African Unity have failed to broker a peaceful solution to the conflict.

An OAU delegation was due to leave its headquarters in Addis Ababa Friday for Asmara in a renewed effort to persuade the Eritrean government to accept the plan, which calls for a withdrawal of its forces from the Badme area, OAU officials said.

A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the MiG fighter was downed near the Badme front, 600 miles north of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Both sides have clashed in air and ground combat in that area since Tuesday.

In the Eritrean capital, Asmara, a statement broadcast on national radio conceded Friday that Eritrea had lost ground to the numerically superior Ethiopian forces on the 37-mile Badme front.

"The enemy force, despite the heavy losses it has suffered, managed to capture some of our front lines this morning," the statement said, breaking several days of official silence from the Eritreans.

But it said "necessary changes" had been made in Eritrean defensive positions and maintained the setback was temporary.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse declined comment on the downing of the Eritrean jet, the same kind of fighter Ethiopia said it shot down Thursday. In a statement Friday, she claimed Eritrea suffered "heavy losses" Thursday and that Ethiopia had the upper hand.

"Building on the victories achieved in the past few days, the Ethiopian forces gained even more significant victories over Eritrea's air and ground forces today," a Foreign Ministry statement said Friday, dubbing the offensive "Operation Sunset."

The name came from Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's insistence that his country would never withdraw from Badme, and that expecting the Eritreans to pull back was "as unlikely as the sun never rising again."

Ethiopian radio, meanwhile, said Friday its "heroic ground and air forces (are) dealing severe blows to enemy infantry and air forces. The Ethiopian defense forces are causing heavy losses on the enemy troops, hardware, munitions and material."

The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate word from Eritrea, which has been under a news blackout on the war since Thursday.

Eritrea, which fought a 30-year war with Ethiopia before it won independence in 1993, said Wednesday it destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks and captured three others, while shooting down a Mi-24 helicopter gunship. Selome called those accounts "fabrications."

The two countries in the Horn of Africa are contesting parts of their 620-mile border that were never clearly demarcated.

The diplomatic source told The Associated Press that Eritrea has been bolstering its troops at the Badme front by transferring units from the other two battle fronts.

The latest fighting flared Feb. 6, ending an eight-month stalemate after 1,000 people were killed in full-scale war last May and June along the barren, largely uninhabited border.

Intro: There is more fighting reported in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. As V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports from our East Africa bureau, Ethiopia is trying to regain ground it lost last May.

Text: Ethiopia says ground and air forces are inflicting heavy losses on Eritrean troops as fighting continues for a fourth day on the western front. State-run radio says Ethiopia is dealing severe blows to Eritrea's air force, called into action to help defend Eritrean troops around the town of Badame. Ethiopia says it has also destroyed munitions and military hardware in the fight.

Eritrea Friday released no details from the western front. Its radio is reporting a meeting between university students and the Foreign Minister at which he said the government will continue to defend the country against Ethiopian aggression.

Eritrea captured the border town of Badame at the start of the war last May, saying the area is rightfully Eritrean and was being illegally occupied by Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has been trying to retake Badame during this latest round of fighting in the dry, rocky hills of northern Tigray province. Ethiopian helicopter gun ships have flown in support of tanks and ground forces moving north from the village of Ayay.

Military observers say the increasing use of air power on the Badame front should ultimately favor Ethiopia because its "Sukhoi-26" fighter bombers enjoy a tactical advantage over Eritrea's "Mig-29" interceptors.

The problem for Ethiopia may come on the ground where Eritrean troops are dug-in along much of the high ground around Badame, with heavy artillery positions in the hills and heavily-mined trenches around the town itself.

In the last month, fighting has spread to three other fronts along the 800-kilometer border with ground troops in action on the Tsorona front, shelling across the border at Zalambesa, and Ethiopian bombing raids over the Eritrean port of asab.

The United Nations has asked member states to observe an arms embargo against Ethiopia and Eritrea. Both sides have stockpiled millions of dollars of weapons over the last eight months and are prepared to continue the fight.

Regional mediators are pushing an Organization of African Unity plan to arbitrate the border dispute. Ethiopia has accepted the plan. Eritrea is yet to respond.

Eritrea wants international monitors in disputed areas before withdrawing its forces. Ethiopia wants those troops out and local Ethiopian authority restored before the start of any formal peace talks. (signed)

NEB/SKS/PCF/GE
26-Feb-99 8:34 AM EST (1334 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America