Tesfamariam Tekeste, head of the Afro-asia and Australia Department of the ministry, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that by 9:00 p.m. local time Wednesday, Eritrea had destroyed four Ethiopian tanks, captured one other and destroyed three vehicles armed with machine guns.

The official noted that as it had done at Tsorona wing of the Alitiena- mereb front, the Ethiopian troops this time suffered an "uncountable" human loss.

Eritrea claimed earlier that in the three-day Tsorona fighting, Ethiopia suffered the "biggest defeat", with 57 tanks destroyed and six others captured, one mig-23 plane shot down and a heavy human loss.

He said however that he did not receive any update report Thursday morning.

The official added that the fighting starting from Tuesday went on for the whole day wednesday and it took place "deep inside Eritrea."

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government accused Eritrea of waging a propaganda campaign, although "many" Eritreans died in the fighting in the central Tsorona front, but Addis Ababa gave no details of the fighting itself.

Eritrea said Friday it was willing to withdraw from all contested zones, but only under a general demilitarization of the frontier as envisaged in the OAU plan, which implies that both sides must pull back.

Eritrea, which bases its position on Italian colonial-era treaties and maps, accused Ethiopia of sparking border conflict by occupying part of the Bada region on the eastern front in July 1997, and publishing "an illegal map" the same year which included Eritrean territory in Ethiopian's northern Tigray region.

Ethiopia claims that Eritrea continues to occupy "Ethiopian territory in the regions of Zala Anbesa-Aiga and Egala (central front) and Bada-Burie (eastern front).

The border war between the two horn of Africa neighbors broke out last May and resumed in February after seven months of lull.

The war has continued despite that both sides have accepted the framework agreement put forward by the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Date=3/18/99
Type=Correspondent Report
Number=2-246809
Title=Ethiopia / Eritrea Fighting (L)
Byline=Scott Stearns
Dateline=Nairobi

Text: Eritrea says it has driven back more than 40-thousand Ethiopian troops trying to over-run Eritrean positions on the Tsorona front, 120 kilometers south of the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

Ethiopia says the battle is still going on Thursday with most fighting concentrated on the adjacent Egela front west of the Ertirean-held border town of zalambesa. Asked to characterize the combat, Ethiopia's government spokeswoman said everybody is using everything they have got.

Eritrea says it has inflicted huge casualties on Ethiopian ground forces, destroying more than 50 tanks. Press accounts from the Eritrean side of the Tsorona front report hundreds of dead and at least 20 tanks destroyed.

Ethiopia continues to deny the battlefield losses, saying Eritrea is trying to boost morale by staging a public relations drama to distract the international community from Eritrea's refusal to withdraw from Ethiopian territory.

There are new reports of skirmishes along the Badame front, about 160 kilometers west of tsorona. Eritrea lost that ground three weeks ago in heavy fighting that forced Eritrean president Isayas Afeworki to accept a regional plan to arbitrate the border dispute.

Since agreeing to that plan, president Isayas says Ethiopia has been trying to go back on the deal by continuing the fight and introducing new pre-conditions to torpedo the peace process.

Eritrea says it is ready to pull-back its forces at the same time as Ethiopia in keeping with the Organization of African Unity plan.

That deal calls on both sides to demilitarize the border ahead of an international monitoring force for disputed areas and a commission to decide the exact location of the border within six months.

Ethiopia says it is Eritrea that is blocking OAU mediation by refusing to withdraw from territories administered by Ethiopia before fighting began last May.

Both sides are trying to use their acceptance of the plan to score diplomatic points against the other. UN secretary general Kofi Annan is asking the OAU to clarify the specifics of the deal to eliminate these varying interpretations that both Ethiopia and Eritrea are using to stall the peace process. (signed)

NEB/SKS/JWH
18-Mar-99 6:49 AM EST (1149 UTC)
Source: Voice of America