DATE=5/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ETHIOPIA / ERITREA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263000
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=TSORONA, OCCUPIED ERITREA
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  Ethiopia says its troops have left western 
Eritrea, but the army continues to hold ground on the 
central front of the war with Eritrea.  V-O-A's Scott 
Stearns reports from the central front.

TEXT:  Ethiopian commanders say the battle here was 
more intense than fighting on the western front.  A 
heavier concentration of Eritrean armor and ground 
forces made it more difficult to break through the 
lines.

Ethiopian commanders say they launched a four-pronged 
attack on the western-most edges of the central front.  
The first came along an eastern ridge skirting the 
Eritrean trenches.  The second came right up the 
middle, with tanks and heavy artillery pounding the 
Eritrean line.  The third attack went to the west, 
toward the town of Tsorona.  And the fourth looped 
around to the far west, bringing Ethiopian troops in 
behind the Eritrean line.

This front is another impressive display of Eritrean 
trenches dug deep into the rock, with reinforced 
bunkers every 40 meters.  Gun emplacements are ringed 
with thorns.  The trench line is defended by landmines 
on a trip-wire.

But like the western front, the trenches here appear 
to have let Eritrea down.  Ethiopia did  not  come 
with a full frontal assault, but instead attacked many 
Eritrean units from behind.

Again, like the western front, prisoners of war here 
say they surrendered because they were surrounded and 
had  no  way to fall back with other troops farther 
into Eritrea.

Heavy artillery clearly played a big part in the 
fighting for Tsorona.  Ethiopia says Eritrea had an 
artillery brigade here, along with an anti-aircraft 
brigade and more than 40 tanks in a mechanized 
division.

Ethiopian artillery hit the trenches and the town -- 
which has been abandoned since the war began two years 
ago.

Ethiopian shells landed in an empty school classroom 
and came through the wall of a local hotel.  The 
town's square has clearly seen a heavy exchange of 
automatic weapons fire, especially the few buildings 
with a second floor.

Just outside the town, at an ammunition dump, Ethiopia 
says it hit six trucks trying to escape with weapons.  
The blackened shells of the trucks sit on blown-out 
tires.  The ground is scattered with 60-millimeter 
mortar shells, hand grenades, rifle grenades, 
shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles, and anti-
aircraft guns.

Tsorona is quiet for now.  Ethiopian commanders say 
the Eritreans have fallen back to the town of Qua-
atit, 20 kilometers to the north.

Having re-gained the ground they wanted on the central 
front, Ethiopian commanders say they have been ordered 
to hold their position and  not  advance farther.  
Some of the Ethiopian reinforcements sent to the west 
are pulling out through the central front, moving 
farther east along the mountains that divide the two 
countries. 

Ethiopia says the western withdrawal shows it does  
not  intend to occupy Eritrea.  It also allows 
Ethiopia to use those tanks and troops elsewhere along 
this central front.  (Signed)

NEB/SKS/JWH/KL



31-May-2000 08:02 AM EDT (31-May-2000 1202 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.