AP
17-JUL-98
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- While full-scale war has not broken out between Ethiopia and Eritrea, neither is there peace. The armies of both countries remain hunkered down along the disputed border where they came to blows a month ago.
Ethiopia says a showdown is inevitable if Eritrea doesn't give in and withdraw from Badme and Shiraro, disputed districts on the western end of the 600-mile border separating the two countries that were one until Eritrea became independent in 1993.
Ethiopia says it was Eritrea's invasion of the two districts on May 6 that precipitated the crisis and subsequent fighting. But Eritrean presidential spokesman Yemana Ghebreab calls Ethiopia's sabre-rattling a ``bluff'' to maneuver the international community into pressuring Eritrea to withdraw to get the two sides talking.
Speaking on Eritrean television Wednesday, Ghebreab said chances for a peaceful settlement were ``very much alive.''
Kenya, the latest in a series of countries to try to mediate the crisis, says it is trying to ``level the area of disagreement between the two.''
``In a sense, the two countries have gotten into a situation which -- it is clear to us -- none of them really wanted to get into,'' Kenyan Foreign Minister Boyana Godana told reporters in Nairobi on Wednesday.
He said successful peace talks must result in a binding agreement, adding that there were questions about the two sides' commitment to reaching such a pact.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held three hours of talks with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi on July 13. Godana said Eritrean President Isias Afwerki is expected in the Kenyan capital next week.
A recent United Nations mission to Ethiopia's northern Tigray and eastern Afar regions said as many as 100,000 people had been displaced by the fighting. Ethiopia puts the figure at 180,000.
The U.N. World Food program says its emergency food stocks in the region are being rapidly depleted, and another shipment is not expected until September.
Eritrea says 100,000 of its people have been forced to flee because of the conflict. It condemns Ethiopian authorities for expelling several thousand Eritrean citizens and says it has not deported a single Ethiopian from its territory.
A statement from the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said hundreds of Eritreans were being dumped at the border and left to walk in the blazing sun on the road leading to the Red Sea port of Assab.
Ethiopia said the deportations were carried out for security reasons. It has also detained another 1,000 Eritrean military personnel and conscripts at a military camp in Fiche, 60 miles north of Addis Ababa.
The Red Cross has visited the camp and registered the detainees.
Ethiopia claims that at least 4,400 of its nationals have been expelled from various parts of Eritrea and says the whereabouts of 600 Ethiopians detained by the Eritrean government are still unknown.