Eritrean Deportees Lack Food, Water
Tuesday June 16 7:59 PM EDT
ABEBE ANDUALEM Associated Press Writer
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - About 500 Eritreans who were forced into buses and trucks two days ago and deported from Ethiopia were suffering Tuesday from a shortage of food and water during their long trip home, an Eritrean official said.
The deportees, rounded up in the Ethiopian capital, have been accused of raising money or spying for Eritrea, which has battled Ethiopia since May over several stretches of border land. Hundreds have died in the fighting.
No major skirmishes have been reported since Thursday between the former allies, who less than a decade ago were part of the same country. But both sides are reinforcing three front lines.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia warned in a statement to the United Nations that the border crisis is ``worsening by the day'' and repeated demands the Eritreans withdraw from contested territory.
Relatives of the deported Eritreans reported that the overcrowded buses and trucks on Tuesday reached the western town of Gondar, 340 miles northwest of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, after a two-day journey.
``They're not getting enough food and water,'' said Eritrean presidential adviser Yemane Gebremeskel. The government has protested the deportations, he said.
The deported Eritreans were expected to reach the western Eritrean border town of Humera on Wednesday, he said.
About 550,000 Eritreans live in Ethiopia, mostly in the capital and the northern provinces.
Also Tuesday, a bus packed with people and guarded by Ethiopian soldiers departed from the northern border town of Adigrat, apparently heading for the Eritrean capital of Asmara. Armed soldiers prevented journalists and civilians from speaking to the passengers.
The Ethiopian government has accused Eritrea of expelling thousands of its citizens, but Eritrea has denied the charge. In repeated radio and TV broadcasts, the Eritrean government has insisted that the 100,000 Ethiopians living within its boundaries be treated fairly, despite the conflict.
The two nations agreed late Sunday to halt the use of air strikes in their border war after President Clinton spoke by telephone with their leaders separately.
The White House said Tuesday that the moratorium ``can help restore the mutual confidence necessary to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Eritrea welcomed the air-strike ban. But in a statement issued by the Ethiopian Mission to the United Nations, the Ethiopians said the suspension of air attacks ``is not by any stretch of the imagination a positive and first step toward ending the war as the Eritrean authorities would like the international community to believe.''
Meanwhile, the ground war is continuing and direct peace talks have not begun because Ethiopia insists that Eritrea first withdraw from disputed land. Eritrea has refused.
Eritrean rebels were instrumental in helping the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front overthrow a 17-year military regime in July 1991. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.