By Karin Davies
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 17, 1998; 4:29 p.m. EDT
ASMARA, Eritrea (AP) -- Hundreds of Eritreans rounded up for deportation by Ethiopia reached their homeland Wednesday at the end of an arduous three-day trip aboard packed buses.
The deportations were the latest salvo fired in the Horn of Africa countries' nearly 6-week-old border conflict.
``The Ethiopian government continues to pursue its witch-hunt of Eritreans with greater intensity,'' Eritrea said.
A delegation of African leaders was scheduled to meet Thursday with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in a bid to prevent the clashes that broke out May 6 from escalating into full-scale war. No new fighting was reported Wednesday.
Thirsty and hungry, the deported Eritreans arrived in the border town of Om Hajer, 190 miles southwest of Asmara and near the Sudanese border, said presidential adviser Yemane Gebremeskel.
Eritreans said 800 were expelled, while Ethiopians put the figure at 500. About 550,000 Eritreans live in Ethiopia, mostly in the capital and the northern provinces.
The Ethiopian government said the deportees posed security risks because they had military training or were raising funds for the Eritrean war effort.
In Asmara, relatives reported that hundreds more Eritreans were being rounded up at Guellele, a suburb of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse denied the reports, calling them ``absolutely false.''
An Asmara businessman said his 70-year-old father was abruptly taken from his home of 57 years by military police on Sunday and hauled to a military barracks on the outskirts of the capital.
On Monday, he was ordered onto a bus to Eritrea, via the longest and worst route, said the son, who refused to give his name because he feared retaliation against other relatives in Addis Ababa.
The refugees were abused, called parasites and accused of being spies for the Eritrean government, the son said.
Also Wednesday, hundreds of Ethiopians displaced by the fighting waited under the cover of eucalyptus trees to receive food rations in Adigrat, where an Eritrean air strike killed four people and destroyed a grain warehouse last week.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of expelling thousands of its citizens, a charged denied by Eritrea.
Eritrean rebels were instrumental in helping the Ethiopian rebels overthrow a 17-year military regime in July 1991. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.