DATE=6/24/98
TYPE=Correspondent Report
NUMBER=2-234460
TITLE=Ethiopia / Eritrea Fighting (L only)
BYLINE=Scott Stearns
DATELINE=Addis Ababa

INTRO: Ethiopia and Eritrea exchanged artillery fire Wednesday, breaking almost two weeks of quiet in their border war. As VOA's Scott Stearns reports, international mediators have so far failed to resolve the conflict.

TEXT: Ethiopia says Eritrean field guns opened fire about 6 a-m from the border town of zallambasa. Ethiopia says it responded with artillery of its own from hills south of town. There were no reported casualties or additional fighting.

Eritreans captured zallambasa last month after more than ten- thousand Ethiopian civilians fled farther south. Ethiopian commanders say they have stopped the advance, beating back five Eritrean efforts to move beyond Zallambasa.

After early military gains against border police, Eritreans have had a harder time fighting regular government troops and Ethiopian militia supported by tanks and heavy artillery.

Eritreans are holding on to a thin strip of land inside the Northern border, separated from Ethiopian forces by as little as five kilometers. Eritrea says it is reclaiming territory lost at independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Ethiopia says it is being invaded.

International mediators secured a ceasefire in an air war that saw the bombing of the Ethiopian towns of Mekelle and Adigrat along with a military airstrip in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

There is still no agreement on separating ground forces but it had been relatively quiet along the border before Wednesday's shelling.

State television says Ethiopia is sending more troops to the front. Prime minister meles zenawi says he remains committed to a US/Rwandan peace plan but can not rule out further military action if Eritrea refuses to go along with the peace plan.

Eritrea objects to that plan because is would restore local Ethiopian authorities in disputed areas after Eritrean troops withdraw. Eritrea wants an outside observer force to control those areas until the border dispute is settled.

That observer force was to be primarily Rwandan soldiers with logistical support from the United States. Now the conflict has spread beyond the area originally imagined for that force, raising questions about how fighting can be contained from the Zallambasa front in the north, to Sheraro and Badame in the Northwest and along the road east to the port of Asab.

Mediators are still talking to prime minister Meles and Eritrean President Isaias Afworki. There have been no diplomatic gains since the organization of african unity failed to strike a deal last week.

Both sides told the 0AU they want to resolve the dispute peacefully. Both are continuing to reinforce positions along the border. (Signed)

NEB/SKS/KL
24-Jun-98 11:23 AM EDT (1523 UTC)
Source: Voice of America