Reuters
11:24 a.m. Jun 25, 1998 Eastern
By Matthew Bigg
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopians flocked to war rallies and recruitment centers Thursday as the country stepped up mobilization for its border conflict against Eritrea, witnesses said.
At one district in the Ethiopian capital, hundreds of men and women of all ages sat in a hall and listened to fiery speeches by local officials on the political impasse with Ethiopia's northern neighbour.
Outside the green hall made of corrugated iron sheets in Kebele 09 District, dozens of men and women lined up in the hot sunshine to sign up as recruits and begin military training.
``The Ethiopian government tried to solve the conflict in a peaceful way,'' businessman Mulugeta Aragay told Reuters.
``The Eritrean government is not ready to accept this, so the youth are ready...to teach them that the way they are going is not good,'' Mulugeta said.
The three main fronts in the border war were quiet on Thursday after a brief exchange of artillery fire on Wednesday near the town of Zalambessa.
``There was no shelling, no firing and no bombing on Thursday,'' government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse told reporters.
A border dispute between the former Horn of Africa allies degenerated into a violent conflict on May 6 with hundreds killed in heavy fighting on three fronts at Badme, Zalambessa and south of the Eritrean port of Assab.
Apart from another exchange of heavy artillery fire on June 19 on the Zalambessa front, there have been no new reports of significant fighting since June 11, when Eritrea bombed Adigrat and there was a battle at Burre south of Assab.
Ethiopia now has tens of thousands of troops along the 625-mile border, diplomats say, and the country continues to mobilise volunteers.
The students and day laborers at the Kebele recruitment center were from Tigray and Welo regions in the north and Oromo south of Addis Ababa.
None of the recruits interviewed by Reuters was old enough to have undergone previous military training or fought in the 30-year war of independence against Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after Mengistu's regime fell in 1991.
They told Reuters that despite doubts about Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government, they were united in defending Ethiopia's claim to the disputed area.
``Of course we supported Eritrean independence at that time,'' said Theodoros Getacho, a 21-year-old labourer who registered for military duty.
``But now they have started to kill our children and to bomb us, so we are ready to defend our country,'' he said.
Some of the women volunteers wore traditional white head-dresses, while signs were written in both English and Amharic scripts.
Ethiopian state television this week has shown nightly broadcasts of similar rallies and recruitment drives occurring across the country.
Both sides have used the lull in fighting to mobilize more troops and conduct training exercises, while pursuing mediation.
A mediation effort by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) broke down last Friday after Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki rejected a plan sponsored by the United States and Rwanda.
Eritrea refused to accept a clause in the four-point plan that called on it to withdraw to territory it held before May 6 and allow Ethiopia to administer the disputed area until the matter was investigated.
Ambassadors from four countries involved in the OAU effort -- Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Rwanda and Zimbabwe -- are now trying to determine which side administered Badme prior to May 6.
Meanwhile, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said on Thursday that Ethiopians have donated about $6 million to a nationwide fund-raising campaign for the war effort.
The agency said funds were also coming into the country from Ethiopians living in the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. Eritrea has also reported receiving war donations from its citizens living abroad.