On June 5, 1998 at about 5 p.m., the Eritrean authorities carried out a second air raid against the Ethiopian city of Makelle, striking civilian areas twice including an elementary school. The casualties of this barbaric action were 44 killed and 135 wounded, among them children. This premeditated air strike was clearly aimed at unleashing terror among the civilian population since bombs were dropped twice, the first on the school and the second on a crowd assisting victims.

Despite this savage act by the Eritrean authorities, the Ethiopian Air force was careful to target the military installations of the Eritrean airforce base near Asmara.

On June 6, 1998, the Ethiopian Air Force carried out a mission destroying several military planes and effectively crippling the Eritrean airforce capacity.

The Eritrean claim that it shot down an Ethiopian fighter plane on June 5, 1998 was a fabrication, although one plane was lost in action on June 6, 1998.

The Eritrean authorities have provoked these hostilities when they occupied Ethiopian territory and rejected a recommendation proposed by the facilitators who have attempted to defuse the tensions triggered by Eritrean aggression. The recommendation by the United States and Rwanda, supported by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso , calls for the withdrawal of Eritrean invading forces from Ethiopian territory, demilitarization of the entire common border between the two countries and peaceful

negotiations on rival territorial claims. Ethiopia has accepted the recommendation in full while the Eritrean authorities talk about demilitarization in vague language and have opted for aggression which drags Ethiopia to a situation of hostilities with consequences that are certain to be more disastrous for them.

When this uncivilized act was initiated by the authorities in Asmara, Ethiopia ordered the Eritrean Embassy in Addis Ababa to limit the number of its diplomatic staff to three and make sure that the rest leave Ethiopia by Sunday, June 7, 1998 at noon. The order was served on June 5, 1998 , giving the Eritreans 48 hours to comply.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs