From PANA

Eritrea Blames Ethiopia For Fresh Border Fighting

May 12, 2000

DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of launching an
"offensive" on the right and left flanks of the
Mereb-Setit front at their common border Friday.

In a statement, the foreign ministry in Asmara said, "the attack began
shortly after midnight 12 May."

It said the attack followed remarks by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi this
week to diplomats in Addis Ababa and the visiting UN
Security Council mission that Ethiopia is "going to war and it will
resolve the conflict soon."

It said, "in preparation for its impending war of aggression," Ethiopia
obstructed the OAU peace process for the past nine months
and made progress impossible at the proximity talks in Algiers by
refusing to respect key provisions of the peace plan.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's spokesperson, Selome Tadesse, Friday confirmed in
Addis Ababa that "heavy fighting is taking place at both
the Zalambessa-Egala front and the front in the vicinity of the Mereb
River."

She said since the conflict started, Addis Ababa had been forced to
fight a war which was "imposed on us."

Selome blamed Asmara for prolonging the conflict that should have ended
earlier had Eritrea accepted an OAU peace plan.

The Zalambessa-Egala front is in the middle of the Ethio-Eritrea border,
while the area referred to as the second front in the
vicinity of the Mereb River is the area adjacent to Badme front.

Badme is the front where Ethiopia said the conflict originally flared on
12 May 1998.



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