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U.N. says exchange of gunfire on Eritrea-Ethiopia border – AFP

Posted on by Elias Kifle

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – The United Nations said Thursday Eritrean and Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers facing off along their disputed border exchanged gunshots Wednesday.

In a statement, the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea said that its Indian battalion posted on the border heard an exchange of fire in the early hours of Wednesday.

“UNMEE expresses concern about this firing incident between Ethiopia Woyanne and Eritrea and is calling on both parties to show maximum restraint,” the statement said.

Some 200,000 troops are deployed along the border, fueling international fears of a new flare-up after the failure of a mediation between the two foes.

A border panel was dissolved a month ago with Ethiopian Woyanne refusing to recognize a ruling that granted Eritrea a flashpoint border town.

The two Horn of Africa neighbors already fought a bitter war between 1998 and 2000 that left an estimated 70,000 dead.

Eritrea’s Information Ministry accused Ethiopia Woyanne of launching a small scale attack. [Correction: The Ministry did not say Ethiopia. It said TPLF as quoted below.]

“In continuation of its ongoing provocations against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Eritrea, the TPLF regime has unleashed a relatively small scale attack,” a statement said.

It said the attack targeted Eritrean forces tasked with patrolling the border area and that it “met with utter failure.”

The Ethiopian government Woyanne flatly denied Eritrea’s accusations and said it hadn’t carried out any hostile military operation along the border.

“This is simply an outrageous accusation by Eritrea. Ethiopia Woyanne has declared that it is not going to start any war or organize any form of provocation,” said Bereket Simon, spokesman for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

“The government in Asmara, it seems, is trying to hide the internal situation to the outside world by accusing us on the international stage,” he added.

“There has been no attack from Ethiopia Woyanne. The Ethiopian government Woyanne is not interested in any provocative actions,” Bereket added.

The Ethiopian Woyanne Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that an incident took place but returned the accusation, blaming Eritrea.

“There was an incident, it is true. But the incident is of Eritrea’s making which is being looked into. It is possible that it may have been a result of an accidental encounter between the reconnaissance missions of the two parties,” the ministry said in a statement.

7 thoughts on “U.N. says exchange of gunfire on Eritrea-Ethiopia border – AFP”

  2. Do you folks see the now norm of operation of the Weyane thugs? At first they deny there was a shooting. Then they said there was an incident. Incident of what? It surely doesn’t sound an incident of dancing and friendship. I am afraid, these habitual liars are going to be the cause for another killing spree – spilling the blood of the brotherly people of Eritrea and Ethiopia for nothing – absolutely nothing! What a shame!

  3. First and foremost lets hope woyane is not stupid enough to ignite a war against Eritrea, the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea have no animosity towards each other, as it is getting clear now woyane needs bloodshed to stay in power. The Ethiopian people have to wise up and refuse to engage in hostile activities agains Eritrea. That is the only way to avoid a bloodshed that all of us would regret in the end.
    We Eritreans have seen this kind of provocation coming from a mile away and have been preparing for any eventuality by supporting our government through Hizbawi Mekhete (popular challenge) donating a portion of our income to strengthen our defensive capabilities. All Ethiopians in the diaspora have to rise up and support the opposition (specially the armed) forces and teach woyane a lesson. Woyane only understands one language, that is the language of power through the barrel of a gun. So my Ethiopian brethren please wake up, organize yourselves and stand shoulder to shoulder with your opposition groups and Eritrea to put an end to this travesty, that is woyane. One thing is for sure Eritrea is ready to defend itself and even help the oppressed Ethiopian people to get rid of the cancer that is eating them from within. Time to roll up our collective sleeves and put an end to the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia and live in peace afterwards.

  6. Well Bereket Simon is an idiot Eritrean who is ruling the Amahara kilel and he is trying to be more weyane than weysnes themselves….
    he unintentionaly admited that the skirmishes was eritrea’s own creation and he addmited that there opposition groups attacking eritrea…so where did these forces came from? from tigray then it means weyane started war…from his stupid admision, eritrea could now start war and get away with it…

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