Ethiopia launches attack on major Eritrean port
June 3, 2000
ASMARA, Eritrea (CNN) — Ethiopian forces launched an all-out attack on Eritrea’s second-largest port Saturday — just three days after Ethiopia announced its two-year war with Eritrea was over.
Ethiopian forces began their offensive against the Red Sea port of Assab at 3:30 a.m., an Eritrean presidential spokesman told CNN.
The Eritrean claims could not be independently confirmed, and no other details were immediately available. Eritrea had moved troops and arms to Assab earlier this week in anticipation of a possible Ethiopian move on the port.
Talks aimed at ending the border war between the two nations resumed on Friday after a 24-hour break to allow the two countries to study proposals for stopping the conflict.
But the peace moves came came as Ethiopia reported renewed fighting on the eastern and central fronts of the contested border with Eritrea, and Eritrea claimed that Ethiopian planes bombed the main water depot at Assab. Ethiopia deined the claim.
Proposals call for international observers
Officials said Algerian Justice Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, the chief mediator, met with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin on Friday afternoon and also was to hold talks with Eritrean Foreign Minister Haile Weldensae.
The talks are being mediated by the Organization of African Unity, whose presidency is currently held by Algeria. Delegations from the two warring nations have not met face to face, and their remarks have been relayed by the OAU. The group also presided over a first round of talks, which collapsed May 4.
Ouyahia said Thursday that the OAU had delivered written proposals to the two governments as part of a four-point framework peace agreement. The proposals call for the deployment of international observers and cartographers along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border, financial compensation for losses on both sides and an inquiry into what started the conflict.
“Don’t ask me for blind optimism, but I have no reason to doubt that we’ll succeed,” Ouyahia told reporters Thursday.
Clinton envoy involved in talks
U.S. President Bill Clinton’s special envoy, Anthony Lake, the former U.S. national security adviser, and Italian Undersecretary of State Rino Seri, the European Union representative, also played key roles in the discussions.
The United States and the European Union support an OAU peace plan calling for the two Horn of Africa nations to withdraw to positions held before the conflict began in May 1998.
Ethiopia wants international security guarantees to prevent further conflict.
Ethiopia said Thursday that it was ready for direct talks with its neighbor — a key step forward. Eritrea, however, was holding out over such a proposal.
More than 120,000 killed
Ethiopia sent its forces into Eritrea on May 12, saying troops would stay there until they had retaken all land it claimed along the border and broken the Eritrean army’s ability to contest the matter further.
Expectations for peace were heightened following Ethiopia’s announcement on Wednesday that it had met its goal of retaking territory and considered the war over.
Eritrea agreed last week to retreat from all land Ethiopia claimed.
But on Thursday, fighting reportedly broke out again between the two sides. A statement from the Ethiopian government on Friday said two Eritrean battalions had engaged Ethiopian units with heavy artillery at the Bure front and suffered heavy losses. The statement said Eritrean forces had also suffered heavy casualties at Senafe, inside Eritrea, after attacking Ethiopian positions.
Ethiopia did not give its own casualties. The two sides routinely exaggerate enemy losses while not giving their own.
Military analysts have estimated that more than 120,000 people have been killed from both sides in the conflict.
Eritrea was a province of Ethiopia until 1991, when its guerrilla fighters, who had fought a 30-year guerrilla war for independence, helped overthrow Marxist military dictator Haile Mengistu Mariam. It gained independence after a referendum in 1993.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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