Eritrea orders army to “stay alert” – report

ABBDIS ABABA, Mar 25, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — According to reports from Asmara, the Eritrean government has ordered its army to stay alert in order to resolve the border dispute with Ethiopia once and for all, the Ethiopian newspaper Tobya said yesterday.

The sources say, at a time when the Eritrean army, especially those based in Gash Barka Region, western Eritrea near Sudanese border, were being told to report to base and stay alert, a high-level government officials led by President Isayas Afewerki were visiting the front line areas.

According to the sources, the president is expected to give a statement on TV and radio on the country’s stance on the border dispute with Ethiopia.

The president, during a meeting with the diplomatic community in Eritrea, blamed their respective governments and the international community at large for not exerting pressure on the Ethiopian government to abide by the international court’s ruling. He also told the diplomats that the Eritrean government was being forced to use force as a means to resolve the situation.

The sources said that at a time when the number of military deserters was increasing in Eritrea, the Ethiopian government has started arresting Eritrean defectors.

Meanwhile, the Eritrean government in collaboration with the US anti-terrorist task force, is deploying its army along the Djibouti border in a bid to track down terrorists in the area.

It worth recalling that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had earlier said the Ethiopian government had deployed its army close to the border with Eritrea.

Matreial from the BBC Monitoring Service.