Ethiopian rebels deny govt claim

June 29, 2006 (NAIROBI) — A small Ethiopian rebel movement has denied a government claim to have killed or captured more than 200 of its fighters, saying instead that it had routed security forces during fighting in the remote north.

The little-known Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) — which Addis Ababa accuses of being backed by Eritrea — said on its Web site this week that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government was trying to cover up its own battle losses.

“The Meles regime has resorted to a propaganda of passing on its own defeat as an EPPF one,” the group said.

Ethiopia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday the army had in recent weeks killed 111 rebels and held another 107 who crossed over from neighbouring Eritrea earlier this month.

Various armed insurgency groups operate in Ethiopia, the traditional power in the Horn of Africa region, accusing Meles of dictatorial leadership and oppression of his people.

“EPPF refutes the report,” the group said on its Web site. “EPPF army inflicted heavy damages by killing hundreds of … soldiers and capturing numerous light and heavy weapons.

It accused Ethiopian soldiers of “killing, imprisoning and torturing civilians” as well as “indiscriminately attacking civilians using attack helicopters.”

There has been no independent confirmation from the region of casualties on either side, and propaganda claims are common.

Ethiopia’s information ministry repeated its accusation on Thursday that its neighbour Eritrea was behind the rebels.#

“The heavy casualties suffered by the rebels is a defeat of the Eritrean government which trains, arms and deploys in Ethiopian territory to destabilise the country,” a spokesman said.

Eritrea has denied that. It says Ethiopia wants to distract attention from alleged incursions into Somalia, where Addis Ababa is concerned over the rise of Islamists.

(Reuters)