Ethiopia and Eritrea trade accusations over border clashes
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
June 14, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia and Eritrea on Tuesday traded blame over who triggered Sunday’s fresh border fighting that took place in their disputed border area.
Following the incident, Eritrea ministry of information immediately accused arch-rival Ethiopia of launching the attack first.
In an updated statement issued today, Asmara denied launching the attack first instead said it has repulsed the attack with Ethiopian troops sustaining heavy causalities.
Ethiopia on its part on Tuesday confirmed its military had taken “proportional measures” against Eritrea in response to an attempted attack in the Tsorona area on Sunday.
“The retaliatory measure against Eritrean forces seriously weakened the attacking capacity of the Eritrean army” said Ethiopia’s communications affairs office.
The Ethiopian government further warned Eritrea that it will take further retaliatory actions if Asmara fails to stop its “mundane acts”.
At a press conference held Tuesday, communication minister, Getachew Reda said the decision on whether Ethiopia should take further military action or not depends on the future acts of the regime in Asmara.
The minister said the latest attack was an offensive plan by Eritrea and Ethiopian forces defended themselves and further took counter offensive measures to neutralize the threat.
Recently, the United Nations human rights investigators accused Eritrean leaders of crimes against humanity including torture, rape and murder and called on the Security Council to impose sanctions and refer the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to the Ethiopian government, the latest UN accusation has put Eritrea under pressure.
“Eritrea’s attempted attack was targeted at diverting the attention of Eritrean people and the international community” the statement added.
The Government of Eritrea today further said it will issue detailed statement on the purpose, scope and implications of the latest violence.
“It is nonetheless clear that mounting opposition from popular movements of the Ethiopian people, endemic corruption and associated economic crisis, as well as the desire to stem promising progress in Eritrea are indeed some of the factors prompting Ethiopian regime to indulge in reckless military adventures” it said.
LEVEL OF CASUALITIES
With regard to level of causalities on the Ethiopian side the Ethiopian minister said it was too early to reveal the number at this point.
He said officials are receiving from the ground on level of the general damage.
The official however hinted it could be a serious number.
“The actual offensive was a serious one not just a simple skirmish so I would expect a significant damage mainly on the Eritrean side” Getachew said.
CIVILIAN EVACUATION
Sudan Tribune has learnt that Ethiopian authorities around the battle area have ordered civilians to evacuate ahead of the “counter attack”
Ethiopian officials said they had to evacuate civilians as Eritrean forces were bombarding the area using artilleries.
“We had to take precautionary measures to avoid civilian causalities” Getachew added.
He admitted Ethiopian forces has used a full on mechanized defensive including using Tanks, and RPGs.
In 1993, Eritrea, gained independence from Ethiopia but five years later it engaged in a two-year long war with its larger neighbour over their disputed border.
The war has claimed the lives of at least 70,000.
Although a peace deal signed in 2000 ended the bloody war, terms of the agreement haven’t yet been implemented as Addis Ababa demanded further talks on implementation process.
As a result, the two neighbours remain in a no-war no-peace situation and forces of both sides regularly engage in lower-scale skirmishes however the extent of the latest clashes are said to be larger.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that people residing along the common border have been fleeing the area following the fighting which has involved heavy artillery.
Ethiopia and Eritrea routinely exchange accusations of backing rebels trying to destabilize and overthrow the other’s government
Eritrea is also under UN sanctions over accusations of arming training and financing al-Qaida allied terrorist group in Somalia, Al-Shabab.
(ST)