Tension rises between Eritrea and Ethiopia, attacks reported
BADME, Northern Ethiopia, Dec 23, 2004 (Ethiomedia) — Eritrean troops on Monday killed and wounded several Ethiopian inhabitants of Hadish Adi near the Badme area, sources said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has ordered reinforcements to the front line, and military convoys were seen heading for Rama, close to the town of Adua, and Badme.
The threat of war in recent weeks has been marked by Eritrea’s litany of accusations against Ethiopia.
The government of President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea has warned Ethiopia to pull out its troops from all areas in accordance with an April 13 2003 ruling by a Boundary Commission in The Hague.
The attack on Hadish Adi, which was a scene of fierce fighting during the 1999 war between the two countries and was retaken by Ethiopia, is the first major attack since the sides signed a peace agreement in Algiers in June 2000.
A five-point peace initiative and a normalization program Meles proposed two weeks ago as a gesture of reconciliation with Eritrea received warm support from several countries, including the United Nations, European Union, Russia, China, Britain, the US being the only missing power from those who saw the Meles move as an olive branch to anchor peace in the troubled region.
Eritrea has scoffed at the peace proposal, however. Asmara says Ethiopia must proceed directly to withdrawing its troops from the areas it now claims are under Eritrean sovereignty.
The Ethiopian premier also faces formidable challenge at home. All opposition parties in the country are firmly opposed to the peace initiative by Meles, who is often criticized severely for aborting Ethiopia’s victory-bound military advances over Eritrea in the previous war. Resentment also runs deep among the nation of 70 million, accusing Meles of reducing their long-time littoral nation to a landlocked status.
In a latest blow to the government, a former senior government official and an influential dissident among the northern Ethiopian people of Tigrai, Gebru Asrat echoed mainstream Ethiopian opposition’s long-standing principle that the Red Sea is Ethiopia’s natural frontier, and the Port of Assab the country’s legal and historical sea outlet.