Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of “provocative acts”

ASMARA, Feb 5, 2005 (ERINA) — The Eritrean Commission for Coordination with the UN Peacekeeping Mission (CCPM) reported that the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front, dominant party in the ruling coalition in Ethiopia) regime, in continuation of its futile attempts to defame Eritrea and thereby pursue its provocative actions, tried to carry out a sinister conspiracy on 1 February 2005, in the area of Manda, inside Ethiopian territory, but this latest plot was exposed right away in its initial stage.

The commission, in its report dated 3 February, indicated that the TPLF regime, in the last three days, sought to create confusion in Bure [eastern front] in the area of Manda by inviting members of UNMEE [UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia] into Ethiopian territory. In the conflict that ensued between the Ethiopian regime’s troops and armed groups of Ethiopian Afars, the TPLF regime claimed that the dead and captured in that incident were Eritreans. Furthermore, the TPLF regime tried to persuade the members of UNMEE to corroborate its claims that “the clothes and shoes of the dead and captured combatants resemble that of Eritrean soldiers”.

In the end, however, it was verified that those who were alleged to be captured or dead were found to have nothing that would identify them as Eritreans. On the contrary, the alleged captured and dead persons were found to have Ethiopian identification cards and political agitation pamphlets of an opposition group in their possession.

It is to be recalled [that] in the past few months, the TPLF regime had committed acts of atrocity against Eritreans living in the border area, looting and burning homes and other property.

The CCPM asserted in conclusion of its statement that this latest drama created by the TPLF regime in the eastern sector in Bure, in the area of Manda, is a continuation of its provocative acts against Eritrea.