http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/eritrea-says-attack-by-ethiopia-is-meant-to-divert-attention-from-border-dispute/2012/03/16/gIQArgS4FS_story.html
Eritrea says attack by Ethiopia is meant to divert attention from border
dispute
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, March 16, 9:51 AMAP
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Eritrean government said Friday that the attack on its
military outposts by neighboring Ethiopia was meant to divert attention
from a border dispute between the two countries.
Ethiopia said Thursday it carried out a ground assault on the outposts
because Eritrea was training “subversive groups” that carried out attacks
inside Ethiopia.
No details about the military operations or any damage or casualties have
been released.
“It is patently clear that the Ethiopian regime could not have unleashed
such a flagrant act of aggression with such audacity without the protection
and succor of the United States in the Security Council,” said Eritrean
Foreign Affairs Minister Osman Saleh.
Eritrea routinely accuses the United States of overlooking abuses by
Ethiopia, a key U.S. ally in the region in its war against terror.
“The government of Eritrea, urges for the umpteenth time, the U.N. Security
council to shoulder legal and moral responsibilities and to take
appropriate measures to rectify acts of aggression against Eritrea’s
sovereign territories and to ensure justice and the respect of the rule of
law,” he said.
Osman said such attacks have been going on for the last 10 years and
Thursday’s assault was meant to divert attention to the fact that Ethiopia
occupies Eritrean territory. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from
1998 to 2000.
He said the timing of the attack appears to have been deliberately chosen
to coincide with the tenth anniversary of a ruling by a boundary
commission, which it says, ruled in its favor.
Ethiopia said Thursday’s attack was in retaliation to attacks by groups
which have been sponsored by the Eritrean government and that European
tourists were killed in one of the most recent attacks.
Militants attacked European tourists from five nations traveling in
Ethiopia’s arid north in January. Five tourists were killed and two were
kidnapped. The two kidnapped German tourists have since been released.
Ethiopia blamed gunmen from Eritrea for the attack.
Osman described the killings of the Europeans as deplorable but said
Ethiopia is using it as an excuse to launch attacks.
The border war between the two countries killed about 80,000 people. Recent
signs have pointed to growing tension in the region.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the country’s parliament in
April that his government would actively support Eritrean opposition groups
to help topple that country’s regime. Ethiopia also blamed Eritrea for
scheming bomb attacks on several targets in Addis Ababa during an African
Union summit in January 2011.
Eritrea doesn’t receive foreign aid and is sanctioned by the U.N. because
of human rights violations. U.N. reports have indicated that Eritrea has
supported the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. Eritrea has denied those
accusations.
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Received on Fri Mar 16 2012 - 14:52:37 EDT
