ERINA Update
 (Eritrean News Agency,
Tel: ++291-1-117627, Fax: 127385)
Wednesday, March 17, 1999

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Asmara has said the large-scale Ethiopian offensive along the Tsorona flank of the Alitena-Mereb front "has been completely foiled." A ministry statement yesterday said fighting died down after three days of intense battle in which "the TPLF regime employed human waves for successive assaults with little apparent concern for the massive losses that it continued to sustain." The Ethiopian attack lost its impetus after what the statement described was "a slaughter."

The Eritrean Defense Force has released early estimates of damage sustained by the Ethiopian Army in the three day battle which died down yesterday morning.

The EDF said it could not provide an accurate estimate of human casualties because of the sheer scope of damage to the Ethiopian ground forces.

Reporters and camera crew from the Eritrean News Agency as well as members of the international media traveled to the battle scene yesterday to confirm military reports. Journalists said the front was littered with the bodies of dead Ethiopian soldiers and burned out tanks.

Today in Asmara, a senior government official said, "Ethiopia's cavalier attitude toward the death of so many of their young people is deeply unnerving. This is not a ruse, not for Eritrean consumption, and it is certainly not a figment of anyone's imagination. This carnage is very real and the TPLF should not try and insult the intelligence of the international community. First they said there was no fighting, then it was small-scale and never did they sustain any damages. That, in our opinion, is an insult to the intelligence of the world and a tragic discredit to thousands of their dead. They must stop this senselessness."

No fighting was reported yesterday after mid-morning or today.