ERINA Update
(Eritrean News Agency,
Tel:  ++291-1-117627, Fax:  127385)
Friday, June 4, 1999

1.      A senior official in the Eritrean Foreign Ministry, Tesfamariam Tekeste, has described Ethiopia's food needs as "disturbing in light of their recent expenditures on military hardware."  Aid agencies operating in Ethiopia have said they will require 360,000 tons of food aid for some 5,000,000 Ethiopians facing starvation in Wello province. In a statement to ERINA, Tekeste noted that;
 

  •  "Media estimates suggest that Ethiopia has spent around a billion US dollars on arsenal and arms."
  •  "The government in Addis Ababa has refused to a cease-fire and has, even this week, vowed to use force against Eritrea."
  •  "The government in Addis Ababa has, time and again, said Ethiopia has the means and the resources to 'wage war' against Eritrea."
  •  "The government in Addis Ababa treated the international community to glowing reports about a bumper harvest last year, which allowed for huge food reserves and even a capacity to export food."

    •         Tekeste said "Ethiopia's readiness to spend so readily and dangerously cannot be reconciled with their readiness to simply dump their social and economic obligations on the international community.  While the plight of 5,000,000 Ethiopians facing starvation must receive the response it merits, those who will respond to this latest crises in Ethiopia must speak to the policies of a government in Addis Ababa that the bent on war despite the basic needs of its people."

    2.      Former Ethiopian soldier, Abdelkadir Aman who surrendered to the Eritrea Defenses on May 28th at Burie, has told Eritrean media that over four hundred soldiers, mostly Amhara and Oromos, have been imprisoned in Manda.  According to Abdelkadir, "the soldiers were accused of attempting to desert and collaborating with Eritrea.

    Abdelkadir also said that a lack of water and food has resulted in widespread malaria and diahorrea among Ethiopian troops.  He added that the Ethiopian 12th and 13th divisions had "taken massive losses after human wave assaults in Bademe and Tserona." Abdelkadir himself belonged to the 5th Battalion of the 116th Brigade currently in Burie.

    Another former member of the 116th Brigade, Teklu Mekonen who surrendered three days before Abdelkadir, said the imprisonment of his friends; Gelata Negata, Asmayehu Adberek and Temesgen Aweke convinced him to surrender. Teklu who is from Buji Jermej, Western Wellega, said that supplies of food and water in the Burie front were at critical levels and that "soldiers have
    barely enough to survive let alone try and attack."