2. The Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied claims
by Ethiopia
that any fighting occurred over the weekend. Responding to reports
from
Addis Ababa that Ethiopia "had repelled new Eritrean offensives over
the
weekend," Head of Asia and Australia Desk at the Ministry Tesfamariam
Tekeste said, "The accounts coming from Addis Ababa are, in keeping
with
pattern, completely without basis and designed to mislead the Ethiopian
people. There has been no fighting since early last week when the TPLF
ceased its offensives after successive defeats. Their strategy is to
mislead
their population through reports of fictitious battle victories and
to
persuade Ethiopians that Eritrea verges on some social or economic
collapse.
But no one is mislead; their own defense forces know the degree to
which
Ethiopia's figures for the battlefield are a reflection of their own
losses.
Neither is the Ethiopian population likely to consume the stories of
famine
in Eritrea, particularly as Ethiopian's domestic situation in that
regard is
so well known. Anyone seeking to understand the nature of Ethiopia's
difficulties on and off the battlefield should simply examine what
it is
they try to project on Eritrea."